Our Council e-newsletter 7 August 2020

Paige NcNabb and Aston Fitzgerald were this year’s recipients of the Telford Bursary. 

Four applications were received and were considered by the Telford Bursary Committee. Paige will receive $2,000 towards her rural studies, with Aston awarded $1,000. 

Both Paige and Aston attended yesterday’s Council meeting (6 August 2020) to formally receive their bursaries. 

Aston is from Canterbury just out of Christchurch. He never enjoyed school but heard about Telford from a family member and was inspired to come here. It’s always been his passion to get into the farming industry and this is what he will pursue when he finished studying. 

 Paige is from North Canterbury. She loves the fact that learning at Telford is a hands-on experience – she loves being out there learning while doing it. For her, Telford feels like a tight family place. She would like to travel in NZ and look at farming practices in different parts of the country. ..

Clutha District Council will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government to undertake a three-year programme to maintain and improve water networks infrastructure and as part of the agreement Council will receive a grant of $3.2 million. 

In July 2020 the Government announced an initial funding package of $761 million to provide a post COVID-19 stimulus to maintain and improve the New Zealand’s water networks infrastructure, and support a three-year programme of reform of local government water services delivery arrangements. 

The initial funding would be made available to those councils that agreed to participate in the initial stage of the reform programme through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), a Funding Agreement, and an approved Delivery Plan. Council noted that participation in this initial stage would be undertaken in good faith, but was a non-binding approach, and the Council could opt out of the reform process at the end of the term of the agreement. 

At the recent Central/Local Government Forum, central and local government leadership discussed the challenges facing New Zealand’s water service delivery and infrastructure and committed to working jointly on reform. A Joint Central/Local Government Three Waters Steering Committee has been established to provide oversight and guidance to support this work. 

This initial funding would be provided in two parts: a direct allocation to individual territorial authorities of $3.2 million, and a regional allocation of $20.6 million. The participating individual authorities in each region would need to agree on an approach to distributing the regional allocation. 

The Delivery Plan must show that the funding was being applied to operating and/or capital expenditure relating to three waters infrastructure and service delivery. In particular, the Delivery Plan would need to support economic recovery and address persistent systemic issues facing the three waters sector. This would include stimulating investment and assisting economic recovery through job creation, maintaining investment in water infrastructure renewals and maintenance, reforming current water service delivery into larger scale providers to realise significant economic, public health, environmental, and other benefits over the medium to long term.

Councillors have decided to allocate $50,000 from the George Melville Fund to the Bruce Community Facilities Trust as the first contribution to their $2.5 million fundraising campaign. 

The Bruce Community Facilities Trust Committee is charged with both fundraising and providing community input to deliver a new high-quality pool complex which also incorporates the Service Centre and Library for the District. 

George Melville lived in Milton all his life. He never married and was the Town Clerk for the Milton Borough Council from 1948 to 1973 when he retired. He bequeathed a considerable sum to be used for projects in the town of Milton, and specified that ‘The funds must be employed in and towards the promotion of the library, the recreation facilities and general beautification of the reserves within the confines of the Milton Borough as is was prior to amalgamation’. 

Council decided the Milton Community Facility would be a valid project for the George Melville Fund to be used in as it met the three purposes of the George Melville Fund. 

At the Council meeting, Councillors considered divesting the entire fund towards the one project, with the pool project receiving $50,000 and the remaining $109,663 being split between the library and landscaping. However, they decided against that idea as there could be worthy projects in the coming years that could benefit from the fund. The final decision was that the pool project should receive $50,000 and the remainder should be reserved for future use. 

Council would also like to acknowledge George Melville’s bequest by the placement of a commemorative plaque in the new complex. 

Council’s Civic Awards are to be renamed the Clutha District Community Service Awards and will be held annually. In 2018 Council decided to reinstate the Civic Awards after Trustpower discontinued it’s long standing community awards. 

Council’s awards recognised a maximum of four recipients annually and were held in conjunction with Volunteer Week in June. Due to uncertainty around Covid-19, the Civic Awards were not promoted this year. 

At the Council meeting yesterday, Councillors supported the idea of a limited event for individuals and youth to be held in October 2020. They also decided to continue with the awards in 2021, in conjunction with Volunteer Week, with the final format and funding arrangements to be decided during the upcoming Long Term Plan process.  

The renewal of Hinahina Bridge 229 (Contract 809) has been awarded to Concrete Structures Ltd in the sum of $3,086,500. 

 A total of four conforming tenders and one alternative tender were received with prices ranging from $3,086,500 to $8,340,387. 

Included in the tender price is construction of a dedicated cycle/pedestrian lane on the bridge.