Concerned citizen presents petition
Michael Brough a concerned Clutha citizen presented a signed petition to today’s Council meeting regarding road safety.
The petition was asking for broken yellow lines to be painted at least 6 metres back from every intersection in the township, to ensure people did not park in that space.
Mr Brough said there had been numerous vehicle accidents from obstructed visibility because of vehicles parking too close to the intersections.
Mayor Bryan Cadogan thanked Mr Brough for his concerns which would be considered by Council.
Updated concept plan for Chinese camp presented to Council
Clutha District Councillors have been given an update about how the Lawrence Chinese Camp CharitableTrust’s concept plan project is progressing.
Trust members Rachel Gemmill and Adrienne Shaw presented an updated concept plan at today’s Council meeting.
The camp was established in 1860 at the height of the gold rush and the Poon Fah/Joss House is the only original in New Zealand.
The trust is working towards developing and operating an international heritage destination that celebrates and respects our Chinese Heritage.
The trust is committed to completing stage one of the project including restoration of the buildings in the camp which are quite run down and also creating a visitor centre by 2023.
Mayor Bryan Cadogan acknowledged the passion the Trust had for the project and looked forward to future developments.
Naish Park upgrade takes a positive step forward
The upgrade of Naish Park just took a positive step forward with Council agreeing to fund $45,000 for Geotesting and park design work.
Naish Park Coordinating Group Chairperson Jared Phee said the funding would help the group to create a master plan which would be instrumental in helping the group share the vision of the project with potential funders.
Along with the funding Council agreed to the overall scheme plan which will be further progressed by the design work.
A discussion was had about the need for better mowing and it was decided to allow staff to do further investigations and bring it back to Council as part of the Annual Plan process.
The group was aiming to have playground design completed and approved by Council by the end of August 2019.
Election update
Councillors decided to go with candidate names being listed alphabetically in the voting documents for the 2019 triennial local government elections.
The election will occur on Saturday 12 October and under regulation 21 of the Local Electoral Regulations 2001, Council choose alphabetical in favour of the other two options pseudo-random (names drawn out of a hat in random with all voting documents printed in this order) or random order (names randomly drawn by computer with each voting document different).
- With election date on Saturday 12 October 2019, the following key functions and dates will apply:
- Nominations open/roll open - Friday 19 July 2019
- Nominations close/roll closes (noon) - Friday 16 August 2019
- Delivery of voting mailers - From Friday 20 September 2019
- Close of voting - Noon Saturday 12 October 2019
Water Services Bylaw opens of consultation
A draft water services bylaw aimed at improving Council’s approach to managing water services including water, stormwater, sewerage and trade wastes is being put for the public to have their say.
The draft bylaw and consultation plan was approved at today’s Council meeting.
The bylaw would incorporate new aspects for trade waste, sewerage, stormwater.
It will affect commercial and industrial customers on Council’s water, sewerage and stormwater schemes in Balclutha, Clinton, Heriot, Kaitangata, Kaka Point, Lawrence, Milton, Owaka, Pounawea, Stirling, Tapanui and Waihola, and also rural water schemes.
The draft bylaw proposes to address the following issues:
• Discharging trade waste directly to the sewerage system which can cause blockages, overflows and introduce hazardous substances that can be a health risk to the public and to the environment. They can also affect the operation of our treatment processes.
• Greater ability to control the quality of trade waste entering the sewage treatment plants will help improve the quality of the discharge to meet resource consent conditions.
• After 1 July 2020 customers may need a consent to discharge trade wastes. How much they may pay will depend on how much and the type of trade waste they produce.
• Businesses who discharge trade waste can consider and (where appropriate and practicable) implement waste minimisation and cleaner production techniques to reduce the quantity and improve the quality of their discharges.
• Commercial and industrial customers are also changing to metered charging, so that they pay for the water they use.
This will make water charging fairer and more consistent.
For more information about the draft bylaw and access to the online submission form go to www.cluthdadc.govt.nz
New categories added to Council’s Voluntary Targeted Rates
Council has decided to add extra categories to its Voluntary Targeted Rates (VTR) schemes provide further flexibility for ratepayers.
The three categories added are:
• Connection costs and financial or development contribution costs for connection to Council services such as water and sewerage schemes.
• Clean up and or the costs to remedy issues associated with adverse events that are the responsibility of private property owners.
• Urgent Health and Safety Issues that are either caused by or are the responsibility of private property owners.
VTR schemes provide an option to address short term issues where people may not be able to afford to undertake necessary works.
These are normally in the range of 3 to 5 years and are only available to ratepayers with a good rates payment history.
A VTR also enables someone to fund works until they can sell the property.
Council is also protected as a creditor as they have first call over the property through the rating mechanisms provided in the rating act.
Financial and rating implications will vary from year to year and funding requirements for these VTR categories will be addressed on an annual basis during Annual Plan development.
Disclosure of the VTRs and amounts to be recovered will be included in the Funding Impact Statement in the financial year following their introduction.
Council already collects VTR funds for dust suppression, Warn Air Clean Homes, Cosy Homes and Sewerage Connection.
Council to upgrade head office and extend car park
Clutha District Council will upgrade its head office and extend the car park to improve customer flow and security.
Council confirmed the funding from existing budgets of $530K plus an additional $10K of renewals to be used to undertake the Head Office Improvements Project and approve $55K from Main Office renewals to fund the unsealed car park extension and loop road project.
The upgrade had been approved as a project as part of the 2018-28 Long Term Plan to deal with a lack of meeting rooms and improved customer and public spaces.
The proposal includes an extension to the building in from the glass atrium at the front of the Council building. This would be to create two new meeting rooms that could also be used as a single large meeting room.
The intention is that these would be accessible externally when the Council is generally closed for meetings etc. as well as for use during normal business hours.
Customers will no longer need to go into a separate reception area for Regulatory issues and they will be handled by the main customer services staff with a series of ‘pods’ or smaller meeting rooms available for staff from any department to come out and meet with customers adjacent to the main foyer area.
Update to Council’s Delegations Register
Council agreed to update the delegations register to incorporate the delegations under the Food Act 2014 and to remove the delegations under the old Food Act 0981.
The current delegations were out of date and a recent audit by the Ministry of Primary Industries suggested that it should be updated.
The Delegations Register allows Council officers/contractors to discharge their duties under the relevant legislation.
Bridge weight and speed restrictions notified
Council will notify the public about the weight and speed limits on Bridges in the Clutha District.
As part of annual bridge inspections, Council’s Roading Network Professional Services provider, Stantec, recommended the posting of weight and speed limits on bridges identified as being susceptible to damage or increased deterioration, should they be subjected to “normal” open road loads and speeds.
The inspections, which occur annually, were undertaken in December 2018 with no further additional bridges having been added (from the inspections) however Bridge 465 at Hospital Creek in Lawrence has been removed as repair work has been done.
Balanced Scorecard report
Councillors were updated on how Council is tracking with projects at today’s council meeting.
The Balanced Scorecard report is presented to Council quarterly in the 2018/19 year.
It brings an update about how Council is tracking, particularly in terms of our non-financial targets and overall progress of projects for the year to date.
The report aims to provide an improved level of reporting and transparency about progress during the year.
Contracts awarded
Contract 729 Streetlight LED Retrofit for the replacement of luminaires was awarded to McKay Ltd for $708,805.26.