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Date
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:
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24 March 2021
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To
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:
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Mayor and Councillors
Tararua
District Council
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From
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:
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Bryan Nicholson
Chief
Executive
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Subject
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:
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Staff
Report
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Item No
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:
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11.3
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1. Recommendation
1.1 That
the report from the Chief Executive dated 24 March 2021 concerning an update on
key projects and items of interest to the Council (as circulated) be received.
Reason for the Report
This report is
to update Councillors on key projects and items of interest over the period
from 16 February 2021 to 20 March 2021.
Tararua Alliance
Executive Summary
February has seen a sustained period of fine weather
enabling crews to progress their works programme significantly. There is
improved progress in the emergency works space with additional resources being
brought in from the wider Downer NZ Design team to assist tackling the complex
sites and to allow the BAU design work to continue. The forward works
programme has been established signalling commencement of design and
engineering tasks.
Expiry of lease agreements across the fleet has seen the
addition of new vehicles to the fleet, this includes heavy trucks and light
vehicles. We are fortunate to have one of the most modern fleets in New
Zealand meaning that our downtime on fleet/vehicle maintenance is very
low. Access to the Downer NZ extensive fleet network provides us with the
ability to bring in plant when needed and then move it out when not in use.
Progress is being made on the new RT network which will
provide the Alliance with full coverage of the district. This will
improve the communications and the safety of our staff as they will have
communications at their fingertips. Access to this is open to our TDC
colleagues and we are currently working on what this looks like and the requirements
for units in vehicles.
Training forms the backbone of developing people and as
such we have had some interesting and varied training opportunities over the
month. These included Project Management, First Aid, Driving, Planning
and Drone use.
We have seen an increase in CRM’s coming in
especially relating to unsealed roads on our network. Complaints
range from dust, speed and logging trucks resulting in near misses. We
respond to these in a timely manner and listen to the concerns of the road
users.
Huarahi Tūhono – Weber to Wimbledon is
progressing well. This project will be monitored closely for the duration
and significant project management methodologies applied. We have a new
Delivery Management Governance suite available which will be put in to
practice. This provides detailed analysis and management of the project
to keep it on track.
The field crews are performing well and are in great
spirits, engaged with Zero Harm principles and practices and
“happy” in their work. We continue to remain close to our
staff to ensure their needs are being met as they are the platform that we
operate under and without them we would not be able to achieve what we have and
continue to do. People are our greatest asset, their wellbeing is crucial
to our continued success and we focus with them on, family, work,
relationships, health, recreation, self-growth and resilience. The
“7 life Aspects”.
Looking at the
remaining programmed works confidence is high that these will be completed,
there is some of the emergency works that will not be completed this financial
year due to the complex nature of the design and engineering approach meaning
we need to ensure we get it right the first time. We will however, be in
a position finalise designs and purchase materials to make as much use of the
90% subsidy available.
Planning
The month of
February has seen some normality return to the Planning team. Over the
past year of Covid-19 restrictions our community of practice group interactions
have been limited to virtual only but this month we had staff represent Tararua
at two events. The first was the Downer Asset Management conference where
we were able to share some of the innovations coming out of the Tararua
Alliance. We were also exposed to some new technologies and techniques to
help our team more effectively analyse and communicate achievements more
broadly and we hope to implement some of these during the next few months.
Peter van der Wel, our Road Asset Manager
presented on video capture. Vehicle based video capture of our roads has
become a useful tool in the past few years but recently we added to that
process by beginning to capture 360-degree footage as found in Google Street
view. As we can do this where ever and as often as we like it means we
are able to have very current and complete video footage to help manage our
network – especially where street view hasn’t gone such as our
unsealed road network.
We also had team members attend the Road
Infrastructure Management Forum conference in Napier. While we
didn’t present at this conference we were given a specific mention for
the 3 Waters reticulation RAMM project during a presentation by the Think
Project (aka RAMM) team. The transition from the Assetic tool to RAMM
which our Roading team uses is a first for New Zealand! A great example
of the innovation generated by the Alliance. We have managed to align our
setup with the new 3 Waters Meta Data standards being rolled out across
industry and have begun using the new tool in earnest during the past month or
so. We have also since been used as an example for others in the industry
that are considering a change in 3 Waters asset management systems, we have
taken the lead in this area and will be the benchmark standard. An
example is seen below.
Finally, our discussions with Waka Kotahi
continue about funding for the next National Land Transport Programme block and
our business as usual continues with a heightened focus on ensuring our season
is completed before the weather turns towards winter again.
Delivery
Road Maintenance
The settled weather
has finally allowed work to commence with our much needed lichen control
programme on the district’s footpaths. We have completed 23,000m2
of lichen control throughout the Dannevirke area and have a further 20,000m2
programmed within the Pahiatua and Woodville Urban areas in March. We
removed the chain links in Woodville following a request from Waka Kotahi as
they presented a significant risk to pedestrians when heavy vehicles encroached
the curb while navigating the tight intersection which has resulted in several
bollards connected by chain to be catapulted on to the footpath at head
height. These are scheduled to be replaced with a breakaway mechanism to
mitigate the occurrence of this. Cyclic Maintenance is still
ongoing. For the month of February, our teams repaired 230 potholes,
fixed 20 road signs, removed 20 kilometres of high shoulder for improved
drainage and repaired 4,500m2 of pavement defects which is a great achievement.
Emergency works
Following an approved
funding application from NZTA for emergency works, the team has been working to
have works engineered and designed ready for delivery. There have been
some delays due to the complexity of some sites, particularly the retaining
wall on Arthur Street in Pahiatua. An investigation in to why this wall
failed is underway, early indications suggest that the installation of a
telephone line pole has expedited the decline and ensuing failure. There
is an enormous amount of work within the programme but our objective is to
deliver as much of this work as possible to make the most of our enhanced
subsidy through NZTA. Works include retaining walls, retreats and material
stabilised earth walls, majority of this programme will be packaged up and
awarded to supply partners to deliver.
