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Keeping You Informed If elected Mayor, I’ll reinstate monthly councillor reports so that every elected member has the opportunity to share the work they’ve been doing on behalf of our communities. It’s a simple but important step in building trust and ensuring we’re all accountable for the roles we take on. In the meantime, I’ve been posting monthly round-ups on Facebook throughout my term — not just at election time. You’ll find copies of those updates here, so you can see the work I’ve been doing to represent you. |
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I’ll share more about a range of different topics in a series of short posts over the coming months – but in the meantime I just wanted to let you know even though I haven’t posted I have been busy putting in the mahi for you. Before I put my hand up as a candidate for council I talked to several past and present councillors to gauge how much time would be required – and it came back as round about 20 hours per week – but sometimes much more. I think that was a good estimate. In February I spent just under 110 hours on Council and related matters including travel time. There have been three public meetings this month – the Audit and Risk Meeting on 22 February, Te Raangai Whakakaupapa Koorero on 23 February and the full Council Meeting on 28 February. Recordings of all these meetings can be found at https://www.waitomo.govt.nz/council/council-meetings/ . Agendas and meeting papers for these meetings can be found at https://www.waitomo.govt.nz/council/council-meetings/2023-agenda-minutes/ As well as the public meetings we also meet in Workshops to deep dive into topics in a more informal setting – usually with staff making presentations to bring us all up to speed. We only had one workshop in February around the Annual Plan process and budget. We also had a Strategic Planning Day on Friday 24 February where we all got to know our fellow councillors better and started to lay the groundwork for how we can best work together for the next three years to achieve the best outcomes for our community. Just one of the things coming out of that day was that a short summary of what has been covered in our workshops will be publicly included in our monthly meeting packs. This will help provide more transparency – as sometimes it may seem that there is no discussion at the meeting about a topic – but actually it has been discussed extensively at a workshop. Mayor Robertson and Councillor Manawaiti also accepted the invitation to come and see the current roading situation and storm damage on the roads from Hangatiki out to the west coast at Taharoa and onto Te Waitere and back through Kinohaku. Thank you to Chris Irons for joining us to provide valuable local insight. Several things have come out of that trip and are being worked on. With my strong interest in roading I am now the Waitomo District Council representative on the Regional Transport Committee. I attended my first induction meeting of this committee in February and the first formal quarterly meeting happens in March. I’ll share more about the purpose and work of this committee later. Finally but not least my heart and thoughts go out to everyone who has been impacted by the weather events of the past six weeks. Words are not adequate for those who have lost loved ones. The scale and impact is hard to comprehend and so many families and businesses have a very long haul ahead of them as they rebuild what they can and mourn the loss of what they can’t. Kia Kaha |
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31 March 2023
On Wednesday morning I watched Coronation Street in my Dressing Gown … and I didn’t feel guilty! March was another busy month – I always feel March is a rush because February is missing those extra few days and meetings for March come around that little bit sooner.
On Tuesday 28th we had our monthly council meeting and it was a very full agenda which can be and a recording of the meeting can be found here: https://www.waitomo.govt.nz/.../coun.../2023-agenda-minutes/. There were just over 420 pages to read prior to the meeting – so it was a very busy few days not only reading but going back to prior papers and understanding the background.
Actually I lie – it wasn’t as bad as reading 420 pages because 150 of those pages had already been included and read for our 14 March workshop – the same week I had two other meeting packs of the same size – one for the Waikato Regional Council Regional Transport Committee and one for Waitomo Energy Services Customer Trust.
I was glad to get to the end of that particularly week and spend St Patricks Day at the Local Government New Zealand Zone 2 meeting at Karapiro – which required no pre-reading!!
What a great informative meeting that was. One of the topics was what a council can and can’t do in relation to controversial speakers. I loved the story of a council who found they were legally unable to decline a particularly divisive speaker but were able to show their opposition by projecting the pride rainbow onto the building!
We also had a great practical presentation from AON on risk management, a presentation from Vaughan Payne the newly appointed head of the new Water Services Entity B, and to cap it off we had the Hon. Kieran McAnulty the Minister for Local Government and Emergency Management join us for an interactive Zoom session.
Back near the start of the month Waitomo District Council also brought together over 40 people from a wide range of organisations throughout Waikato to contribute to a workshop which is part of the development of the Waitomo Housing Strategy. There were representatives from MSD, Maru Energy Trust, The Lines Company, MBEI, Momentum Waikato, Kainga Ora, several building companies and many others including fellow elected members Councillors Janene New, Gavin Todd, Deputy Mayor Alan Goddard and Mayor Robertson who was able to join the meeting a little later as he was travelling back from elsewhere.
