Summary of Council Meeting

Extraordinary Council Meeting held 23 April 2020

Unfortunately we were not able to live stream yesterday's Council meeting – us, along with a lot of others across the country, had ‘technical’ issues with the internet, so not a great result for our first zoom meeting that was supposed to be live streamed! Please accept our apology for this; next weeks’ Council meeting is really important so we will work on alternatives to make sure we get that one to you all, online.

Here is a summary of what the meeting was about (you can read the full agenda on our website - https://www.rangitikei.govt.nz/files/meetings/council-meetings/2020-04-23/Council-Order-Paper-23-April-2020-EV.pdf).

Local Government Funding Agency – Amendments to Borrowing Programme – the paper covered a requirement from the LGFA (Local Government Funding Authority) to amend documentation by 30 April 2020, to enable Council to borrow funds from this Agency. So it really was a technical matter that needed to be dealt with, at a formal Council meeting. The resolutions that were passed at the meeting were:

• That the memorandum ‘Local Government Funding Agency – Amendments to Borrowing Programme’ to the 23 April 2020 Council meeting be received.
• That the Rangitikei District Council approved the amended borrowing programme proposed by the Local Government Funding Agency to come into effect from 1 July 2020.
• That to enable continuing participation in the Local Government Funding Agency, the Rangitikei District Council approve the signing for of the relevant Deeds of Amendment (by two elected representatives, being His Worship the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor) and of the section 118 certificate (by the Chief Executive).

Cr Dalgety/Cr Lambert. Carried

Cr Belsham/Cr Ash. Carried

Cr Dunn/Cr Duncan. Carried

Councillors also asked the following questions on other matters:

• Early on we had some issues around rubbish disposal and recycling areas, have they been remedied?
• Response – Yes, but not to everyone’s satisfaction, we do have a service for most areas, almost all transfer stations or an alternative is in place, this is all we can provide currently, given this is a contracted service to Council.
• Please give an update on water restrictions in place for Marton and Taihape, an update on the Dam and reservoir levels and on the dam repair?
• Response – water restrictions will be looked at again after the long weekend, on Tuesday 28 April. While there has been some rain, this has only made a small impact on the dam levels for both Marton and Taihape. We have been monitoring this weekly.
  Dam repair – we have appointed the contractor, work is deemed to be urgent and essential so this contract will start on Tuesday, 28 April. Site establishment has happened already. User Groups will be notified the work is about to start.

In closing the meeting Mayor Andy Watson expressed his thanks and appreciation to all the Council staff and volunteers that are working on the response to COVID19.

The next meeting will be held at 1pm on Thursday, 30 April 2020.