Our Council: e-newsletter

Solid Waste Bylaw for consultation. This bylaw regulates the use of Council's waste management services and facilities, so basically the rules around rubbish. For example, how the kerbside collection works and what happens at Mt Cooee landfill. This is a formal submission process, which will run from 11 November to 11 December 2017. All the information will be available on the consultation page of our website. 

Council also agreed to seek feedback from the public about the upcoming Representation Review. We are required to review our representation arrangements before the 2019 local body election, so we want to know what you think before we make decisions about the number of  councillors, how they should be elected, e.g. on a ward basis or not, and whether community boards are necessary. It's important to note this is an initial feedback round that will run from 11 November 2017 to 19 January 2018. Formal consultation will take place later in 2018, and again all the information will be available on the consultation page of our website. In addition, Council agreed to retain the status quo by not establishing a Maori ward. This follows an earlier report to Council in August and discussions with iwi, who indicated their preference to retain the status quo.  

Council also agreed to seek feedback on proposed Resource Management Act fees for boundary activity resource consents ($280 fixed fee) and resource consent exemptions ($210 fixed fee).  This is open for feedback from 11 November to 11 December and more information, including an online feedback form will be available on the consultation page of our website.      

During the same time period we also want to hear from you about our Waste Management and Minimisation Plan, which sets the direction for managing and reducing waste for the next six years. We believe Council and community need to work together to change behaviour. This is a formal submission process.

Lastly is the District Plan review. This is the formal submission process that follows pre-notification consultation. You have the chance to tell us what you think about changes to the plan, the focus is on residential and industrial zoning areas in Balclutha, Milton and Stirling.

At today’s Council meeting, Councillors agreed on the next steps for the Our Place Milton Community Plan projects.

Following Council’s September decision about key project groupings, staff were instructed to bring back for Council approval the detail of the projects including the scope and parameters.

At today's meeting they agreed on project scopes for the following:

• Development in and around Milton

• Walking and cycling

• Community and visitor facilities

• Parks and reserves, including Greater Taylor Park, Moore Park and Fairfax Cemetery.

For projects such as the main street, swimming pool, and Milton Service Centre, Councillors agreed to carry out further work and investigations as part of the 2018 Long Term Plan process, which looks ahead to the next 10 years.

The "Our Place Milton" community plan will help determine the projects and priorities for the community, as well as help put Council's Living and Working and Economic Development Strategies into action. The ideas centre on what Council can do with our key facilities and how we can work with the community to make things happen.

Acting Chief Executive Jules Witt said obviously it will take time and detailed planning work, but working with the community will be key to the success of these projects.

Some of these projects are likely to be community-led rather than Council led.

We’d like to encourage anyone who is interested in being part of the process to get in touch with us. For example, perhaps, you’re part of an already established community group that would like to get on board with a certain project.

You can email Alana.king@cluthadc.govt.nz  

All the information, including details of the project scopes, is available on the Milton Community Plan page of our website.

Councillors have agreed to "Mallard Drive" as the name of a road at a new subdivision in Waihola. The developer Southern Lifestyles have built a subdivision on Titri Road and now need to provide a legal name for the new road. Two options provided were Mallard Drive (the developer's preferred option), which refers to the common breed of duck seen on the lake and Raupo, which refers to the common reed that grows on the lake.

Council also approved the part road stopping of the unformed section of Salcombe Street in Kaitangata following a request from a resident. The land is superfluous to requirements and will result in the creation of a freehold rateable section thereby adding to the growth potential of Kaitangata.  

The South Otago A&P Society sought $5,000 in funding to help with the entertainment for their 151st show being held this summer - they have struggled to find other funding grants. Council agreed to this request and the money will come from the  Opportunities Fund, which won't have an impact on rates.

Contract 770 - Pounawea Sewer Extension: was awarded to Andrew Haulage for the sum of $88,000. This is $18,000 over an August 2014 report estimate, but construction costs have risen since then. Andrew Haulage has completed many jobs of this type and size previously.

Contract 775 - Balclutha War Memorial Hall Complex Cleaning: was awarded to CrestClean for the sum of $30,000.  

We welcomed 10 new citizens at this latest citizenship ceremony, people of Indian, Dutch South African, British, Samoan and Australian nationality. We extend a warm welcome to Murtuza Bohari, Martina Bruwer, Nicola Hawkins, Jaison Joseph, Stevie Tiatia, Nitinkumar Vatvisa, Lucas Jodrell, Ruth and Scott Ratcliffe and Richard Schofield. They are pictured below with Mayor Bryan Cadogan and their gifted Kowhai trees.

Waste and recycling wheelie bins will be located in the Clutha Valley School pool car park for six months from 1 November. These bins are available for all residents to use at no cost! The reason for this is to introduce residents to the wheelie bins with a view to eventually extending the wheelie bin service to Clydevale and Tuapeka Mouth.

Totara Year 7-8 students from Clutha Valley School surveyed residents in August this year (2017) and while there was good commitment to signing up for the wheelie bin service, the numbers weren’t quite high enough to make the service viable. So, during this trial, the students will promote the service and provide further information with a view to completing another resident survey at the end of the six months.

If there is sufficient interest then Council will look to progress the extension of this service. For the six-month trial (while the bins are available in the pool carpark) the twice-monthly visit from the wheelie bin truck will not happen. As you may know, the truck simply accepted rubbish, but with this new trial you can drop both your rubbish and recycling off. The last bonus is that the school will now have recycling bins on its doorstep!

Applications are being called for the Sport NZ Rural Travel Fund. This is designed to help subsidise travel for junior teams. It is open to rural sports clubs and rural school teams with young people aged between 5-19 years who require assistance with transport expenses to local sporting competitions (this excludes travel to regional or national events). Travel expenses must be incurred between 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018.  Applications close Friday, 17 November 2017. Further information can be found on the Funding Schemes page of our website.

Applications are now being accepted for the Tuapeka County Bursary. This bursary fund is available to students who reside in the former Tuapeka County and Roxburgh, Tapanui and Lawrence Borough areas and is designed to assist them in their attendance at tertiary education institutes. A minimum bursary of $1,000 is available on an annual basis. Further details of the fund are available on the Funding Schemes page of our website. Written applications in the prescribed format close on 26 January 2018.

Clutha District residents will have the chance rate Council’s performance during our annual resident satisfaction survey, which kicked off on 1 November. The telephone survey will be conducted by the company Research First and run for two-three weeks.

Residents will be able to give feedback about a wide range of council services, including roads, public toilets, libraries and more. They will also have the chance to rate the overall performance of Clutha District Council.

 In 2016, 84% of residents surveyed were satisfied with the overall performance of Council. Other council facilities that rated highly included service/information centres, libraries, playgrounds and community centres/halls. Roads and footpaths were identified as the facilities most residents felt improvements could be made to. Both roads and footpaths have seen significant investment in recent times and will continue to do so. They will also be part of the 2018 Long Term Plan consultation programme.