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Keeping You Informed - 2022 Posts 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. |
14 November 2022
Tere Waitomo had a working bee in Waitomo Caves Village on Sunday 6 November – it was great to see so many people out helping make the village look its best and Kim and I were happy to play our part (in fact he loved getting to use his chainsaw). Several people asked that a big thanks be passed onto the Council for the great work they did first thing on Sunday clearing away all the rubbish left from the Waitomo Trail Run the day before.
On Tuesday we had our first Council Induction workshop which brought us up to speed on a range of issues. We were also issued with our new council email addresses – please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at janette.osborne@waitomo.govt.nz
Tuesday night I also travelled to Hamilton for the Schick Civil Waikato Rowing Club committee meeting on which I am voluntary treasurer. The mission statement for the club is “Growing great people in our community through the sport of rowing”. As well as the seventy plus club rowers, four schools train out of the Waikato Rowing Club – Hamilton Girls High School, Hamilton Boys High School, Waikato Diocesan School for Girls and St John’s College. It is great to see so many young people out there enjoying sport. There are several school rowers from the King Country district and even more who have connections with the district. I know that I am a better person for having been involved in rowing in my younger days and hope that these students will also be.
On my way home at close to 11pm I was thrilled to see a Kiwi Experience bus at Waitomo Caves Village and the Tomo Bar pumping with lots of tourists socialising on the outside deck – it has been a long time since I have seen that much activity. And apparently the Waitomo Discovery Centre had its busiest day for many years on Thursday.
With the tourists coming back to the Waitomo Caves Village there is a real need for extra staff – so please share this to anyone who is looking for work.
On Thursday and Friday as a Trustee for Waitomo Energy Services Customer Trust (WESCT) I attended the Electricity Trusts New Zealand (ETNZ) conference which was hosted by Waipa Networks at Lake Karapiro. While the conference mostly covered electricity issues – there were many issues and topics that were also relevant to my role as councillor – especially the presentation by Dr Andrew Tait, Principal Scientist at National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) on the potential impacts of Climate Change. If you are interested, please head across and like the Waitomo Energy Services Customer Trust (WESCT) Facebook page as we will be posting the highlights of each presentation over the next few weeks as well as running a series educating on the Electricity Industry in New Zealand.
We also got to see more students enjoying and benefiting from their sport of cycling at the Velodrome when we were given a tour on Thursday afternoon. What an incredible facility this is. I’m really looking forward to seeing the benefits to our community with our own new sports stadium.
And finally on Friday as a piece of personal joy time I got to look around the amazing art works from the amazingly talented members of the Waitomo Society of Arts at their exhibition that was held at the Les Munro Centre. So many talented people and such stunning work – I came away totally inspired and smiling ear to ear.
After such a busy week (because there was more than just what I’ve listed) I had a decadent weekend mainly sorting out my own fabrics and having some creative down time after Friday’s inspiration. Apologies to the group of horse trekkers who came through the farm and had to witness me in my dressing gown on Sunday – I had been up and sorting for many, many hours – in case you thought I’d just got out of bed
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16 November 2022
“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr This month is all about preparation and understanding the frameworks and rules that we operate under.
On Tuesday 29 November we will attend our first full council meeting. We won’t know all the items on the agenda until the agenda is issued a few days ahead of the meeting.
Some of the items will have been discussed in workshops ahead of the meeting. This month your councillors have two induction workshops in which we are briefed on issues and given the opportunity to ask questions so we are informed before we need to make decisions at a formal council meeting.
My personal reading this month also includes the Local Government Act https://www.legislation.govt.nz/.../latest/DLM170873.html which is one of the key pieces of law governing councils.
And because nothing ever stands still – there is also a draft report on the Future of Local Government to read – this is open for public submissions until 28 February 2023. I’ll be writing more on this in future posts. https://www.futureforlocalgovernment.govt.nz/
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21 November 2022
On Tuesday I attended my first Waitomo Sister City committee meeting. The Sister City relationship with Tatsuno in Japan was formed in 1995 by the late Mayor Les Munro after striking up a friendship with a Japanese war veteran at a World War II veteran’s reunion. I will write more fully about the social and cultural importance of this relationship in a later post – it is something that I strongly support for number of different reasons.
Many of you will have seen the wonderful Waitomo Sister City display at the Waitomo Society of Arts exhibition earlier this month. As well as photographs and information many of the wonderful taonga (treasured possessions) that have been gifted to Waitomo were on display.