Road Renewals
Road renewals are in full swing this month, with the
Reseal programme currently on target to be completed by the end of March.
The team have completed over 250,000 m2 of their 320,000 m2 programme on sites
right across the district. The Route 52, 93 section rehabilitation
project is still underway. Now that the drainage and earthworks are competed
this leaves only the pavement works to do which will be completed in early
March.
Our safety
improvements programme kicked off in January on Waihi Falls Road. This is a
large and reasonably complex site consisting of drainage improvements, medium
scale earthworks and pavement improvements to strengthen the road and improve
road user safety and an extension of the seal.
Progress has been good over the month of February with
both the Western & Eastern Sides of Main Street currently having the road
re-instated, this will create some much needed parking in front of the
businesses in these areas. There will be another stage to the road re
instatement which will be done when we have completed the Princess Street
traffic calming island, this work is scheduled for mid – late March.
The concrete nibs are proceeding well within the central
island, the focus is to have the northern end completed well before ANZAC day
and allow commemorations to take place.
The last of the concrete infill paths has been completed,
with the balance of footpaths being AC.
The slip lane at the northern end of the central island
will also be closed in March to repair the road where it has slumped around an
existing manhole, and to complete the remainder of the traffic calming concrete
nibs.
Peter Donnelly Contracting are progressing well with the
enabling works for the charging stations and fibre optics work.
The project is tracking well in regards
to time frames; there is a possibility that there will be the odd task that
will continue through into June. Below is an example of the seating to be
installed.
Huarahi
Tūhono – Weber to Wimbledon
Project Development & Design
Having received a “Shovel-Ready” label, this
project effectively became a Design/Build project with the expectation from the
Provincial Development Unit that physical works started shortly after
approval. We were able to do this as there was work within the Road Maintenance
programme scheduled for this Financial year.
The additional funding has allowed us to increase the
scope of repairs drastically from the original 900m Area Wide Pavement
Treatment (AWPT), to the 76 sites identified in the Business Case developed in
2019.
Given the 26km of length of road now within the scope,
the upfront planning and consultation is a significant part of the project.
The Project Team have continued to develop and refine the
works identified. The first set of Construction Drawings (Franklin Rd AWPT)
were handed over to the delivery team, thus allowing commencement of the main
works programme. The focus now is to develop designs for Section 1
(Wimbledon to the CHB boundary).
Local Aggregate – 6 alternative aggregate sources
close to site have been identified, of which 2 are directly onsite and appear
to be of suitable quality to substitute around 30% of imported
river-metal. Further analysis of the material is required to confirm
this, if this proves to be the case, this has the potential to off-set $500k of
cartage costs, of which can be returned to the project.
Discussions are
underway with Horizons Regional Council relating to consents and what
requirements are needed to be met.
Project Delivery
The delivery team
have now completed the high-priority repairs throughout the length and have
commenced on the main work programme starting with Franklin Rd AWPT. Work is
progressing well, with Earthworks nearing completion (at time of writing). Work
on this AWPT will continue through April with completion expected to be in
early May. We are exploring the option to establish further resource onsite in
April, but this will be dependent on completion of designs for Section 1 (now
80% complete) and successful negotiation with Land owners affected.
Stakeholder Liaison
February saw the first Project Committee meeting held at
Weber Hall, this committee brings together key Stakeholders of the project.
These stakeholders have been selected with the view that they will be able to
provide support to the project in the form of assisting us with the Social
outcomes requirements of the project, as well as providing an avenue for the
local community to provide input.
While this initial
meeting was effectively a briefing to the members, there was a number of take-away’s
that will assist us in the planning and development of the project. One
message received from the Local Community members was that when asked what
their expectations of the project was, their response was “that their
children would feel safe while travelling to school on the
school-bus”. Hearing the real impacts of what this funding will
allow us to achieve was a powerful reminder as to why we are doing this
project.
3
Waters
Renewals
The renewal of the 63mm ring main in
Robertshawe Crescent was completed during February - this included eight
laterals, one fire hydrant and an isolation valve. We have also renewed
five separate water laterals due to ongoing issues and poor asset condition.
The crew are now moving to Pahiatua, with a
wastewater renewal planned in Albert St. This work will be completed via
pipe-bursting and includes seven lateral connections and the installation of a
new manhole. Currently there is no manhole at the end of the street, which is
not best practice. The install of a new manhole will give us quick access if
needed in the future.
Our pipe liners have arrived from Hamburg and
the 20/21 sewer relining works are programmed to start on the 7th of
April.
Davies Waste Solutions will first be
relining a 300mm sewer main in Cambridge St Pahiatua between the 7th
and 9th of April. This sewer line runs through private
property and is not suitable for open cutting. The team will then move to
Woodville and reline the sewer trunk main along Station St, from McLean St down
to the wastewater treatment ponds. This phase of works is scheduled for
completion over two weeks from Monday the 12th until Friday the 23rd
of April.
Wastewater maintenance
In February, we completed six spot repairs on
sections of damaged wastewater mains. Most repairs have been in the order
of around 6 – 12 m long sections.
All wastewater pump stations across the
district have been vacuum sucked out and have had the chambers water blasted
clean.
Water maintenance
Has been very
busy, the ground drying out and contracting has contributed. Also with the
dry ground making the identification of any small leaks easier. We have
replaced 35 tobies, fixed 18 water lateral / main leaks and responded to other
minor CRM requests during February. We have also live tapped five water
mains for new house connections.
Stormwater
The urban open drains district wide have been
sprayed for weeds, albeit later than last year.
During February, we also undertook the
removal of some willows from the Pahiatua Main Drain. These were posing a flood
risk.
