Our Council: E-newsletter 17 February 2022

Excellent results in terms of both water quality and quantity from hydraulic testing of the Greenfield pilot bore have given councillors confidence to approve the project going full term, with an indicative construction costs of $14.5 million.

The project, involving the construction of six pumping stations and a 41km pipe network, will improve drinking water quality for users of the Tuapeka, Balmoral, and Lawrence rural water schemes in line with national standards. 

It will also improve scheme capacity, with an indicative yield from the pilot bore of 70 litres a second - well on the way to meeting future demand of 120 l/s

An indicative financial impact has been provided in the 2021-31 Long Term Plan. 

The full financial impact of this project won’t be known until tenders come in for this main pipeline and pump station components.     

The Kai Build Trust was successful in its bid for council funding of an additional house build in Needles Street, Kaitangata, to two houses already being built.

Councillors considered the request was consistent with the council's Vibrant Rural Towns and Communities" Outcome, its Key Priority Area of "Enough Quality Housing," its Living and Working Strategy, and the Housing Strategy. 

They noted that in the case of the two previous house builds, the council recovered all its costs, and that adding one build to a programme of two, where there are willing and predetermined buyers, represents a low financial risk.

Existing flexibility relating to shop trading hours in Clutha on Easter Sunday has been preserved. Council initiated a special consultative procedure for the draft Easter Sunday Shop Trading Policy 2022, which attracted one submission in opposition. 

The submitter contended only essential businesses (eg service stations) should be able to trade on Easter Sunday, and that there should be no exemptions for other businesses, because otherwise this detracted from the religious significance of Easter. 

However, in adopting the policy as proposed, councillors agreed that current legislation respects the historical significance of Easter because: it remains optional for businesses to open on Easter Sunday; there is no obligation for their employees to work then; and people may choose not to visit shops on that day. 

A cost recovery approach to capital and maintenance work carried out on community housing units owned by the Council has now been applied.

The cost recovery rental model (flagged in the 2021-31 Long Term Plan) requires Council to consider all costs and confirm the capital to be spent on the units which must now be recovered from rentals. 

Rents for Council's community housing units were previously based on current market rate. With the move to a cost-recovery model they have been divided into three categories based on their previous rental level. 

Category 1 - units in Clinton, Lawrence, Owaka.

Category 2 - units in Milton, Toshvale in Balcutha.

Category 3 - units in Kaitangata, Tapanui, Waihola and the remaining ones in Balclutha.

At this meeting Councillors were presented with four potential rental increase options and decided to adopt a proportional increase in rents across all three category of rentals. Councillors decided that the rents for community housing in 2022/23 will be: 

Category 1 - $132 rent per week 

Category 2 - $146 rent per week

 Category 3 - $167 rent per week.

Recent legislative changes mean rentals can only be adjusted every 12 months.

Budget adjustments to numerous capital works projects in the 2021-2031 Long Term Plan have had to be adjusted because of the rising cost of construction materials.

As projects have been further developed some budgets have been identified as being insufficient to cover the cost of construction. Some contracts have been below estimate but the majority have been 10 to 40% above the initial estimates. 

Regular price increases in price for basic and specialist materials are playing a major part in these variances.

Councillors approved budget adjustments to a list of projects for which staff no longer had discretion to accept. These included: Pounawea seawall, Heriot pump station renewal, Lawrence pump station renewal, Owaka Hall project, Hospital Creek embankment renewal, Patterson Creek stormwater.

One bridge has been added, and two removed, from a list of bridges within Council's roading network where weight and speed limits for heavy vehicles apply. 

The list was accepted by councillors following the annual inspection of bridges completed in December.

 Limits are applied where bridges are identified as being susceptible to damage or increased deterioration, where normal open road loads and speeds apply.

 Bridges at Hinahina Road and Mitchell's Flat Road have been removed from the list following strengthening and repair work carried out in 2020-21.

 The bridge at Benny Road, near Tuapeka Mouth has been added to the list - it is due for replacement in 2022-23.