Tuesday 11 July 2017, 7.30pm
Present: Iain MacLean, June Penhey, Kate Dreaver, Paul FitzGerald
Apologies: Pauline Morse, Jonathon Harker, Brian Sullivan, Dale Williams, Rebecca Davis
Approval of previous minutes
See June 2017 minutes. Moved Paul, seconded June. Adopted.
Matters arising from previous minutes
- Muri Road safety work has begun.
- Paul (Treescapes) told the group of us that he would work with us on re-doing the Wairaka Road garden. Rocks are not a good idea, but low maintenance options are welcomed. Pauline has offered to work with Paul on that. He said we can work directly with them, but we need to do it during normal weekly working hours.
- Licence for the community garden is ready for signing. June will co-sign and deliver to PCC.
Financial
Balance in cheque account $1,263.18.
Three cheques have been paid:
- $1,100 for the Ahu ki Pukerua Bay Charitable Trust (from their grant deposited in our account last month)
- $1,500 for trails (to PCC for our contribution towards sign at train station)
- $175 (to Iain for costs from last year’s AGM)
$60 has come from Council. This is to go to Margaret Blair as reimbursement her the photos for the signs.
Correspondence
None.
Porirua City Council update
Muri Rd safety work
Work has begun on the road and pedestrian safety improvements agreed to through consultation with Muri Rd residents and the Pukerua Bay Residents Association. Thank you to everyone who attended the community walkovers and to all those who gave us such clear positive feedback. The first stage of work will see the bank cut back and the new footpath created. The full works are expected to take around three weeks to complete and will include:
- Slow Zone signs and road markings,
- New footpath bordered by road edge markers,
- Two new street lights, and
- Vegetation cutbacks to improve light spill, pedestrian access and sight lines.
Community Garden (access)
This project is complete and the water supply has now been connected.
Community Garden (food forest)
We look forward to receiving your signed copies of the licence for the use of the land.
Te Araroa way-finding signage
This project is on hold so the Araroa Trail Trust can consider whether Muri Road is a better main access instead of through the reserve — once the pedestrian safety improvements have been completed.
Ara Harakeke Extension (from shops to Wairaka Rd footpath)
Designs by the Council and NZTA engineers have been submitted and will be reviewed to find the best long term solution. In the meantime a temporary steel footpath will be constructed to give better access over the slip. Later this year the slip will then be stabilised and a base created for a new shared pathway.
Village Planning Project Bids for 2017/18
We’re currently assessing all project proposals and we will be in touch again once they have been considered by the Council’s City Delivery Committee in early August.
Hall committee meeting with School Board of Trustees
The Pukerua Bay hall committee (Kate Dreaver, Rachel Prebble, Ann Jebson) and Iain MacLean met with the school Board of Trustees on 22 June to discuss the future management of the hall. Iain gave a brief description of how the Residents Association came to be involved and how important the community involvement is in the hall. Kate gave a history of the hall — built with community funding in 1972/3, originally planned for Raroa Reserve but built on school grounds so school could use it, originally owned by Hutt County Council, and eventually transferred to the school. The historic agreement around use is that the school has the use from 9am-3pm and the community after 3 pm.
BoT members did not seem to be fully aware of the history of the hall, and the fact that the community built it to be shared with the school.
Tara said that the previous BoT did not pay much attention to the BoT’s new hall policy in 2015 when it was brought in as Mary Jones resigned at that time, which distracted them all. We discussed the reasons for the change and why the previous BoT believed the hall committee could not operate as a subcommittee of the BoT with members who were not BoT members.
The management of finances was a major issue for both groups. The agreement from the time Porirua City Council and Ministry of Education (MoE) withdrew from the arrangement in 2008 was that the money from the hall hire, which had been managed in separate bank accounts, would be put into the school accounts, but recorded in a separate journal. However, it appears that at the end of every financial year (31 December) all the money goes into a single pool of money, which is not identified as being for any particular purpose. So, the approx $30,000 from the hall committee account is no longer identifiable as being from the hall hire, and to be used for hall improvements. There is a separate spreadsheet showing cash flow (income from hall hire, and expenses such as power), which is used for reporting the balance of hall money. The lack of visibility of the money, and its purpose, means the Ministry does not recognise it as money the school is able to use for that purpose. While we are told the money still exists, it has ‘disappeared’.
