News

Exiting the United Nations Global Covenant of Mayors

The next Public Engagement Meeting

Feedback wanted for options you would prefer for new parking pricing

and,

A media release from the Taranaki Mayoral Forum about the merger of Taranaki Councils

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On Wednesday 13th May we had our NPDC quarterly Senior Management meeting with the first update on how the NPDC is reducing rates, reducing debt and increasing efficiencies.

We also discussed improving the consultation process and the Alliance being a recognised Stakeholder.

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On 21st April the Ratepayers Alliance had our very first Stakeholder meeting with the NPDC – with the Bell Block Spatial Plan.

By the end of the following day we wrote to the Council with serious concerns about how the process of consulting with the community is being handled.

For a very long time many in the community have said the Council knows what they are going to do with plans and projects, and it’s pointless participating in the consultation process, as they are going to do what they want anyway.

What we have found with the Bell Block Spatial Plan process looks like there may be some truth to that.

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Yesterday we presented to the NPDC about a very important document. The Water Company Statement of Expectations (SOE) – the rules and focus of how this new company will operate.

We asked our elected officials to do something differently, and they did.

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We have attached a link to the video with our presentation to the NPDC about what is legally possible to provide for the New Plymouth District with how this new Water Company will operate.

Click on the blue heading above for the link to the video.

We’ve been busy working on a few things behind the scenes and haven’t had a chance to update on some bits and pieces of news from our First Management Meeting with the NPDC in March. A few items came up that people may be interested in, as well as Simon Watts on unelected people voting on Council decisions.

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If you do not like surprises from your senior officials at the NPDC, and you prefer open and transparent communication, this week is your last chance to have your say in our Poll and Petition about the appointment for the Permanent CEO position for the Water CCO.

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It was interesting to read in a stuff article about the 16th April Water Company meeting that things seem to be on track.

Like any start up organisation it would be expected there will be challenges getting up and running, and our team who were at the meeting noted there were some issues, and what some of those issues are.

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The Te Huinga Taumatua Committee (the NPDC Iwi Representative Committee) ran a workshop for Councillors on 16th April.

Radio New Zealand has written a story which looks like many things are sorted and ready to go for the next Long Term Plan.

That is not the message sent by the Chairman of the Workshop last week, or several Councillors at the table.

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We had no idea the people we voted for don’t get to vote on whether Annual Plan budget is spent on something different, and we think you will be surprised too.

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We had some good news this week. A new look agenda is on the NPDC meetings page for WaterCo1.

And just a reminder if you do not support a Water Company being run with secrecy and lack of information, our Poll and Petition are running until 1st May, for you to have you say about the future management of WaterCo1.

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We have recently written to the NPDC with a complaint about the lack of transparency with current meetings being held with the new Water Services Council Controlled Organisation (WSCCO).

Click on the blue heading above to read the complaint.

It has taken us almost 6 months, and the help of the Ombudsman, to get NPDC documents released, legal opinion sought about those documents (with help from many supporters providing funds), many meetings with our team to make sense of the information provided from the NPDC, and working out the final summary of our investigations, with legal advice prior to release.

It's taken a long time, but this was a big investigation.

We apologise in advance - this is a long story.

We thought about putting the story out in two parts - but the timeline of events and summary of information go hand in hand together.

We would also like people who are concerned about what happened with this CEO appointment, who would like a say about what happens with recruitment for a permanent appointment, to read all the facts and be able to make a decision about next steps straight away, if that is what they want to do.

It is now up to the community of New Plymouth, if they want to, to share this story with everyone they know, and ask people to take action if they want to.

We will present the actions people take with the Poll and the Petition, which go with this story, to the Mayor and Councillors at the NPDC.

We will make sure your elected officials are aware what the community thinks when they make their decision about the appointment of a permanent CEO for the New Plymouth Water Service Council Controlled Organisation.

Click on the blue heading above to read the story

On Thursday 26th March a deputation by Peter Moeahu, on behalf of the Puketapu Hapu, laid a complaint to the NPDC, that sensitive information had been leaked by the NPDC about a contract with the Puketapu Hapu.

Te Pati Maori have provided an edited video of this deputation, which is attached to this story.

Click on the blue heading above to find out how the Service Level Agreements became public, and what we think you should do next, to support the people you voted for.

We were looking in to the Daily News story with the almost $1M Service Level Agreement contract with Puketapu Hapu which had been held up with signing.

We didn't find anything relating to that, but we found 2 meetings where work is being done on the rules to run the new Water Company - the Council Controlled Organisation being run by the Interim CEO Neil Holdom.

The rules do not include any clauses to consider the needs for future water users, or the community in general.

We think they should. And we think the community may want to have a say about that.

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The latest Cycleway Safety Data Report is out today.

Click on the blue heading above to see the report.

We've attached the Taxpayers Union post about this on Facebook, and we also have some questions about other items discussed at this same meeting.

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Late last year we met with the NPDC to ask for a forum where we can access people at the Council to ask questions and raise concerns on behalf of Ratepayers.

We wanted to create an amicable meeting situation where we can ask questions to clarify information, discuss issues and work towards solutions. And we also wanted a way to ask questions in between meetings.

We also wanted a forum where we can keep Ratepayers informed on what actions are being taken to reduce rates and debt, and what efficiencies are being worked on.

Click on the blue heading above to find out how our first meeting went.

That is 2.5 to 3 positions wrapped up in one.

Is that actually able to be done successfully ?

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One of our team sat down with Moira George, the Chairman of the committee, to ask more about what they are up to.

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The Alliance is not a big fan of belonging to Local Government NZ.

Click on the blue heading above to read our speech, and see our supporting documents to go with our views.

If you would rather see the speech, than read it, we will add the video of the speech in the next few days.