Eight local Tamariki (children) are to visit Tatsuno in June 2023 now that bi-annual exchanges have resumed after Covid. Titiwai (glow-worms) and Hotaru ほたる (fireflys) are just one of the connections between Waitomo and Tatsuno and the delegation will experience the Tatsuno Hotaru (firefly) festival while they are there. Please keep an eye out and support fundraising activities these Tamariki will be undertaking over the next few months – their first event was a BBQ stall at the Brook Park fireworks night.
A delegation from Tatsuno will also be visiting Waitomo in March. More about this in a later post.
Maru Energy Trust
On Wednesday I also attended my first Maru Energy Trust meeting as the new WESCT appointee on this Trust. Maru Energy Trust was established by The Lines Company in 2018 as a charitable trust with the general purpose to “provide support to improve the energy efficiency of households and wellbeing of the occupants”. Be warm. Be healthy.
A large credit should be given to former Lines Company director Roger Sutton who was the original champion of this idea having seen the great work of similar organisations in other areas and the need in our own area. I personally found his drive and enthusiasm for this project inspirational.
Huge credit also needs to be given to the trustees, staff, contractors and volunteers who have worked hard since 2018 to ensure that insulation has been fitted to 781 houses in the rohe (area/territory) and heat pumps installed in 309 houses. Last winter 497 pairs of new winter pyjamas were also distributed to whanau through Maru Energy Trust.
I will outline the work that Maru Energy Trust does and its funding partners in a more detailed post in the new year.
Waitomo Energy Services Customer Trust (WESCT)
On Thursday I attended the monthly Waitomo Energy Services Customer Trust meeting – at this month’s meeting the trustees received a quarterly update from the CEO and Chair of The Lines Company. As trustees we are acting as diligent shareholders on your behalf (if you are in the northern part of the Lines Company area) and these quarterly meetings are an excellent opportunity for the trustees to understand and ask questions about the major happenings within the company and to understand how non-financial and financial measures are tracking against forecasts.
It was fantastic to see two internal promotions at The Lines Company to Senior Leadership Team positions – congratulations and well deserved to Jared Murrell appointed General Manager, Service Delivery and Romay Rundgren appointed General Manager, Finance.
Also, on Wednesday and Thursday Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) were running their Rural and Provincial Sector Meeting in Wellington and I was able to attend parts of this via Zoom when it didn’t clash with other meetings.
While none of the meetings this week contributed directly to infrastructure and in particular roading issues, community wellbeing is also important and voluntary (including sporting) organisations are a critical part of the building blocks that form a well-rounded, thriving and vibrant community.
This week I also continued to work my way through the Local Government Act, as well as the Future of Local Government Document (having already read the LGNZ summary) and added to the list was the Waka Kotahi Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan 2023-24 which is open for consultation until 12 December 2023.
In between I am also coming up to speed with the Waitomo Proposed District Plan which is open for consultation until 23 December 2022. I will write further about this in the next couple of weeks.
Late this Thursday (24 November) the agenda for next Tuesday’s (29 November) council meeting will be released on the website – this is the first full council meeting since being elected and I am very much looking forward to being thoroughly prepared for all the items to be discussed.
Fingers crossed we will see some sunshine later this week so there will be dry sheep for shearing across the King Country.
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6 December 2022
What a busy couple of weeks it has been. Apologies in advance for the long post!! On Tuesday 22 November councillors attended a workshop to brief us on community and organisational collaboration. Workshops are more informal than council meetings. They provide an environment where council staff and others can provide information and councillors can ask questions, discuss and even formulate views if appropriate. This helps to streamline the formal council meetings through all councillors being familiar with the topics and having had the chance to ask questions prior. And on Tuesday 29 November we held our first full council meeting. The agenda and a recording of the meeting can be found here https://www.waitomo.govt.nz/.../coun.../2022-agenda-minutes/
After discussion at the workshop all council meetings will now begin and end with karakia. This is something we have been doing in our WESCT meetings for the past five years and something that I really miss and don’t feel complete without if it doesn’t occur.
Karakia opens a meeting in a way that frees the mind and brings everyone to the present and place to bring everyone to the right frame of mind to achieve the business of the meeting. Here is one of my favourite karakia in English:
May peace be widespread
May the sea be like greenstone
A pathway for us all this day
Let us show respect for each other
For one another
Bind us all together!
A closing karakia draws a meeting to a close, allowing everyone to return to everyday activities and to travel safely home.
It seemed particularly appropriate that the first item at this first full meeting was a deputation from representatives from Oparure Marae, Kohanga Reo and Wharekura about roading and speed issues with a request for a hui to consider dropping the speed limit to 40 kilometres an hour through the Oparure village and for road safety and repair improvements.
