Mayoral Report to Council September 2019
September, 2019
Each month Mayor Andy Watson provides a detailed report to Councillors on his activities over the past month and the key events that have happened. The Mayor's report is available on our website as part of the Council Order papers and a great way to keep informed. Below is the link to Council papers which are available for each meeting.
https://www.rangitikei.govt.nz/council/meetings/council/council-meetings
Mayoral Report to Council September 2019
At the last Council meeting Council formalised the appointment of Peter Beggs as our new Chief Executive, who will be starting late October. We are excited to welcome Peter to this meeting, as an observer before he formally starts his role with us. I have given Peter the opportunity to address Council today in public forum and to meet some of the senior staff. I would also like to take the time to thank Ross our departing Chief Executive for the work that he has done over the last seven years. During that time Council has planned and started a long overdue capital replacement programme on water and sewerage plants as well as the replacement of earthquake prone and outdated Council facilities. Ross has been a pleasure to work with and we wish him well for the future.
Voting papers will soon be in letterboxes for the Council elections, I would like to wish all people standing for those positions well and I look forward to working with what will be the new Council late October, as I have been returned unopposed as Mayor for the next term. There will be a chance for those 6 Councillors who are not standing for re-election to give a valedictory farewell speech to Council on the 10th of October and a chance for me to formally thank them for their service.
Last weekend I attended the Taihape events recognising the 125th celebration of Taihape as a town. I was also interested to listen to the history of the area from both an Iwi and European perspective. The photographs shown at the Majestic Theatre certainly showed just how tough life was for the new settlers. Thank you Taihape for including me, I really enjoyed the event.
The celebration of Marton’s 150th is just around the corner with events also planned and I would like to thank Cr Cath Ash along with Project Marton for their support to the historical society to make it happen.
The renovation of the Walton St house as fundraiser for the new Community Centre in Bulls I have often spoken about. The process is just about finished and we have set the date for the auction at the 2nd of November, we will also arrange a thank you party to acknowledge the amazing support from workers, tradespeople and their suppliers.
There are two government lead major issues for our district. The first is possible legislation around climate change which we accept is a reality. For our district while some coastal settlements are at risk with sea level rises, the largest consequence is the increasing incidence of storm and high rainfall. We tend to think of 2004 as being a 100 or 200 year flood, the reality is that we have had three of those events in the last few years. The losses to farmers and our damage to roading has been substantial. The planting of trees to counteract climate change is very topical and pushed by government. On behalf of Council, Cr. Cath Ash and I appeared before the select committee to give Councils views.
I also spoke on the unintended consequences of Carbon Credit forestry in regards to loss of employment, fire risk and the control of old man’s beard an invasive pest species. The fresh water reviews and impending legislation by Government will alter farming practices throughout the country. They are focused on the availability, demand and purity of our rivers. The farming sector has been targeted as poor managers of the environmental estate which in some cases is true, but in my experience the farmers in our district have been retiring at risk land by fencing, promoting river accords and using sustainable farming practices. Our Council is also looking to clean up our game by designing new plants to move away from the discharge of treated effluent to water ways.
Lately, I took the opportunity to spend a morning with a Taihape contractor looking at the Erewhon Rural Water Scheme. This involved travelling to the headwaters and catchment weir at the back of Mangohane station and seeing the areas where pipelines are in need of replacement. The scheme is vast and deals at places with incredibly high water pressures and travels through stunning back country scenery and farming properties. This scheme and the Hunterville Rural Water Scheme have enabled huge hill country properties to be developed which are the financial backbone of our district.
Andy Watson Mayor