Performance
Plant and Property
Utilities
Recently staff
attended a three waters reform workshop in Palmerston North, facilitated by the
Department of Internal Affairs. The purpose of this workshop was to provide
local government and iwi with the most up-to-date thinking on key reform
proposals and features, and to seek feedback on these ahead of advice to
Ministers in mid-2021.
There was very
constructive discussion regarding the structure of the proposed service
provider entities, including the number and size, respective boundaries,
governance, and community’s ability to protect/promote their voice being
heard. The was also discussion on the impacts to local government, and what
this could mean in the future in terms of our role and the services we provide.
There is a huge amount of work going on in
this space, led by the Department of Internal Affairs and supported by key
stakeholders including local government. At this stage we expect to receive
public information and education campaign material mid this year, to enable
effective community consultation. This will inform Council to make a decision
on the future of Tararua’s water, wastewater and stormwater service
delivery towards the end of the year.
Water
Residential water use throughout the district
is reasonably consistent. Much needed rain across the district has supported
our supply and storage of water. Our impounded supplies at Dannevirke (67%
full) and Woodville (90% full) provide confidence that, if good water
conservation behaviours across our communities continue, water restriction
levels will not need to be increased. Our restriction levels are currently
reviewed every two weeks.
The Woodville
water take resource consent application has been indicatively accepted by
Horizons Regional Council, however they have asked for an extension to allow
for further information request to be determined.
Recently
Central Government stepped into the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water)
Amendment Bill debate, wanting to become the centralised decision-maker on the
controversial mineral’s addition into New Zealand’s council
drinking water supplies. The Bill is proposing decision-making on whether
fluoride is added to drinking water shifts away from councils to district
health boards. It appears central government would like to further centralise
that proposed shift, so that the decision is instead made by the
Director-General of Health – with a likely intention to add fluoride to
all councils’ drinking water. Currently fluoride is not added to any of Tararua
District Council’s water supply.
Wastewater
Additional
information has been sought from Horizons regarding our Woodville wastewater
discharge consent application. This includes:
· Further site investigation of the local ground water system.
· Revision of the assessment of environmental effects and updated
effluent quality data and flow information.
· Confirmation of wetland site and vertical flow wetland design
followed by a surface flow wetland.
Further work is
being done on size of the wetland needed from the latest flow data. A request
for an assessment against the NPSFM 2020 (National Policy Statement for
Freshwater Management 2020) has also been prepared.
The consent
hearing is scheduled for 12-13 May, with a site visit arranged on 11 May with
the Commissioners’ from the Hearing panel.
Facilities
Grass and weed growth has slowed over the district following dry
conditions and now Autumn temperatures. This has allowed Council contractors to
catch up on other tasks within their contract. Staff continue to receive
positive verbal feedback on the way facilities are looking.
Strong winds in
January and February caused several trees and branches to come down in our
parks and cemeteries, and arborist contractors have been busy cleaning tree
debris around the district.
Projects
competed over the last month include:
· Two new ashes berms at the Mangatera Cemetery,
· Painting of the Woodville Sports Stadium (pictured below),
· Painting of the old sexton office and fences at the Mangatera
Cemetery (pictured below),
· Painting of the Akitio public toilets,
· Installation of a heat pump at the Dannevirke Library,
· Replacement of the old fluorescent tubes with LED tubes at the
Eketahuna Library.
Wok is also continuing with the
installation of insulation and ventilation systems into our pensioner units.
Woodville,
Pahiatua and Eketahuna pools have all reported a successful season, with pool
numbers for the season to date shown in the table below.
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Pool
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Numbers
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Pahiatua
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16,006
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Woodville
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2,115
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Eketahuna
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1,869
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Campgrounds
Campgrounds have also had a summer period,
in particular Dannevirke which had a record number of campers in January.
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Pool
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Numbers
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January
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February
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|
Dannevirke
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1,088
|
841
|
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Pahiatua
|
439
|
476
|
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Woodville
|
90
|
67
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Eketahuna
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716
|
779
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Solid Waste
With the
Pongaroa landfill closing in August 2021, a closure plan is currently being
developed and discussions are being had regarding transfer station options at
the site. Further information is being gathered to determine the most optimal
option for solid waste in Pongaroa.
The solid waste
trial in Dannevirke has started well. As part of this, ten households have been
provided with a recycling bin, refuse bin, glass crate, and a food waste
bucket. The trial will go for a month, allowing us to collect data around waste
habits and improve future decision making to meet waste minimisation targets.
but it has potentially proved more costly to the community than thought at the
time. Over the first two weeks of the trial it was determined the bins diverted
more than 150 kilograms from going to landfill (more than 60% of the total
waste collected). Assuming this could be replicated across the district, more
than 70 tonnes of ‘waste’ could be diverted from going to landfill
every two weeks.
The trial,
which also includes waste education, ends in Dannevirke at the end of March,
followed by trials in Woodville, Pahiatua, Eketahuna.
Next month a
kerbside glass collection trial of 1,000 households will commence. This will
run for 2 months, with data collected being used to inform Council’s
future decision on kerbside glass recycling across the four main towns.
We are looking forward to the results of
both these trials.
Regulatory
Building
Services
Quality Management System
The building team held their monthly
Building Consent Authority (BCA) Operational Meeting with Quality Manager,
Steve Mazey. No significant changes were made to the Quality Management System.
Council’s next accreditation audit by IANZ will be in November.
Building Consents
The value of consented building work was
$3.5m for February. Applications to consent new residential housing are
continuing to increase.
The table below
provides a comparison (1 July to date) of consenting and inspection
activity.
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Category
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2018/19
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2019/20
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2020/21
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No. of Applications Received
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219
|
260
|
274
|
|
No. of Applications Processed
|
229
|
242
|
254
|
|
% Processed within Time
|
78.2%
|
93.4%
|
78.7%
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|
Total Value
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$11,412,669.00
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$16,806,251.00
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$18,986,390.00
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No. of Inspections Requested
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629
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765
|
995
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No. of Inspections Performed
|
891
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1,186
|
1,315
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Council has begun forwarding applications
to its contractor to process remotely. However, ongoing significant demand
means improvement in processing timeframes is likely to be gradual.