For councillors it was very important to hear the history and current issues first hand from the people being affected so we can fully understand the importance of what is being requested. The deputation was accompanied by a petition signed by 112 people. The Council Chief Executive has now taken the issues raised and is working with his team on solutions and keeping councillors informed of progress.
The rest of the meeting was predominantly focused on internal issues, update reports and the draft annual report. We adopted a code of conduct and standing orders (rules for meeting) that this council will operate under for the next three years. An important addition to the committee structure is the establishment of a new committee to be chaired by Eady Manawaiti – Te Raanga Whakakaupapa Koorero (Maori Relationship Committee). The terms of reference for this committee are included in the meeting papers.
Later in the afternoon we also attended the Inframax Annual General Meeting as the 100% shareholder of the company. It was a pleasure to meet both the board chaired by Earl Rattray and new CEO Vesta Gribben and I look forward to following the company’s progress.
With board and committee meetings I am used to the rule of thumb that for every hour of meeting there will be an hour of pre-reading. However, as a new councillor wanting to understand the background to issues, I am finding to fully research I need to allow a couple of days. For the workshop I spent 11 hours reading and the meeting it was 14 hours after I read through the 150 pages meeting pack plus the 127 pages of draft annual report, plus the code of conduct and standing orders papers plus the papers for the publicly excluded part of the meeting. We receive the papers two working days before the meeting so with the weekend that gives us a total of four days to fully read and research everything. So, friends and whanau the weekend before the last Tuesday in the month is probably not a good one to pop around for a coffee
.In the evening after the Tuesday 22 November workshop I also attended the Waitomo Rugby Sports and Recreation Club AGM where they welcomed a new President Paul Senior-Partridge.
And in the evening after the Tuesday 29 November council meeting, I attended my first meeting as a council representative on the Waitomo Caves Museum Society. Fortunately I have already done a block of voluntary work at the start of Covid for the Museum modelling what the financial impacts of Covid were likely to be for their revenue generating I-site and postal agency functions which support a large portion of the museum operations.
After a very enjoyable day at Fieldays, after finally getting a break in the rain to finish the main shear of the ewes, we had to abandon the farm for the weekend for it to be taken over for a hens party ahead of a family wedding later this month. We spent a delightful weekend at Marokopa and took the opportunity to look around the motor camp and the old school building. The council recently issued a RFP (Request for Proposal) in relation to the camp ground and old school site and I very much look forward to the future successful applicant doing wonderful things with this council property.
We returned to Waitomo in time for the Tere Waitomo community get together held at The Tomo Bar on Sunday afternoon. Thank you very much to Glenn Heka the owner who so kindly donated a wonderful buffet spread of food for the 60 or so that attended and talked, and talked and talked for hours. This is what community is about – beautifully captured in the words of my neighbour Brydie Walker Bain (writer) https://www.facebook.com/brydiewalkerbain
This weekend I have been
to a gathering of community
where the roots of their souls
are dug deep into the
mystery of the land
where a man told me
his child was a gift from God
where new friends were made
playing in the glorious dirt
where the heart at last
looped into a soothing peace
Please don’t forget that submissions on the Waitomo District Council Proposed District Plan close on 23 December. The district plan among many other things, defines zones (rural, residential etc) and the rules around where buildings can be, how land can be subdivided etc. The previous council has worked very hard to consult on this plan and what is proposed includes the views and opinions gained through that public consultation – so it is hopefully a true reflection of what the community wants. There is plenty of information on the council website at https://www.waitomo.govt.nz/.../proposed-waitomo.../ - copies are also available at the library.
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I am sure I am not alone in feeling that the past three weeks has just passed in a blur. I would like to acknowledge that this can be an incredibly difficult and stressful time of year for many people – for many different reasons and I hope that some joy can be found and other pressures forgotten for at least one day.
I would also like to thank everyone who works so hard at this time of year and for which the Christmas and holiday season is not a time to relax and recharge - especially everyone in retail, hospitality and tourism. It is great to see the tourists back at Waitomo Caves but I also acknowledge that with staff shortages everyone is working extended hours and days.
I would also like to acknowledge our emergency services personnel (especially the volunteers) and health professionals who will continue to keep us safe and look after us over this holiday period.
As well as council related work our past three weeks has also included shearing and a family wedding – which was full of genuine joy. It has also been wonderful to have overseas friends and family here.
My home office is a mess with piles of papers everywhere and later today I will close the door on it and come back and sort it out with new energy in the New Year.
