On Thursday 20 July, 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.
We began our meeting with a minor correction to the previous minutes, noting that Coastguard Howick had generously provided each Local Board Member with a copy of their new book.
We acknowledged Vickie Bowers who has recently retired from Centre Director of the UXBRIDGE Arts & Culture Centre. Leading this organisation since 2015, Vickie leaves an incredible legacy and we are grateful for her service to our community.
We also took the opportunity to thank our amazing volunteers who do so much in our community. We had a special event to recognise some volunteers who were nominated by fellow community members. Adding their names means this recognition is now part of the public record.
For the first time this term we didn’t have any members of the public coming to speak with us! The one planned deputation was withdrawn and we hope to see them soon.
We received the written report from our Ward Councillors, Sharon Stewart and Maurice Williamson detailing the meetings that they had attended.
This was followed by my Chairperson’s report, where I try to capture some of the key events and issues that we’ve been focused on since the last meeting. I noted our recent Community Forum (first of the term) and the recent local celebrations for Matariki. During the month we received a resolution from the Waiheke Local Board, noting with concern the impact of the exotic marine invader Caulerpa. We supported their resolution and added our own voice to the call for more action to tackle this significant treat to our marine biosecurity.
Our next item was discussed under confidentiality, requiring us to exclude the public. While we cannot disclose the discussion within this section due to potential commercial issues, we did release the decision we made – to fund the local Kauri Kids early childhood education centre for this year. During the Annual Budget consultation, the Mayor had proposed that Auckland Council withdraw from the provision of early childhood education services which advice suggested would save $1 million across Auckland. The Howick Local Board has consistently said that we believe that this discussion was better suited in the Long-Term Plan consultation. The Governing Body (Mayor and Councillors) voted to withdraw the service, with a caveat that allowed Local Boards to fund them if we wanted to. Within six weeks we were asked to make this decision, despite only receiving the relevant financial information a week prior. If we didn’t fund them, they would close. Our decision to fund the service allows us time to better understand the options available to us and we’ve asked staff to identify potential alternative providers. We’ve set a deadline of 30 June 2024 to give everyone certainty and also reduce the financial risks for the Board (e.g. we’re not liable for any potential redundancies).
To keep Kauri Kids operating, we had to allocate some of our budget to cover the costs that were previously regionally funded. Unfortunately, this meant we weren’t able to finalise our full work programme for the year. This was frustrating as we’ve spent a significant amount of time and effort making sure that our plan delivered on what the community wanted, balanced with what we could afford. Thanks to valuable advice from our staff, we managed to finalise most of our operational grants, delivery of community services and maintenance contracts. We also confirmed our capital works programme (CAPEX), community leases and business improvement work programmes.
Our environmental work programme is one of our higher value items and while we couldn’t confirm the entire plan, we did approve some funding for our vital stream improvement and Pest Free Howick. Over the next few weeks we are getting more advice on the items we didn’t approve (or only partially approved) and then we’ll make the final decisions at our August meeting.
Normally at this time of the year we’d be reviewing the agreements for the Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) like Auckland Transport, Watercare and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited. However these organisations are still working through the impact of the new council budget and these will be reviewed in August instead. We did receive their latest updates for April to June and plan for July through till September.
We then confirmed our local community grants programme for the year. Our quick response grants are available in two rounds (9 October-3 November and 17 April-12 May) for applications between $300 and $3,000. Larger grants are available in two separate rounds (24 July-1 September and 8 January-16 February) for grants over $3,000.
Shamrock Cottage in Selwyn Road had to be closed for significant repairs and upgrades which are almost complete. Because of the scale of the works and timing of the previous lease, the tenant had exited the building. We approved the new commercial lease for the same operator to return, with the addition of the opportunity to apply for an alcohol license.
We received and adopted the Shade/Shelter Provision Assessment which will guide the delivery of more shade in our parks and playgrounds over the next few years. Some of this will be delivered through the planting of trees (providing other benefits) while built structures like shade sails will be used for a quicker delivery (at a significantly higher cost).
We were asked to classify the carpark at Ara Tai Road, Half Moon Bay, but Members had questions about the potential implications of the decision that we couldn’t answer at the time. We’ve deferred this item to a future meeting so we can get more information and advice first.
Next we granted approval for two road names in Flat Bush – Firenze and Riserva Road.
And another approval – landlord approval for Fencibles United AFC to install an illuminated sign on their club rooms at William Green Domain. They own the building and want to explore installing an electronic sign for sponsors which we approved. This is subject to a couple of terms (e.g. must be switched off at 9pm) and still may require a resource consent.
In New Zealand councils can choose to run elections using either the First Past the Post (FPP) or Single Transferable Vote (STV) systems. There are pros and cons for both systems (captured in the report). The Board supported moving to the STV system together with an informational campaign to ensure the public understands how to vote. This decision will be made by the Governing Body before 23 September 2023.
Last month we held our first Community Forum for the term, Connecting with Communities in Need. This is a less formal format that allows us to engage with groups that we wouldn’t normally get an opportunity to engage with. We received a report that gave a brief summary of who attended and the key themes from the discussion. We’re going to review this in greater detail in a future workshop and get more advice on what we can do to support these organisations and the incredible work they do in our communities.
We were expecting a report from Auckland Transport on our Local Board Transport Capital Fund (LBTCF) but it wasn’t ready in time and was withdrawn.
After noting our workshop records and forward work calendar, our meeting closed at 3:26pm.
Minutes of the meeting are available here: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/.../20230720... along with related attachments like presentations here: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/RedirectToDoc.aspx?URL=Open/2023/07/20230720_HW_MAT_11572_WEB.htm
And a recording of the meeting is available here: https://youtu.be/zdekVKqR05s
and previous meetings can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist...
Our next normal Business Meeting is scheduled for Thursday 17 August 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).