Earthquake Prone Buildings
Council’s legal advisors have
reviewed the template letters that can be sent to building owners. The letters
are now being updated following that advice.
Animal
Control
Public Education and Information
The Animal Control team hosted a stall at
the Dannevirke A & P Show, including a colouring competition and giveaways.
Community feedback has been positive.
One article was published in February. This
provided information about the benefits of and legal requirements for
microchipping dogs.
Staff will work with the communications
team this month to arrange another reminder notice to be placed in the Bush
Telegraph reinforcing owner obligations to register their dogs.
Annual Dog Re-registration
To date, 6,672 dogs have registered in the
district with 90 dogs remaining unregistered. This is a reduction of 84
unregistered dogs since last month.
Dog Attacks
The table below provides a comparison (1
July to date) of reported dog attacks on people and animals.
|
Location
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2018/19
|
2019/20
|
2020/21
|
|
Ind/Com Nth Ward
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
|
Ind/Com Sth Ward
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Non Rateable
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Rural North Ward
|
4
|
4
|
5
|
|
Rural South Ward
|
3
|
9
|
4
|
|
Road or No Property Address
|
9
|
7
|
10
|
|
Urban North Ward
|
14
|
8
|
8
|
|
Urban South Ward
|
8
|
13
|
13
|
|
Total Reports
|
38
|
42
|
42
|
Animal control will increase their patrols
and presence in Woodville and Pahiatua, to provide a visual deterrent and
reminder to owners to control their dogs.
Environmental Health and Licensing
Alcohol Licenses
An appeal hearing was scheduled to be heard
by the Alcohol and Regulatory Licensing Authority (ARLA) at the Dannevirke
District Court, against the New Off Licence issued to Cloverbloom Company Ltd
for their premises at 14 Miller Street, Dannevirke.
However, prior to the appeal hearing, the
licence holder decided to surrender their licences to the Secretary of the
District Licensing Committee. This action ended the appeals, so the hearing did
not proceed. The premises are no longer licenced to sell alcohol.
Environmental Health
Environmental Health staff have audited 8
food safety plans for compliance. And inspected two premises for compliance
with Health regulations.
Illicit Dumping
The table below provides a comparison (1
July to date) of reported illicit dumping.
|
Illicit
Dumping
|
2018/19
|
2019/20
|
2020/21
|
|
Ind/Com Nth Ward
|
4
|
15
|
9
|
|
Ind/Com Sth Ward
|
2
|
5
|
2
|
|
Non Rateable
|
2
|
6
|
14
|
|
Rural North Ward
|
2
|
5
|
3
|
|
Rural South Ward
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
|
Road or No Property Address
|
64
|
71
|
55
|
|
Urban North Ward
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
|
Urban South Ward
|
6
|
3
|
3
|
|
Total Reports
|
87
|
111
|
92
|
District
Planning
Resource Consents
Demand for resource consents has remained
strong. In response to one of our planners taking unexpected leave, we have
obtained limited temporary cover from our planning consultants. We have also
arranged for the animal control administrator to provide temporary planning
administration support, to help streamline our coordination of application
processing.
Staff will work with the Tararua IT
Alliance to provide a breakdown of resource consents by town. A timeframe for
providing this information will be advised in due course.
The table below provides a comparison (1
July to date) of consenting activity.
|
Category
|
2018/19
|
2019/20
|
2020/21
|
|
No. of
Applications Received
|
46
|
58
|
80
|
|
Subdivision
|
32
|
49
|
72
|
|
Land Use
|
14
|
9
|
8
|
|
No. of
Applications Processed
|
48
|
57
|
42
|
|
Subdivision
|
34
|
47
|
35
|
|
Land Use
|
14
|
10
|
7
|
|
% Processed
within Time
|
97.9%
|
94.7%
|
88.1%
|
Economic Development, Communications and
District Marketing
Economic Development
District
Signage
Angela is working with Waka Kotahi NZTA and
the landowners at Norsewood and Eketahuna about the siting of our district
signs. The signs themselves are constructed and ready to go in.
Business
Support
A variety of phone enquiries
received. Angela was able to direct them to appropriate websites for
reliable information and is working with one through business planning and
cashbook keeping.
Community
Food Secure
Community Plan
The Working Group engaged Emma Elliot to
carry out the research and write the plan. She has begun talking to
stakeholder organisations. This project began in the community and
Stephen Dunn applied on their behalf to MSD for the funding.
Digital Spaces
|
Total number of people that have worked
on the project this month
|
9
(Mix: Full Time: 1, Part time: 8 - Contractors: 2, Consultants: 6,
Direct employees: 1)
|
|
Recent progress (opening hours, number of
people attending training, number of training sessions, hosted):
|
IT:
Extra Desk top monitor set up in place and ready for use for any
external person to connect to. Printer/Scanner installed. Interactive screen
installed. Software packages will be fine-tuned as user requirements are
shared/understood.
Opening Hours: 8am to 5pm
Activator:
A very active month. Have had the
DigitalSpaces brochure printed. Spent a few hours approaching businesses in
the Pahiatua township to tell them what is on offer. First In-house training
session was held. Was approached by a local arts community to see if they can
have someone work at DigitalSpaces to scan old photographs. Have been
actively sourcing training providers. Some businesses have come in to discuss
how to get help with their websites.
Training:
Held the “Introduction to Digital Marketing” training
session by Leah De Guzman from Digital Marketing NZ on Feb 25th
– we had 15 people RSVP to this event and 12 people attended on the
day. Will send out feedback forms to the people who attended.
