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HDC: the next 100 years

After 18 years at the helm, how does longtime and incumbent mayor Brendan Duffy see his legacy in the Horowhenua District?
Brendan Duffy

Steamed Up
Featuring Miranui Ward CANDIDATES COMMENTS
August 2013 Issue 2

To know that I am the Mayor who has delivered a variety of projects across the District. I have an appreciation of the challenges we need to fulfill in the rural and urban sectors and I have a vision to continue to grow our District so that it can be enjoyed by us all. The focus of this Council has been to develop systems that we as a community can enjoy; at the same time developing a programme to rebuild our infrastructure services above ground. The problem is that nobody really wants to pay for it! For too long we have held off, but now it is imperative we concentrate on going ahead. A major town drinking water upgrade is under way in Shannon and the new waste water treatment also attracted subsidies from Central Government. At a cost of $9m for the latter, this replaces the treated human effluent previously pumped yearround into the river. So why is Tokomarus town supply drinking water on the backburner, with a 12-year boil-water notice still in effect? Because Tokomaru is such a small community and due to the affordability it is well down the priority list. We are hoping to secure Government funding to enhance that programme, but we cannot say that will happen overnight. Brendan says the major implementation of harmonization a few years ago has taken infrastructure burdens across the District, so that small communities dont have to meet their own costs. He says the next term is very exciting with all the background work done in this Council. Resource consent applications are in and being processed. During this phase we are planning for the next 100 years. It has got to be done right. I have thoroughly enjoyed this term. We have a much more positive attitude and we are rightly proud of our achievements.

MIRANUI CASH COW

MILKED
Newly nominated councillor-candidate Ross Campbell is Janette and justifiably cheesed off that the Miranui Ward is being milked Ross Campbell dry. The Shannon businessman, Industrial Chaplain and chairman of Tourism Horowhenua has had his fair share of confrontation with the Horowhenua District mayor and a few councillors; including over what he sees as their blatant disregard for people in the Miranui Ward. His Chaplaincy has also brought him into contact with the immediate community and its spiritual wellbeing. He says a local elderly man in his 90s recently found himself in hospital with a heart attack he attributed to a senior Horowhenua District officials abusive behaviour. So incensed was Ross by this callous treatment, that he erected a bill-board on a trailer parked inside his grounds proclaiming the official was a bully. The well-known Owlcatraz owner and family man, including three children and now seven grandchildren, grew up on a regular dairy farm in Shannon. From the age of 12 he milked cows before and after school, eventually going share milking on a farm in Opiki and ultimately owning it for 20 years. But the next pursuit in the lives of Ross and wife Janette was his love of birds, namely owls. I always wanted to further my interest in owls. Janette and I have always worked well together and we thought wed see if we could make an income from this property, Ross says, speaking at the 36 acres of parkland within the Shannon town boundaries which the couple has managed with staff and volunteers for the past 16 years. Ross says the Miranui Ward has one of the highest rate-takes in the Horowhenua District, but is the least advantaged in upgrades and services. He maintains farms and lifestyle blocks in his Ward have subsidised the HDC mayors pet projects particularly the $12m new Council building and social niceties in Levin and surrounding townships. The service settlements of Tokomaru, Mangaore, Shannon and Opiki have been abandoned in infrastructure upgrades over the last decade. Miranui is the Districts cash cow! People here are pretty up tight about their rates. It is the most overrated and under-funded Ward in the whole of the District. Someone has to step up and be counted, says an indignant Ross Campbell. He believes a complete turnaround and a new mayor with a fresh outlook for the Horowhenua District is needed, to inject a vital recovery plan and optimism in the immediate future for the long term good.
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Meet your Miranui Ward mayoral and councillor candidates.

Tokomaru: Sunday 8 September 2pm at the Tokomaru Hall. Shannon: Thursday 12 September 7pm at the Senior Citizens Hall, Finn Street. Organised by the HDRRAI.