I have certainly learned a lot in December starting with a Co-Lab Waikato Induction Day in Hamilton on Thursday the 8th of December. Co-Lab was previously known as Waikato Local Authority Shared Services Ltd and are jointly owned by all the councils in the Waikato region. Their vision is “Our councils maximising the value they provide to their communities” and their purpose “Support councils to achieve this vision by identifying and realising shared opportunities”. It was a very worthwhile day working through the big picture right through to understanding how various organisations such as Waka Kotahi fit together and of course the added value of conversations with councillors from other parts of Waikato. When we talked about the macro picture and what the future might look like the big question was “How does Waikato become an architect of the future not a victim of it?”. This will be one of the presentations I revisit to warm up in the New Year.
On Monday the 12th we had a council induction/familiarisation tour around Te Kuiti that included amongst other places – Brook Park, the Holiday Park, the aerodrome, the waste water treatment, the landfill and the drinking water treatment plant – which is the photo on this post. Like most rural people we are responsible for our own drinking water so to see water being taken from the river in the state it was to go through a process to become safe and palatable as drinking water is truly fascinating! What a great treatment plant this is – it is a real credit to the councillors and mayors who have gone before us.
We were also very kindly hosted for lunch by Michelle and Betty at the Maara Kai Roopu. This community garden has been set up to feed our people who need support from our community. I can only say wow – I just love everything that they are doing!! Thank you so much for a delicious lunch mostly from food grown in the garden including some delicious chutneys. Last year they grew 300 kilograms of Kumara and it was fascinating to see the different cultivation methods – including Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāpuhi methods I was so impressed with all the food that is being so generously grown and now food boxes and cooking lessons are being provided and also a weaving wānanga. They have great facebook page which lists everything that is coming up. What is being done here is truly inspiring. There is also a healing and medicine part of the garden and soon to be developed sensory garden which will provide a wonderful place of peace and contemplation. https://www.facebook.com/.../Maara-Kai.../100070181341166/
On Tuesday the 13th I was to have gone to a two-hour presentation on the future of local government in Hamilton and then the Waikato Rowing Club monthly meeting in the evening. But with nine meetings scheduled in four days and about 300 pages of pre-reading I opted to make sure I was well prepared for the council and WESCT meetings so I joined the Waikato Rowing Club meeting via Zoom to answer any questions on the report I had prepared earlier. Submissions on the draft Future of Government report are open until 28 February 2022 and I will catch up with the presentation content online.
On Wednesday 14th I was fortunate to be part of the Creative Communities Grants Committee – which meets twice a year to award grants to qualifying projects. The grant funding is provided by Creative NZ. Creative NZ provide an annual base fund of $15,000 plus $0.60 per person in the district, so there is approximately $20,000 to be awarded across two rounds. Across the country over 1,800 projects (mostly under $2,000 are funded through this scheme. It was again inspiring to learn of the different projects planned and always sad that they can’t all be funded. For further information on the local scheme please see https://www.waitomo.govt.nz/.../creative-communities.../ For larger projects, especially those that might cover more than this district, Creative NZ have a range of other funding opportunities which can be found at https://creativenz.govt.nz/Funds-and.../Find-opportunities
On Thursday 15th December the day started at 8.15am with our first council workshop on the Draft Annual Plan (DAP). Have to love those three letter abbreviations – which reminds me DAP (which for us farmers means Di Ammonium Phosphate and aerial topdressing) was a hot topic in terms of the Proposed District Plan. The noise section of the proposed plan limits aircraft movements in a way which would be detrimental to hill country farming. Submissions have been made on this and these will be considered by the Commissioners in the New Year. Commissioners are skilled and qualified to come to workable solutions to issues that have been raised through submissions.
Back to the Draft Annual Plan – this is the first in a series of workshops that will work through the budget for the 2023/24 year. The Long Term Plan that was updated in 2021 already has a budget in it for the 2023/24 year and each year (apart from the year the Long Term Plan is adopted) the draft budget is then re-examined to see what if anything has changed. The workshops and the hard work of council staff will result in a consultation document being released in March.
On Thursday afternoon I also attended our monthly Waitomo Energy Services Customer Trust meeting. There was 120 pages of pre-reading for this meeting which covered a number of different areas – all of which are on track. By the time we finished just before five o’clock I was well and truly spent for the week and was glad to have a little time to finish a bridal horse-shoe for my step-daughter’s wedding.
This week has mainly been a catch up on paperwork and payments prior to Christmas and a long overdue car service and the dreaded pre-Christmas supermarket shop along with and an unexpected one-hour meal preparation for twelve in the middle of the week – so lovely to be able to show a piece of New Zealand to our overseas family and friends.
I am truly grateful to have the luxury of some whanau and rest and relaxation time over the next eleven days and am enthused and looking forward to getting back into everything in January.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
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