And then towards the end of the month I also attended a meeting at Te Wharekura o Maniapoto at Oparure which was a follow-on meeting from the deputation received at the 29 November 2022 council meeting regarding road safety concerns. Thank you to principal Denise Marshall and your team for providing a wonderful venue and hospitality. Thank you to the over 35 members of the community who attended to share their concerns and ideas. Thank you to Ben Smit, Shymal Ram from Waitomo District Council, Ryan Stanley (Pinnacles Civil) and Vesta Gribben from Inframax who all came prepared with potential solutions. Just days later these are already starting to be implemented and I will be following these with interest to check that they are addressing the very real concerns that were raised.
Last Saturday the 25 March the Waitomo Sports Committee hosted the Waitomo Sports Day at the Waitomo Caves Domain – as usual I was there for the day selling raffle tickets while other family members were involved in the chopping and easter egg hunt. There was a record turn out with a large number of families as well as horse events, running, music and entertainment, chopping and shearing sports participants. The day included a New Zealand Wales shearing test match. Tukikapu Marae, Waitomo Caves School and Piopio Lions all had fundraising food stalls which I understand all made good profits. It was an excellent example of an alcohol-free family community event.
This week the Secondary Schools National Rowing Championships (Maadi Cup) are being held at Lake Karapiro – and while I haven’t made it along to watch this year, I do keep up my mahi as Treasurer of the Waikato Rowing Club – because back when I was rowing at school someone else must have done the accounts and the boring stuff so that I could focus on enjoying the rowing. It’s always a pleasure when I see a local King Country name of the list of school rowers from Hamilton Girls, Hamilton Boys, Waikato Diocesan and St Johns which all row out of the Waikato Rowing Club facilities at Hamilton and Karapiro.
It has also been a busy and fulfilling month with my role as a Trustee of Waitomo Energy Services Customer Trust (WESCT) with meetings for Maru Energy Trust and a strategic planning session with The Lines Company held.
So, after all that I didn’t feel guilty at all still being in my dressing gown late morning on Wednesday watching Coronation Street!!
Roll on April – I am truly grateful and humbled for the opportunity to contribute back to our community.
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20 May 2023 As a councillor I am in public service for the betterment of our community – which means getting out and trying to understand what is happening – especially in terms of innovation and to be there to listen to concerns and help to find solutions.
As well as a councillor I also have other roles in the community so I have included those to help give an overall picture – as many of these roles interrelate - especially as we move through the transition to zero carbon.
So here is the bullet pointed version for late March and April with pictures.
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11 June 2023
Look at the welcome that the Mayor and Council at our official sister city Tatsuno, Japan have given our local children!! Thank you!!
I've just received an update from Janis MacDonald - one of the wonderful volunteers who help make this possible - thank you to those who give up their time and pay their own costs to make this special experience happen for our local children. And thank you to everyone who supported the fundraising the children did - they raised $15,000!!! Well done.
"The team have had a busy few days - including a delayed flight that meant they had 10 minutes to dump bags at the hotel before heading out to jump on a bus to a mall for some food. The kids were great, and took it all in, caught taxis home in bed by 12.30 - 1 o'clock NZ Time. Luckily we had a late start on Friday.
We were welcomed at the council, and dinner, then met hosts."
Yesterday was the bbq and the Tatsuno Firefly Festival. This is part of the special link between Waitomo and our glow worms and Tatsuno and their firefly. To read more about the festival here is an article from 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/.../brief-shining-of-the...
"The kids have been amazing, gelled really well together, and were great at meeting hosts, they just went and found them without prompting.
Everyone is off for a sight seeing day today."
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 14 June 2023
A further update from Janis McDonald on our Te Kuiti children visiting our official sister city Tatsuno in Japan. These photos are from the official farewell - Tatsuno Council have been amazing. I'll post a video in the comments.
"We had an amazing time in Tatsuno, the students have had such a variety of experiences. From being taught Japanese calligraphy and spending time with junior high school kids at school to watching traditional taiko drumming and dragon dancing."
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 16 June 2023
Today our local children and chaperones arrive back in Te Kuiti from their Tatsuno Sister City Adventure - no doubt with plenty of memories and new experiences that will last them a lifetime!!!
