Former Environment Bay of Plenty councillor Tai Eru has taken the place of Hawea Vercoe as representative of Okurei constituency.
A replacement was needed for Hawea after he died from an incident which occurred at a bar in Whakatane in November last year.

EBOP chairman John Cronin is pleased to see Tai's return to the council table.
'Tai has many years of council experience, both at a regional and district level, which will be valuable to us as we head towards the election later this year,” says John.
The election date is October 9.
'Between now and then we have a number of important issues that we will be dealing with, including the Regional Policy Statement and the Annual Plan, and Tai's knowledge will be significant.”
Tai was the highest non-successful candidate for the Okurei constituency seat at the 2007 election. Tai was also previously a regional councillor with
Environment Bay of Plenty from 1998 to 2001 for the Rotorua constituency, and for the Okurei constituency from 2004 to 2007.
His appointment was made with strong support from members of the Okurei constituency, who had written to council supporting the move.