Next training to be held on the 18th of March with MCI
& Associates, Accountants and Business Advisors on Xero and MYOB.
Narita from Mahi
Space and Activator arranged a Zoom session with Spark to work out some
technical difficulties with the screens. This was beneficial to work out how
to collaboratively work together for future training sessions.
Equipment:
Some of the equipment has been loaned out to Ray Borrie of Tararua
District Council to record some local events. First was the Viking Festival,
Different equipment was trialled, the Gimble and camera was used to take
smooth action shots. A promotional video was made using our software at the
Viking Festival.
Most recent was
one of the Jazz in the Park concerts. The portable microphone with a camera
was used to record the concert.
Promotional Material:
The Digital Spaces Brochure has been printed and started to be distributed.
The Digital Spaces Facebook page has been updated regularly with
details of services, trainings and provide any helpful information (such as
webinars, or relevant articles).
Up-coming
flyers for trainings are being created in Canva.
Hosted/Users:
General Users – 51
February has taken off with general users of DigitalSpaces. We
have had local accommodation providers referring their customers to us for
the hot desk facility.
We hosted the
Tararua Health and Wellbeing Committee meeting here with a Zoom session as we
were in Level 2 COVID restrictions, which meant they could not all meet in
person.
|
|
Risks/notable issues:
|
Potential for equipment to go missing:
Have installed a
lockable cabinet within the DigitalSpaces room for some equipment to be
stored as the local storage room wasn’t suitable with electronics being
stored with paper.
|
Photo of Leah De
Guzman at the “Introduction to Digital Marketing” workshop.
Publications
Key
publications underway
§ Long
Term Plan 2021-2031
§ Consultation
Document for the LTP
Upcoming
§ Form
updates regarding banks phasing out of cheques
Communications
Key Projects
Draft Long Term
Plan (LTP) 2021-2031 – Public Consultation
Public consultation for the draft LTP will open on 12 April and
close on 12 May 2021.
§ A summary of the Communications Plan
was presented to council at the LTP Workshop on Wednesday 17 February 2021.
§ Work continues on planning public
events and developing promotional material.
Pahiatua Town
Centre Upgrade
A project update was published in March and
planning for the final reveal will soon commence. In addition to the update, an
“open” letter was produced to enable Project Team member, Shirley
Hull, to have conversations with locals interested in contributing to the
project (financially).
Huarahi
Tūhono – Weber to Wimbledon
The project, made possible with funding
administered by the Provincial Development Unit (PDU), will invest $14.6m in
badly needed safety and resilience upgrades on this vital 26km stretch of Route
52.
Updates:
§ 17
February: The first Project Committee meeting held in Weber with
representatives from local iwi and the local area.
§ 15-19
March: Letters to affected residents delivered (in brochure format)
Upcoming:
§ 24
March: Internal workshop to discuss the Social Outcomes Strategy
§ 24
March: Community Information Evening in Weber
Summer Water
Restrictions
On Thursday 4 January 2021, Alternate
Evening (7pm-9pm) water restrictions were put in place for all towns in the
Tararua District. This excludes Akitio where a Total Outdoor Ban is in place
until 7 April 2021 (as is normal practice at this time of year for this supply).
There have been delays in the installation
of the second roll-out of the signage. This is being addressed with urgency.
Signs have been received from the signwriter and will soon be installed.
Events
1. Events from February/March will be reported on in the next reporting
period.
TARARUA I-SITE REPORT –
February 2021
Welcome Packs
There were 37 packs sent out during January
2021, 10 of these were sent to purchasers outside the Tararua District.
Creative Communities
The next funding round is open from 1 – 30 March 2021 for arts
based projects within the Tararua District.
Tararua i-SITE and Information Centre
statistics February 2021
February saw a few more visitors in the Tararua District, there was
a lot of motorhomes/caravans visitors and also events that brought visitors to
the district.
Programmes and Projects
Office
Project Updates
Project Management Plans for the Year 1-3
Long-Term Plan capital programme, including communications and stakeholder
engagement, has commenced development. These plans have been prioritised based
on the estimated start date of the project or programme and will continue to be
developed and updated through the lifecycle of the first three years, along
with other key documents that form part of the PMO framework.
Monitoring of current annual plan projects
is ongoing, but the PMO is confident that these projects will be completed on
time, with minimal carry forwards occurring into the next financial year.
Updates of key projects are noted below:
Recreation
Strategy
o As part of DVK Multisport Complex
work, Jessi has been building a facility stocktake for the District with big
picture goal of story mapping (GIS) by township to support better district
facility (spaces and places) planning.
o Needs
assessment and secondary data is being collated in tandem with the Multisport
project.
o It
has been identified that Council has no policy or guidelines in place regarding
development of community facilities. This is progressing as a priority and is
being developed in tandem with the Multisport project.
o Flow
on from above, will be developing criteria for determining land purchase or
disposal of facility (space or place).
o Opportunities have been
identified for efficiency and resourcing with Sport Manawatu, driving these
conversations with long term strategy implementation in mind.
Dannevirke
and Pahiatua Service Centres Earthquake Strengthening
o The RFP process is nearing completion
for the project monitoring and control component of the project.
o Once
a Project Engineer is awarded the tender, we will look at scoping the
requirements to bring a contractor on board and start the process of going to
market for construction.
o The
tender evaluation for the project engineer is expected to start on 1 April 2021
and conclude by 8 April 2021.
o The
expectation is that both service centres will be completed by the same
contractor and the tender document will be worded accordingly.
o Process
of upgrading the office space at the Pahiatua Town Hall Library to allow for
temporary placement of the Pahiatua Service centre staff during the Earthquake
strengthening works has commenced.
o A
plan to temporary move the Dannevirke Service centre staff during earthquake
strengthening is also being developed.
