I am a very fit and healthy person, which is just as well as I have a low tolerance for those times when I am not up to par. I had to undergo surgery a couple of weeks ago and although the doctors and my specialist all said to expect to take six weeks to recover, I really expected to be back to normal within two weeks. Somehow my body and my willpower have been at odds over this and I am now having to concede that the medical professionals are right. This has caused me to have to tender apologies for a few committee meetings and a couple of workshops. Luckily, PNCC has some wonderful staff who are making sure I stay up to speed and are keeping me informed of the outcomes. I shouldn’t be missing any council meetings and at least I will go into these fully informed - but, oh boy! is this enforced rest frustrating!

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!

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.”

A member of a council committee sends out a weekly e-mail newsletter which he uses as the basis for a radio show he does on Access Radio 999FM.
This is from the latest missive:

> Councillor Pope has challenged my comments regarding what she says or
> does. So I have decided to report at a regular basis so you the reader
> can decide on her performance. [1] On March 2nd she gave an apology
> for non-attendance at Council Meeting. [2] 14 March 2005 was at
> Extraordinary Council Meeting. [3] 7th March she gave an apology for
> non-attendance at Environmental Wellbeing Committee meeting. [4] 7th
> March at 7.30pm she gave an apology for non-attendance at a
> Infrastructure Wellbeing Committee meeting. There were three other
> meetings that Cr. Pope could have attended but did not.
> So now you the reader/listener can decide on her performance.
> All findings above can be found in council minutes. Over this period
> Cr. Pope along with Dennison and Naylor registered no interest in
> appointment to outside organisations.

You, dear reader, have probably already noticed that my apologies for meetings here in Palmerston North went in at the same time I was in Wellington at Hui Taumata and in Greymouth for the RMA Accreditation training.

Meetings I “could have attended but did not”? I don’t think so!

At our last council meeting of the year we debated The Square redevelopment yet again. It seems that this is an issue which will dominate this term of council. The Mayor stated that it is “an unnecessary luxury which the city cannot afford”. This was certainly my feeling when I first stood for council. However, the proposals put forward last night ignored the fact that the Stage 2 works had been previously approved, relitigated, and approved again numerous times. Also ignored was the fact that the current rates include the Stage 2 works. The recommendation to not proceed with the proposed kowhai grove and lime chip paths was unnecessary as the designers, landscapers, stakeholders (including the Police) and safety experts had already agreed that pohutukawa and grass was more suitable in this location. The type of pohutukawa under investigation is one of the new hybrids, a cross between pohutukawa and rata, which lends itself to limbing up.

After a hectic week last week which included a number of council meetings and workshops, and the Well-Being Forum at the Convention Centre, this week has been much quieter. Wednesday 15th saw the opening of the new DOC exhibit at the i-Site and a celebration of its first birthday. It seems that the move to The Square has been successful in giving our information centre a higher profile and increasing numbers of visitors. The DOC exhibit is well worth seeing and contains information on some new summer tours. I encourage you all to visit the i-Site to check it out.

It’s now the early hours of the morning following our last council meeting. I am still winding down so thought I would take this opportunity to let you know how it all went.

I worked on Monday morning, leaving just in time to race off to the Kingsgate Hotel for the Local Government New Zealand Elected Members Training which started at midday. I was disappointed to see so few of our councillors there, especially as there have been many regulatory changes in the last three years.

On the first Saturday morning of every month over this last year I have been at the Milson Community Centre so people could drop in for a chat. I have always had a lot of the information which is normally available at the Customer Services Centre, plus copies of council plans and any consultation documents.

While some mornings have been busy, with a number of people calling in to talk with me, a number of days have seen no visitors at all.

In July 2004 a small group of councillors put forward a resolution to stop the City Heart project. This was defeated by a majority of council. However, this is election time and misinformation is spreading around the city. I was asked to explain what happened and as the explanation may be of interest to more than just the person who asked me, I have decided to post it here.

Councillor Kelly had been complaining that debate on City Heart was being stifled. City Heart had been on the agenda of the July City Council meeting with the Chair of the City Heart Steering Group scheduled to give an oral report on progress. However, when the Chairperson, Marilyn Craig, did not attend the item was dropped. I was approached by Cr. Claridge and asked if I would support a resolution which would allow debate on the issue to take place. The resolution required the signatures of six councillors to enable an extraordinary meeting to take place. Cr Kelly had support from Cr’s Claridge, Tanguary, Findlay and Brown.

I am a firm believer in democracy and I also felt that there needed to be an opportunity for debate on the City Heart project, so I was happy to sign a resolution which would enable this debate to take place.

February, 2004

A regional state of emergency declared following a week of heavy rain, hurricane force winds and flooding. Palmerston North sustained little damage in comparison to our regional neighbours, which is cold comfort to those who were directly affected. My heart goes out to you all. I am involved in welfare liaison which has meant I have not been able to attend two brief council committee meetings in the week ended 20th February. All LTCCP meetings were attended and I managed to get along to the Community Development committee meeting.