Kei aku nui, aku rahi, e hika mā! A huge congratulations to our five kapa haka roopu who represented our region, Te Tairāwhiti, at the National Kapa Haka Competition held in Wellington last week. You took our stories, our people and our issues to a stage that is watched internationally and by your example you ...
There’s nothing on in council this week so I’m going to write about something that is close to my heart, Titirangi. I think we as a community could do better by Titirangi. It’s been amazing seeing all the people engaged with Titirangi via the Everest challenge. The hill still gets a lot of regular use, ...
Firstly, I want to acknowledge the Tuia 250 crew. The weekend was a success. My family enjoyed the MV Takitimu and our time on Te Tairāwhiti, our waka hourua. That waka is a treasure. Kei te mihi. This week in council we had the Local Government Commission hearings for the representation review model. To recap, ...
In Sept 2015 a councillor said during the public council meeting that if ‘you give Māori an inch then they’ll take a mile’. Ironic, given that’s exactly how Māori lost our land but I digress. Imagine the uproar if I had said that about women? Or about pakeha? As a councillor. In a council meeting! ...
There are no council meetings this week, however next week Local Government New Zealand are having their AGM which has prompted me to touch on something we discussed at the last council meeting. That is the remit process. Remits are a way for councils to gain support from the wider council body to do a ...
This week in council we are adopting the long term plan, setting rates, appointing some commissioners, receiving LGNZ correspondence amongst other things. The paper I wanted to focus on this week is in relation to water security and river quality. Water is the future, which is why I am for further protection of the Waingake ...
My ‘What’s going on in Council – May 18’ column caused a massive stir amongst readers regarding cost blow outs, the quality of voice across the district and powers. This is my reply to those readers. These are fair comments and ones already echoed around the council table. Forgive me, but my column is limited ...
Last week in council we spent the week in hearings, listening to the community about our priorities. We heard submissions on sports parks, rates and roads but I would like to focus on the Representation Review. On Thursday council voted to change the make up of councillors in the next election. In a nutshell, council ...
Recently council voted to change the make up of councillors in the next election. We voted to reduce the numbers of councillors from thirteen to nine. The mayor would bring the number of our council to ten. We added three community boards; one in the East, one in the West and one in the city. ...
There were many great things that happened here over the weekend. Congratulations to Rangataua o Aotearoa on the success of their event, Te Ihi a Tū, on Saturday night. The event was run well and everything handled with seriousness and care. I’d like to acknowledge the whānau from Mangatū for their exhibition on Friday, titled ...