Solid
Waste 17a Review
o The full kerbside trial is midway
through the first phase and has started yielding positive results. We are
currently in the process of identifying and contacting trial participants for
Woodville.
o The
data we are collecting during this process is proving extremely valuable as we
have not had data around household waste habits collected in the past.
o The
trial will run for a further 3 months with the possibility of extending as a
continuous education tool.
o The
1000 bin glass crate trial is tracking as expected with a start date identified
for 7 April 2021 to allow for the public holidays over the Easter period.
o The
bins have been sourced and is currently stored on council owned land.
o We
are waiting to take delivery of the stickers and will look to bring on board
students to assist with getting these stickers onto the bins (2000 stickers).
o Training
of the customer services tool 3 Logix is planned for Friday the 19th
March to ensure that the CS team is ready to respond to all trial related
queries. This is a specific tool that is used to capture solid waste
information, including camera functionality.
o The
IT team have been introduced to the system and are happy that it meets the
council’s security and hosting policies.
o The
contractor has been engaged and the route and participants of the trial have
been signed off.
o All
data collected during the next few months will inform the Section 17A review
and provide options for the right debate discussions to follow.
o Trial findings to date (based
on 10 households over a 2-week period):
Pahiatua
Townhall Library
o A site survey was conducted by Strata
engineering and a report has been issued for review.
o Further
testing will be done on the masonry strength/structural integrity of the
building by cutting out pieces of brick wall and internal strengthening beams
for testing.
o It
is expected that the DSA will be completed and a report due to council by the
end of April 2021.
o We
have requested that Strata engineering provide 3 quotes from local contractors
to perform the testing work as to ensure quality work when repatching the
cut-out works.
o The Pahiatua Town hall library
previously held a National Building Standard of 22% so it is expected work will
need to be conducted on this building within year 2 or 3 of the LTP.
Website and Online Services
o Sign off has been received from ELT
to proceed with the supplier “Squiz” as the preferred supplier
after the options analysis stage.
o Currently
at the contract stage and have identified a few legal discussion points which
we are working through with the supplier.
o It
is expected that once the contract has been signed a website platform would be
ready for testing within 6 weeks.
o The
project team has been identified and will now solely be run by the IT
department with methodology oversight by the PMO.
o The
project has been broken up into two phases.
· Phase
one is to build the new website platform, migrate all data and content and
“Go-Live” for the community to access. This will be developed in
isolation of our current website, with no impact to the community while in
progress.
· Phase two is to
build in the online services functionality to enable users to complete payment
of most council services on the council website.
The
Future Without Cheques
o Key dates and action points have been
identified
o Westpac
Bank withdraw cheque facility from 25 June 2021
o Communication
Schedule is being confirmed this week
o Notification
will be included with Rates maildrop issued on 1 May
o Refund
process, petty cash, Business Prepaid Cards & Suppliers – systems and
process are being collated
o New
process will be presented to Council in late April.
o Next meeting Thursday 25
March.
Business
Intelligence
o BI Usage has dropped in the last few
months and usage has been narrowed down to “drawing reports”.
o This
is mostly due to an increase in Regulatory workload.
o Further
investigation is underway to determine the cause of low usage.
o We
have also identified opportunities for solid waste and additional water data to
be fed into the BI system,
o We will need to reassess the
council requirements and form a strategy to enable valuable reporting using the
BI data.
3 Waters Reform
o The project substitution request has
now been approved by DIA.
o The first quarterly report submitted
to 3 waters has also been approved
o Attendance at the 3 waters reform
workshop on Thursday 11 March has provided further information on the reform
but has also left a lot of questions unanswered.
o Additional attendance at the next
workshop in Wellington by other key staff will hopefully provide opportunity
for these questions to be answered.
Dannevirke
Water Treatment Plant Upgrade
o A site survey was conducted by WSP
engineers on Friday 12 March 2021 as well as a geotech.
o The
design has been developed in collaboration with TDC and now passed on for peer
review and we await the report from the engineers.
o Total project costs are now
being reviewed for approval to proceed.
Woodville Water Treatment Plant Upgrade
o A site survey was conducted by WSP
engineers on Friday 12 March 2021as well as a Geotech survey.
o The
design has been developed with in collaboration TDC and now passed on for peer
review and we await the report from the engineers.
o WSP
will be on site on Wednesday 17 March 2021 for geotechnical testing
o Total project costs are now
being developed for review.
Eketahuna Water Treatment Plant Upgrade
o Plant has undergone filter
maintenance to improve performance
o Awaiting suitable data to
analyse performance and recommend upgrade requirements
Pahiatua Swimming Pool
o Swimming Pool Business Case has been
reviewed for Pahiatua on Track and continuing to provide assistance to Louise
Powick.
o TACT have agreed to release their financial
information re: Wai Splash Swimming Pool to Pahiatua on Track to help inform
their Business Case
o Dannevirke Multisport Consultant
(Global Leisure Group) have been selected to deliver the Dannevirke Multisport
Complex Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study.
o Project
kick off meeting was held 8 March, GLG came to Dannevirke for area tour of
existing facilities (spaces and places) and to discuss project timeline and
scope.
o GLG
currently working through whole of project timeline including scheduling the
three stakeholder workshops required for the project. Timeline to be provided
by next week.
o The
culminated secondary data has been sent for GLG to work through as part of
informing needs assessment – review of this data will take up to 3 weeks.
o The
Recreation Committee (a.k.a. DVK wheel park group) and DVK Multisport Complex
Incorporated (DMCI) has merged, as their efforts align and will be better
positioned for funding.
o Recreation
Committee still to progress efforts in obtaining concept designs for wheel park
and submitting funding applications as build would not need to be delayed.
o Next
project steering group meeting is scheduled for 30 March.
o TDC and Mayor & Councillors will continue to
be kept up to date via Works Liaison Committee
Woodville Recreation Grounds Development
o Keeping apprised of WDV/WRAP’s
development of Woodville Recreation Grounds, important to ensure community
developments fit within Council District Plan and overall strategic framework
and plans.
o WDV/WRAP
are seeking funding for the development; however, they need project guidance.
