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.

This question has been raised a number times within council over the last few years. We know, of course, who is contributing and who is not, but how is the public supposed to know? If you believe everything you read, then you should take the meeting statistics at face value - someone attends only xyz percentage of meetings, that means they are only working xyz of the time they are expected to. Or are they?

The statistics, which are published every six months, record the number of formal meetings and workshops a member attends for a period of one hour or 50% of the meeting time, whichever is the lower time. So, a councillor *can* attend half a meeting and sleep through that time, and still have the nice tick against their name as having been physically present. A councillor may also attend a meeting for an hour or less, without having read the order paper or having a clue what the meeting is discussing, not say a word, not take part in voting, and still have his/her stats show attendance. Is that councillor actually working? If the stats are the way you measure this, then, yes!

2005 is almost over and council goes into recess next month. It is getting harder and harder to be publicly supportive of our Mayor. We are still having far too many talkfests which achieve far too few results given the amount of time spent on issues. Any majority vote that goes against the Mayor’s personal opinion just results in the same matter coming back to council again and again. So much time (and talking) has passed, yet we still do not know what the Mayor wishes to achieve in this term. I, for one, would love to know what her plans and aspirations are for the city!

I started writing this blog entry to let off steam over those few in Palmerston North who are sending me messages, whining about the fact that I am part of a small team that has created an amazing resource for those affected by hurricane Katrina. Apparently, they have assumed that this means I am not honouring my responsibilities to Palmerston North. Isn’t it always the squeaky wheels making the most noise that people notice?

I’m not writing more about them except to say that those people who have shown their complete lack of compassion for others, and a preference for making swipes at me, will get no explanation or apology from me for anything I am doing.

The Department of Internal Affairs produces some interesting information about local government. Just in case any of you may get these questions on a Trivial Pursuit challenge, I thought I would share…

In both 2001 and 2004, the sitting Mayor was defeated. 2001 saw 4 Mayoral candidates, in 2004 we had 6.

The average number of registered voters for each of the 15 council positions was 3,398 in 2001 and 3,439 in 2004.

In 2001, 40 candidates stood for election to council, in 2004 it was 37, but in 2001 only 53% of sitting councillors were re-elected, whereas in the last election, 80% were re-elected.

In information provided by Local Government New Zealand, the Council has been informed that from next year’s budget the rates rebate income level will increase from $7,400 a year to $20,000.

The City Council, along with Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), has made several submissions to the government seeking to have the limit raised, the last time during the previous term of Council.

At present people whose income is less than $7,400 can qualify for up to $200 off their rates.

Strategy Manager - Finance, Steve Paterson, says the low income level is “totally inadequate and we have argued to increase it to an appropriate level.”

At 6am Tuesday, 19th, Cr Gordon Cruden sent an e-mail to our Mayor. In it he mentioned that the Linklater Block was due to come up for debate at the next council meeting (following a 50/50 split in votes from the Recreation Well-Being Committee meeting) and asking her to defer such debate.

The Mayor responded that she was “not aware of any Major Late item for the council meeting, the matter of the Linklater Block will come up in the Recreation Committee report”, but did not respond to the request that the item be deferred.
First thing this morning a Notice of Motion was presented to council. The motions to be put are:
1. Reaffirm Council’s commitment to retain the Linklater Block as a City reserve for passive recreation, and
2. That the Linklater Liaison Group be reactivated.

Cr Gordon Cruden sent another e-mail to the Mayor again seeking her agreement to defer the debate. I understand he has not received a response.

At around the same time this morning that Cr Cruden sent his e-mail I sent my own e-mail to the Mayor. In it I state: “I respectfully request that you defer this issue and that no decision on the Linklater Block is made before submissions close.”