The past year has been rather bizarre. Due to the demands of building and managing the Disastersearch website and its team of volunteers, and working to help those people affected by the disasters of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, my life became one of balancing my role with Disastersearch and my role as a city councillor. In many ways, the two roles are not that far apart.

The City Council is once again offering financial assistance to community based arts and culture projects through the Creative Communities New Zealand Scheme.

Application forms for the scheme are available from Monday, August 28, from the Council’s Customer Service Centre with the closing date being Monday, September 25. Adviser to the scheme, Jo Sutton, says the three main aims are to enhance and strengthen the local arts sector, increase the range and diversity of arts available and increase participation in the arts at a local level.

Local Government New Zealand to work with the Government on the independent rates inquiry

Local Government New Zealand’s President Basil Morrison has welcomed the Government’s intention to conduct a principled and comprehensive inquiry into rates.

"I am reassured by the independent nature of the proposed inquiry, free from some of the more extreme solutions expressed recently, such as rate-capping", he says.

"An independent inquiry provides an opportunity to fully investigate the funding issues affecting local government and it allows us to represent the views of our member councils. The issues surrounding rates and various rating systems are complex and require a comprehensive evaluation free of political influence."

There is the old saying that a week can be a long time in politics. The events of this week in our National Government certainly seem to add truth to that saying. First, we had Rodney Hide, the leader of the ACT party, promoting his Local Government (Rating Cap) Amendment Bill, which would have put a cap on rates increases. Along with this, we had the Greens and the National Party calling for a select committee inquiry into rates. They had met to discuss a draft Terms of Reference for this parliamentary enquiry, which was due to be before Parliament tomorrow. Rodney Hide’s Bill was defeated on its first reading and the Government moved quickly to announce an independent (ie. not Select Committee) inquiry before National and the Greens could do anything.

Last Monday night, I attended a meeting of the Environmental and Planning Well-Being Committee. Among the items debated was editorial amendments to Council bylaws. In 2004, Council undertook an extensive review of the bylaws and after many meetings, briefings and much debate, the current bylaws were eventually passed.

Now, as happens once in a while, some typographical errors were found. Things like references to the wrong clause are easily missed when people are focusing on the substance. When this happens, minor changes to correct errors are dealt with by bringing the matter forward at a publicly notified meeting.

Since my inauguration in 2003, I have been asked by many people, “What is it like, being a councillor?” Recently, a couple of people have e-mailed me, asking me to sum up what exactly a councillor does. These are really two different questions but as so many people have asked them in the same conversation, I will endeavour to answer both here.

I was appointed to the following committees in the last term of council…

• Environmental Well-Being Committee (Deputy Chairperson)
• Economic Well-Being Committee
• Infrastructural Well-Being Committee
• Hearings Committee
• Audit & Performance Review Committee
• Long Term Council Community Plan/Annual Plan Committee.

For this term of council, I am on the following committees:

• Environmental & Planning Well-Being Committee
• Infrastructural Well-Being Committee
• Finance & Economic Well-Being Committee
• Audit & Performance Committee
• Hearings Committee

Papaioea Ward is the largest Ward in Palmerston North. It is the largest in area and, in June 2003, it was estimated that the population had reached 20,600 residents. Palmerston North’s population was estimated at 77,100 at that time.

I have represented Papaioea residents at the Council table since my inauguration in February 2003. Prior to this, I had spent three years as Deputy Chair of the Papaioea Ward Committee (which is a committee of council made up of the Ward councillors and six elected members of the local community).

Map of the Papaioea Ward of Palmerston North.

Lobbied the last council to distribute surplus council computers to schools and community groups. Perseverance won out and now council computers which are surplus to requirements are distributed to schools and non-profit community organisations. I am the only councillor involved in this project.

Instigated the installation of new mobility parking spaces in Milson and Hokowhitu.

Advocated over hospital area parking and took residents concerns to the Mid-Central District Health Board.

Instigated a review of the mobility parking regulations within the District Plan to assess compliance with NZ Standard 4121:2001.

This month sees the end of the first full Long Term Council Community Plan undertaken by this council and community. The LTCCP sets the direction we will be taking for the next ten years and also includes some longer-term projects that are scheduled to be progressively developed over a much longer period than that. As a council, we still have many more meetings and debates to go before we finalise the Plan and adopt it on 28th June. By law, the Plan must be adopted by 30th, so there is no leeway for anyone who wishes to derail the process.