Have connected them with the best Sport Manawatu representative to support
them.
o Have
highlighted concerns re: need for reserve management plan, lack of needs
assessment to justify oversupply of basketball and tennis courts, and community
expectation that post build Council will take responsibility of asset(s).
o WDV
are planning to present updated plans re: Development to Council in April/May.
Pensioner
Housing
o Contract for land purchase and
development has now been signed
o Project planning underway for construction and
development of 6 new pensioner housing units
Pongoroa
Water Treatment Plant
o The treatment operators have
requested a review of the current plant operations and equipment to ensure it
meets the design and specification of the original drawings.
o Mason
Engineering is expected to fit equipment which were delayed during
commissioning due to the worldwide Covid pandemic, the equipment has been
arriving sporadically but it is expected that we can fit the equipment as it
arrives and not have to wait until everything has arrived.
o The
first step we are trying to accomplish is to have the plant operating as per
the design spec. Second to assess whether the supply meets the demand and
lastly disconnect tanks and hook residents up to the council supply.
TRIM
(Document Management System) Upgrade/Replacement
o Risks and options have been identified
around the continued use of TRIM.
o A project is being initiated and an options
analysis has been identified as a next step to compare all the options with
TRIM and conduct a fit for purpose exercise
Libraries
Executive Summary
The Tararua Library team are very pleased
to welcome Allison McNicol and Leika McIver to the team as of 22 February 2021.
Both are on a fixed term contract of 15 months due to funding made available
from the New Zealand Libraries Partnership Programme. Allison is our second
secondee to the programme after Corinna Carew’s promotion to Outreach
Librarian. Allison’s role is to focus on “Reading for
pleasure” at the Tararua Library. Leika’s role is part-time
stemming from the change in hours for Corinna, Claire Mills, and Julie Smith.
The application for funding from the New
Zealand Libraries Participation Programme for Tararua Library to create a brand
was successful. We have had our initial meeting with Anthony Chiappin where he
met all the team and visited all the sites on an information gathering sortie.
We will move on to the workshop in March where the team will have the chance to
work together in creating the brand.
The District Librarian accompanied Tina
Love, Group Manager-Operations, on a meet and greet tour of the Tararua Library
branches. There has been positive feedback from the Team as they enjoyed
meeting Tina and chatting about her new role and their role in the Library.
The Tararua Library is collaborating with
REAP to deliver a programme to all the playgroups in the Dannevirke-Woodville
area. The programme will run over two terms and allows Tararua Library the
opportunity to network and get to know the people who provide playgroup
services as well as the children involved. There has already been added
interest in the Little Ears programme that the Library runs since we have been
visiting.
A Marketing/event/promotion team has been
established and meets at the end of each month. This group is taking an
holistic view to promoting the services of Tararua Library. It is establishing
a year-long schedule of focus for each month. Once we have our branding
templates available to use, this promotion will be more effective as the look
of each campaign will be consistent with the brand and become more visible to
our community.
On February 9th
the first Zoom meeting for Children and Youth Librarians, hosted by LIANZA, was
held. The topic was summer holiday programmes. The common theme was the decline
in participant numbers. This was attributed to both the ongoing effect of Covid
19 causing family routines to change and the competition from other holiday
activities.
For three days
of February the country dipped into Alert Level 2 putting a halt to some of our
services. All the signage was brought out once again and the Team were
reminded of our responsibilities at this Alert Level to keep everyone entering
our buildings safe.
Brenda Graves,
District Librarian, and Nikki Price, Senior Librarian, attended a 2-day ITF
Intermediate Emergency Management Course. Both passed the assessment exam taken
the following week.
Our promotion of the Library App has been successful with almost
double the launches over the previous month, and a 290% increase in new devices
using the app.
Planning
Eketahuna Library and Eketahuna School are
planning regular visits following on from the school’s successful visit
at the end of last year. We appreciate the logistics involved with any
school visit so regular ones will be quite an accomplishment.
The Woodville Community Librarian is contemplating
running a Monthly Playing Card club for adults to come along and learn new card
games.
Brenda Graves
and Nikki Price will be attending a finale luncheon celebrating the end of the
Eastern & Central Community Trust funded reading programmes.
A visit is
planned to Upper Hutt City Libraries to observe and learn their processes for
ordering and adding serials to their LMS. While there, the District Librarian
will attend a Wellington Zone PLNZ meeting.
The Outreach
Librarian is planning a series of ‘Showcases’ in April this year.
Each Library branch will be ‘showcased’ for the day with team
members on hand to demonstrate the resources available, help patrons load the
apps, answer any questions they may have, complete memberships, and provide
Virtual Reality experiences.
Children’s
Day in Pahiatua will be attended by the Outreach Librarian who is planning her
attendance. The date for this is Sunday 21 March 2021.
School Holiday
Programmes - Funding will be sought from the Eastern & Central Community Trust
for the Library’s “Chill Out & Read” programme. This is
scheduled to be held in Term 3 of this year. The team will be self-training in
the use of Lego Robotics in preparation for the Library’s Term 2 Digital
Literacy holiday programme.
Training planned - Lessons for the Dannevirke Library team in the
use of the Council electric pool vehicles are planned for March. Barbara Thacker, IT Business Analyst/Trainer, will be giving the
Library team a refresher in the use of Microsoft Outlook calendar during the
April Team Meeting.
Delivery
The Outreach Librarian attended
February’s Strengthening Families meeting. Afterwards, she met with
Stephen Dunn and REAP’s Alyshea and Trudie to discuss ways that REAP
could support the Eketahuna Community. Corinna later introduced Trudie to
Eketahuna business owners as Trudie is one of REAP’s Employment
Co-Ordinators.