Steamed Up is a free monthly

independent newsletter for the Miranui Ward and Tokomaru community. Our aim in this special edition is to inform the public about electoral issues in the Horowhenua District. Christine.toms@xtra.co.nz. Ph 329 8081

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NICE-to-HAVE BLOW OUTS FAIL BASIC NEEDS

Mayoral candidate and incumbent councillor Anne Hunt says she knew when the mayor and councillors received the water and wastewater reviews during November 2011, it was clear there was Anne Hunt no way the ratepayers would be able to afford the cost of bringing these basic services up to standard. With five water supplies out of five holding an E (unacceptable level of risk) grading, this would cost $43.7m to fix. Plus the cost of wastewater, because all bar one of the HDCs seven resource consents would be expired within the next five years. Shannons expired in 2001, with Levin and Waiterere schemes also out of date. $139.2m in total! Anne advises that consultants warned Council there had been no significant upgrading expenditure over decades and HDC is having to upgrade all of its systems within a short time frame. So how did Council solve this problem? Quite simple, really, she says. Council announced in its 2012-22 Long Term Plan, that it had taken the approach that a 20 year period is more appropriate for our infrastructural investment programme than a ten year period. In other words, projects such as upgrading Tokomarus water slipped off the radar and therefore residents have finally discovered that they will have to boil their water until 2025. The mayoral candidate says this is totally unacceptable, and that no resident in this District should have to wait that long to get safe drinking water. The current Council has been happy enough to spend money on nice-to-have projects, so that they all gather round for a highly-ranked politician to cut a ribbon and praise Council for being progressive. In the meantime, Tokomaru residents are at risk because Council has failed to provide a basic service. Anne Hunt admits there will be some tough times ahead, but arrangements for Tokomaru residents to be able to drink water from a tap must be top priority.

Big wheels keep

Noeline and Robbie Shaw

Council turning
Vintage car and self confessed heavy machinery enthusiast Robbie Shaw last week threw his hat into the Local Authority Election ring for the fifth time as a councillor, having already spent 12 years in office serving the Miranui Ward. Shannons population of 1500 had a recent town supply water upgrade coup with $2.9m input from the Government. Ironically, Shannon will now have the only A-grade water in the entire District! Robbie believes the northern end of the District, Opiki and Tokomaru, slides off the radar when it comes to commitment to services. They feel theyve been left out. But Tokomarus Community Association is now a voice to take their concerns to Council, Robbie says. He believes Shannons neighbouring Village is entitled to an immediate water upgrade. It wont take much to put in a new treatment plant. We could just about do it tomorrow, he says from his home in Shannon bordering the river, where he runs cattle on 52 acres and operates a small quarry. Growing up in Nelson, Robbie moved first to Opiki as a contractor and then Shannon 20 years ago. The Miranui Ward farmer and his wife Noeline have six children and 13 grandchildren between them. Noeline with the Horowhenua Floral Art Club is currently completing her judging qualifications at Manawatu Area floral art. Robbie believes work would have been more cost-effective and efficient with a variety of local contractors in the Horowhenua District rather than the increasing consultancies. He would like to have the opportunity for another term in office to see the vital infrastructure work completed. But consultancies and drinking water isnt all thats keeping the HDC councillor awake at nights. Treated human sewage sprayed onto a Shannon farm land may appear to be an easy solution to dire waste water problems. But the unknown in potential human waste risk is already causing him some concern. We have got to be careful, to protect our Region, Robbie says.

Dont forget to tick and stick!

Have your say in the Local Authority Elections postal vote.

20 September to 12 October.

Size doesnt matter

The petition on behalf of the Water Action Group to the Prime Minister and Ministers of Health and Local Government asking for help to address Tokomarus decade long boil-water notice was vandalised last month. However, the remaining signatures and a few more amounting to 56 (estimated 100+) were presented to sitting Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway by Sarah Capper and Christine Toms on 18 August at his offices in Palmerston North. The petition was tabled in Parliament on 21 August and read (televised) in the House of Representatives on 22 August. It is scheduled for a Select Committee hearing. Thank you to everyone who participated. Your voices have now been heard. We will keep you posted regarding the outcome.
Above: Sarah Capper, Labour MP Ian Lees-Galloway and Christine Toms 2 3

Hall rates possibly rebated

HDC councillor and mayoral candidate Anne Hunt (right) told a Tokomaru audience that their public hall is in better shape than she was led to believe. (Back left) Hall committee Anne Candy, Gail and Kevin Russell and cr Robbie Shaw also fielded questions from the floor about the 1907 built Tokomaru Hall. Over 60 people gathered on 13 August, deciding by 41-11 votes that their hall should remain in Tokomaru. Cr Anne Hunt later said Tokomaru hall may qualify for a hall rates rebate, similar to Foxton Beach hall and others in the HDC.