Here are some pictures of their final two days in Japan where they got to experience Tokyo - here is Janis MacDonald's update:
"Yesterday the change from rural life in Tatsuno to city life in the middle of the crossroad scramble of Shibuya and negotiating the train system before rush hour and then when it was so much busier after work was a real eye opener."
"It's hotter in Tokyo, couple that with the heat, lots of walking - between trains, early starts and long days, everyone is coping really well!!"
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22 August 2023 Gosh isn’t it wonderful to see some sunshine today!!
I loved getting out into the fresh air this morning for a little while – Mount Tongariro was peeking over the bush and all the animals are enjoying the sunshine. The welcome swallows are back and the first lambs and Angus calves are on the ground.
I know I have slipped in providing regular updates – I have been busy doing on your behalf. I got back on board on Thursday 10 August after a couple of weeks away in the South Island to recharge our batteries. My Matariki resolution is to be more regular with my posts to keep everyone up to date with the work that is being done on your behalf by all those at council.
Here is a run down of the past couple of weeks since I got back.
Please ask if you would like further information and I can send you the links to documents etc if they are public ones. All the meetings with * next to them involve meeting packs (usually over 100 pages) to be read before the meetings.
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6 September 2023
I thought I would share some of the lovely views I got to experience on my travels around the district over this last week.
There was the rising of the blue super moon over the hill at Piopio last Thursday as I headed out with my colleagues Mayor John Robertson, Councillors Eady Manawaiti, Gavin Todd, Dan Tasker and Council CEO Ben Smit to the Te Whare Mokau ki Runga monthly meeting where we discussed the Review of Māori Representation at Council which is currently open for submissions. We encourage everyone to make a submission and let us know their thoughts. https://www.waitomo.govt.nz/.../review-of-maori.../
Thank you to all those involved in this meeting for your warm welcome and wonderful hospitality.
On Saturday our family attended the opening of the new wharekai “Te Toko-I-Te-Ora Tuarua” at the Tokikapu Marae at Waitomo Caves. What a great community celebration!! Well done to all involved – there has been a huge amount of work behind getting this wonderful wharekai built and the wonderful day of ceremony and celebration.
Yesterday I got to visit one of my favourite parts of the district – Kinohaku on the Kawhia Harbour. It is so beautiful out there – I love the view coming over the hill from Te Anga looking down the valley to the harbour. Unfortunately, the parents of the children at Kinohaku School may be seeing a bit much of the roads around the harbour if MOE go ahead with cancelling the school bus and parents have to drive their children to and from school. Mayor Robertson asked if I could assemble the detail so he can go into bat for them.
As the local Rural Councillor, I am more than happy to do this and am just a phone call away if I can help on any local issues like this. Just sorry I didn’t know anything about the Te Maika jetty as a boat trip out there would have been awesome!
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 14 October 2023
Our tupuna have fought and many have even died for our right to vote - please don’t waste this right by not using it.
Today is the day you get to have your say for who runs our country - your vote REALLY does count!! The polls predict the results will be close - your vote will make a difference. Please take the time to vote.
This picture is a tribute to Kate Sheppard - shaped in her form it contains all the signatures on the petition fighting for the right for women to vote. I am proud that one of the few male signatures on that petition belongs to one of my tupuna - who was also a Councillor.
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22 December 2023 Wishing everyone a peaceful, safe and happy Christmas and New Year.
My first full year as your Rural Councillor has been a very busy one with workshops to prepare the Waitomo District 2024-2034 Long Term Plan. This will be going out for public consultation in April 2024. I’ll explain more about what this is and how you can have your say in the new year.
I apologise for not posting more often – my first priority was making sure I had read all my papers before each of the 20 workshops, 11 council and three Audit and Risk meetings.
At the most we have two working days to read these papers and they can be anything from a couple of dozen pages to several hundred. Being a new councillor, I also often spend a lot of time researching the background and related issues.
As the Waitomo district representative on the Waikato Regional Council’s Regional Transport Committee, I have also been busy with workshops helping to develop the 2024-2054 Regional Land Transport Plan. These workshops are in addition to the regular quarterly meetings.
My New Year’s resolution is to try and post more often to provide more information of what is happening in your district with your District Council.
In the meantime – my pup Whisky says it all – time for a rest for those that are able to and I hope those that have to work through – particularly those in health and tourism manage to get some downtime to spend with friends and family.
Meri Kirihimete
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