Library Events & Programmes
The Outreach librarian and District
Librarian attended the Dannevirke A & P Show at the beginning of the month
to promote the library and its services. We were kept busy from about 10am
onwards making binary bracelets and helping to answer the question on the
Council’s competition. We also gave out a number of bookmarks advertising
our Library App and the Libby e-Book app.
Stepping Up classes have been running since
the beginning of the month. There has been a steady number of patrons learning
how to use their technology with two people being referred to REAP for a more
in-depth class. REAP have referred a number of people to the Tararua Library
who needed to join Skinny Jump. This is in addition to those who learn about it
in other ways.
Now that school has begun, all our normal
programmes have resumed. These run in term time and include Little Ears, Lego,
YOLO, Knitting groups, Poetry group, and Woodville’s book club. Little
Ears at Pahiatua has been well attended. It has been difficult to choose the
best day and time to run Little Ears here, so it seems we have it right now.
Dannevirke South School classes visited the
library. It was lovely to see and hear them making full use of the
children’s space. They enjoyed a story reading and learned about the
Library Stars programme. This resulted in some children signing up before they
left and others coming back into the Library after school to join the Library.
Woodville School visited the Library.
Leilani read them a couple of stories, and then answered a lot of questions
they had. The school will visit regularly.
Pahiatua
Women’s Institute put up a display at Pahiatua Library this month.
Statistics as at 28 February 2021
These are the final comparative figures
before the Covid-19 Lockdown begins to have an impact.
Emergency
Management 
Recovery Projects: Encourage and Support Rural Support
Activities, and Engage Social Sector for Ongoing Welfare Response
These projects are
complete and part of business as usual.
Recovery Project: Build Disaster Resilience Through
Training and Partnership
Supporting Ngāti
Kahungunu ki Tāmaki nui-a-Rua’s first responder team. Emergency
management leadership course delivered in March at Awakura. Future training now
in the regional training calendar. This project is complete.
Recovery Project: Establish Safer Communities (now Economic and Community Development
department)
Recovery Project: Define Trigger Points and Policy for
Water Restrictions (now
Infrastructure department).
COVID-19 Resurgence Planning
Regional resurgence
plan approved by the Joint Committee. Tararua supporting plan complete and
shared with agencies. Business continuity plans updated. Met with MidCentral
DHB regards logistical support for the vaccine rollout.
Staff Training
Delivered ITF
Intermediate course at Oringi (2-day course about emergency management response
principles). All ELT now trained to at least this standard.
Digital Radio Project
Downer are rolling out
a mission critical type radio network in Tararua. Council will rent space on this
network.
Tararua Emergency Management Committee
In February Maureen
Reynolds chaired a well-attended meeting at Dannevirke Council Chamber.
Hawke’s Bay Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) spoke on the response to the
Napier flood and later met with relevant staff to share their learnings. Mavis
Mullins spoke about her role as Tararua representative on the FENZ Local
Advisory Committee (LAC). The LAC provides direct community access to the FENZ
Board. Agencies and community groups shared their updates.
Tararua Health and Wellbeing Governance Group
Stephen attended the
February meeting chaired by Sharon Wards. Discussed lack of access to mental
health and social workers, including inability to attract staff and increasing
demand. Housing Forum actions ongoing. Locality Plan annual public forum showed
key concerns remain; access to services, waiting times, transport, access to
drug addiction services, rural sector stress, housing, poverty, isolation,
increasing family harm. Group to review of its terms of reference.
Tararua Strengthening
Families Local Management Group (LMG)
Stephen and Angela
attended the February meeting chaired by Claire Chapman and provided an update
on the food secure communities project. Secured additional funding to support
response to family harm. Writing letters seeking to improve access to family
lawyers in Tararua (none currently), and access to mental health especially for
crisis and young people.
Manawatū Whanganui Rural Coordination Group (RCG)
Stephen attended the
March meeting. The meeting focused on climate updates and it was noted again
the lack of data for Tararua District. The rural sector can now take advantage
of regional emergency management training opportunities.
Manawatū Whanganui Coordinating Executive Group (CEG)
Bryan attended the
February meeting. GNS earthquake avoidance research for Tararua due shortly.
Manawatū Whanganui Welfare Coordination Group (WCG)
Stephen and Mercedes
attended the March meeting. MSD presented on their ongoing COVID-19 support.
FENZ presented on their response to the Napier flood. WCG continues to work on
improving regional coordination of welfare delivery.
Response
Supported national and
regional response to multiple tsunami warnings on 5 March. Feedback was
generally positive.
Community Engagement
Coordinated the Safety Precinct at
the Dannevirke A&P Show representing NZ Defence, FENZ, Police, Tararua
Alliance, and St John.
Norsewood Community Civil Defence Response
Group to hold a meeting soon. Details TBA.
Met with the Herbertville Fire Brigade and
Herbertville Campground. Supporting their efforts to strengthen the community
response to tsunami.
Met with Akitio Fire Brigade and community
civil defence group. Supporting their efforts to improve local capacity in
emergency response.
Attended Woodville Districts’ Vision
and Woodville Civil Defence Emergency Management Group meetings. Will work
together more closely to build community resilience. Community emergency plan
to be updated and training opportunities explored.
Supporting Pahiatua Civil Defence Emergency
Management Group to prepare for community and agencies meeting: 7pm 20 April at
the town hall.
Resignation/Vacancy
– note from Group Manager People and Capability
Stephen Dunn has tendered his resignation
effective 2 April 2021. Stephen has done a great job in leading Emergency
Management here at Council over the last 2+ years, particularly through his
work in iwi and community engagement. Stephen has also made an important
contribution to the Union in his role as a PSA delegate.
Stephen has accepted a position at Horizons
as the Emergency Management Coordinator – Resilience. The People &
Capability office will be running a recruitment process over the coming weeks
to fill this vacancy.
Attachments
Nil.
