July 2021 Residents’ Association meeting minutes

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Tuesday 13 July 2021

  1. Welcome & introductions

Jack Marshall – PPC democratic Services Team (Representation review)

Brian Sullivan (a visiting member of the community)

Murray Altheim (a visiting member of the community)

  1. Apologies

Josh Trlin, Jenny Brash, Nikky Winchester, Moira Lawler, Ian MacLean

  1. Approval of previous minutes

No comments the minutes were moved and accepted

  1. Councils’ Updates
    (a) GWRC – there was no representative to give updates at this meeting
    (b) PCC – representation review
    1. PPC is establishing a Maori ward which means that the council needs to review community representation structure
    2. Preliminary engagement process runs until this Friday 16th July. PPC is seeking feedback from communities on the structure and election framework.
    3. Currently there are 10 councillors from 3 wards. With establishment of the Maori ward, existing wards will lose part of their population to this new ward. This will breach rules around local representation where each councillor needs to represent certain number of people (plus minus a margin of 10%)
    4. There is a debate how many councillors should there be under the new structure. A trade off will need to be made between having enough councillors to represent communities fairly and ensuring that councillors pay is competitive to attract the right talent (Remuneration for councillors is set as a pool – more councillors, means less money per councillor)
    5. Initial proposal will come out mid August followed by a round of consultations, final proposal and lastly a period of appeals.
    6. Future growth is not being taken into account during this process as per rules and regulations.
    7. There was a healthy debate about Community Boards that might be part of the new structure. Community Boards(CBs) will be independent of councillors, but funding will be shared. There is a whole range of options for future operating model of CBs. The two end of the spectrum are:
      1. CBs get stuff done for their local communities with budget allocated to them
      2. CBs have no budget and no delegated powers, but they are consulted on local maters.

No decisions regarding what operating model will be adopted was made yet, it is part of the consultation.

There was quite a debate about how the CBs would fit in with Village Planning. Without knowing more details around the CBs , their delegation level and funding it is difficult to respond the PPC on this matter

  1. Paul will draft a response on behalf of the RA. Preliminary preference was to have 10 councillors plus a Maori ward councillor on the top and for aims of CBs to be achieved through the Villages and Village Planning Programmes which is to be reviewed.
  1. Matters arising from previous minutes
    1. Rezoning of PB for high density housing. This item didn’t arise from the last minutes, but Murray was keen to understand where is the proposal at and whether any submission still could be made.
      1. Kāinga ora is proposing re-zoning a few areas in the village for high density housing
      2. Submission was closed now, commissioners are reviewing the submissions and then will submit recommendation to the council.
      3. There is not much that residents can do about it at this stage
  1. Financial report

Paul clarified one item in the accounts that was for purchase of timber and screws for pavilion in the Community Garden and Fruit Forest

  1. Correspondence

Waka Kotahi – updates on variable speed zones along the Transmission Gully

  1. Projects Update
    1. He Ara Pukerua
      1. Update on Centennial highway
      2. Cairn refurbishment for the opening of Transmission Gully under way
  1. Community Garden Food Forest
    1. The fundraising calendar has been printed and copies are available for sales via various channels at $15 per copy.
    2. New developments – raised garden, berry garden and de-luxe work farm
    3. Working bees going well with new members of the community taking part
  1. Village Plan Review
    1. Distributing surveys to get more feedback from the community
    2. Organising a few drop-in sessions to discuss the topics and fill out the surveys
    3. Groups are encouraged to do a group submissions as well
  1. Executive Committee Handbook
    1. No action
  1. Newsletter
    1. Closing date for the next submission end of July
    2. There was a discussion on optimizing distribution of Korero to reach all members of the community
  1. Action Items
    1. Actions not covered in Projects Updates
  1. General Business
    1. Removal of fruit trees Ara Harakeke Shared Pathway – emailed Josh about it whether PPC has a policy on tree removal.
  1. Covid 19 response
    1. Commissioned by the trust as a research on loneliness and community connection
    2. After Covid the research was changed to how the community responded to the outbreak. Now the focus is on what we can learn from the response
    3. One of key findings was that the success was around activation and strengthening of connections
    4. There were not many requests for support during lock down, lots of support on neighbourhood level
    5. The community actually on the whole enjoyed the experience of lockdown
    6. There was no option to print newsletter which limited access to information for lot of people
    7. Recommendations
      1. Keep the community spirit and closeness between people
      2. Communication channels need to be diverse and include printed material so that all members of the community can access information
      3. Infrastructure – stores of materials etc.
      4. Community website is being redeveloped
      5. The report to be posted on the website
      6. Implement changes to the village plan
      7. Share the outcomes at the AGM