It is a complicated process for the school to access funding for property works, as it has to work through the MoE’s planning and priorities process to do anything. Improvements to the hall are a low priority at the start of a five or ten year agreement (5YA or 10YA), although they can rise as other work is done. They drop to the bottom of the list at the start of a new agreement period. So, even if the school and hall committee agreed on spending money on the hall, and the money was identified in the school accounts, the MoE might not necessarily approve the use of it. Work to improve the toilets has to be done as part of upgrading all the toilets in the school, and can’t be done separately.
Kate and Anne are maintaining a new spreadsheet that records hirage and income, which is giving them a clearer idea of the state of the finances. Hire income is still very cash-based because of the need to collect bond from many hirers, which is easier with cash or cheque. Internet payments are not an option for hirers who have to pay a refundable bond.
There was discussion around the ‘processes’, which seemed to be the actual management of bookings and collection of money. BoT members seemed to think these needed improving, although they are very simple. Kate impressed on them that there needs to be a local contact for hirers to deal with to collect keys, etc. It seems that some BoT members would like to see the school take this job over.
Actions from BoT meeting
General agreement that three things need to be clarified:
- Talk to the Ministry of Education about what it will allow the school to do and how the money can be ‘unlocked’, and to look at any changes necessary to the policy (Conor, Rachel, Iain, Nick, Hineawe)
- Hire conditions, particularly the Casual User Agreement, so they comply with current rules, e.g. health and safety requirements of new H&S Act (Kate and Tara)
- Financial clarity around the records in the school’s accounting system and what can we identify of the money (Ann and Christine)
Discussion
We’re concerned that the Board seems not to want to continue our partnership with its reciprocal benefits. We will do further research, including finding the original 1973 Deed between Hutt Council and the Wellington Education Board and asking the Porirua City Council and Ministry of Education for the transfer documents.
This is a non-negotiable issue for us. The hall is a shared community facility. The hall and the money it generates is the school’s and the community’s, not MoE’s.
Project updates
Heritage trail
We had a wonderful opening — many thanks to the team! A great spread in the paper, and lots of people are looking at it. The metal skinks are now on the sign.
The team met with Miria Pomare to begin a dialogue about what is important for Ngati Toa in Pukerua Bay. She provided contacts and also highlighted the importance for respect for the urupa.
Actions: The team will follow up from their discussion with Miria. We will scan the item in Kapi Mana and put it up on the noticeboard. Kate will have a chat with Mary Campbell about the work she’s been doing.
Community garden
There was a planting day, but this was not well attended. We realise that between the garden and the walkway, a lot of privacy has been lost for the immediate neighbours.
Action: We need to meet with the neighbours and find ways to mitigate the lost privacy.
Ahu ki Pukerua Bay Charitable Trust
The Matariki event was magnificent. Exceptionally well attended, vibrant, fun, gorgeous. Thank you, Pukerua Bay. Thank you, Trust!
Fundraiser calendar
Anne Johnston is happy to do the origination work for free. It will cost $15 to get the template she needs, and the calendars will cost $11 apiece. The school is happy to take the orders. They’ll use Google docs so we can see how the orders are going. They agreed on a 50:50 split post expenses. We should also sell via Face book and our website. Will need to check postage costs.
Review of village plan
Kate, Iain and Jonathan met to continue planning, and will use the results of the workshop to focus the discussions with other groups, such as the school.
Other business
Paul suggested it would be good to have a spot at the station for advertising ‘current events’ such as an A4 noticeboard.
Meeting finished: 9:03pm.
Next meeting: 8 August 2017