On Thursday 16 November, the Howick Local Board held our business meeting for the month. Here’s a summary of some of the key discussions and outcomes. At the end there are links to the official minutes and a recording of this (and previous) meetings.
• Deputations from Friends of Mangemangeroa and Stand Children’s Services;
• Community Grants approved;
• Play Leadership appointments made;
• Flat Bush Gravel Path project approved;
• Quarter One performance report received;
• Community Forum report received.
After the initial formalities of the welcome, declarations of interest and confirmation of minutes, we moved into deputations.
First up we had Marion Skelton from the Friends of Mangemangeroa Reserve. The old stockyards at Mangemangeroa are due to be removed early in 2024 and Marion raised concerns around the transparency and communications of the process. While due process had been followed, they were frustrated as it would impact their operation. The Partnership Agreement with Auckland Council was overdue for renewal, and they were also looking for information on the status of the old barn. We asked staff to provide some advice on the issues raised which will come to the Board in the near future.
Then we had Preshenka Pillay and Ann Voykovich from Stand Children’s Services presenting on the work they do in our community. They provide specialist educational support for children who have experienced trauma by providing intensive family wraparound services. They currently operate a site in Half Moon Bay but are moving to Manukau in the near future. It was difficult to hear some of the stories about local tamariki, but good to know that there are organisations like this working to help them.
I tabled my Chairpersons Report for the month, which noted all the meetings and events that we’d attended since the last meeting. There has been a lot of annual general meetings, and the Board has been making an effort to attend as many as we can which has been appreciated by the community.
We then moved onto approval of our first Community Grants for this financial year. In total we approved $117,296.80 worth of grants for various community groups and organisations. Two members had conflicts of interest (they are involved with the groups) so we separated these into separate items and they respective members didn’t participate in the discussion or vote.
With an increasing interest in the ongoing development and promotion of play opportunities, Local Board Members have been invited to join an elected members Play Leadership Group. This group is intended to provide members an opportunity to learn more, increase their capacity to advocate for play and provide informal guidance for staff on paly issues. We voted to appoint Deputy Bo Burns and Member Bruce Kendall to the group.
Next we finalised the last piece in our Local Board Transport Capital Fund puzzle. This fund provides boards with a budget to deliver small projects that are not on Auckland Transport’s work programme and we predominately use it for safety projects. Flat Bush has been subject to extensive development in recent decades and private developers are required to provide footpaths when they develop land. But sometimes growth leaves one block developed and as a result Flat Bush has stretches of disconnected footpath separated by long gaps. That is particularly concerning when it’s our tamariki walking to and from their schools, so we’re prioritising action in those areas.
We received the Howick Local Board Performance Report for Quarter One, detailing the work that staff have been doing to deliver on our approved work programmes. Revenue is slightly below budget (4%) mostly due to lower numbers at Lloyd Elsmore and Howick leisure centres, while expenditure was above budget (2%) largely due to increased repairs and maintenance. 94% of our work programme items are on track, with 6% delayed which are the Howick Domain renewal (larger than expected) and three related leases, Te Kete Rukuruku (dual naming of parks waiting on us to provide feedback) and leases for Bramley Drive Reserve and the Deport (both working through some consenting changes).
We noted the delegated feedback from the previous term. Normally the Board will provide feedback via a resolution to ensure it’s transparent and conveys the views of the Board, but in the previous term there were instances where the Board delegated its authority to specific members. The report allowed us to bring this feedback back into the public record. This isn’t something we’ve done this term, so I asked members from the previous term to move and second the motion.
We received the report on our latest Community Forum, which was focused on our ethnic communities. These forums allow us to engage with parts of our community that we may not normally hear from and in a format that provides more opportunities for deeper discussion. For this forum, we had a panel discussion followed by a Q&A session, which provided some really useful insights into how we can better support and engage our local ethnic communities. This is just the beginning of our conversations in this space and we’ll look to do more of these in the near future.
We noted our Workshop Records and Governance Forward Work Calendar, then I closed the meeting at 1:17pm.
Minutes of the meeting are available here: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2023/11/20231116_HW_MIN_11576_WEB.htm
along with related attachments like presentations here: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2023/11/20231116_HW_MAT_11576_WEB.htm
And a recording of the meeting is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYb9g3MzDlQ
and previous meetings can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNiuqKCzobSzQ05kCv2JI2iefmDp2_tEh
Our next normal Business Meeting is scheduled for Thursday 14 December at 12noon at the Pakuranga Library building in Aylesbury Street.
These are open to the public to attend and observe, although you need to request a slot if you would like to speak (so we can make sure we provide time).