Agenda of Ordinary Council Meeting - Wednesday, 13 August 2025

Ordinary Council Meeting Minutes

14 May 2025

DRAFT

MINUTES OF Carterton District Council
Ordinary Council Meeting
HELD AT THE Carterton Events Centre, 50 Holloway St, Carterton
ON Wednesday, 14 May 2025 AT 10:00 am

PRESENT: Mayor Ron Mark, Deputy Mayor Steve Cretney, Cr Brian Deller, Cr Robyn Cherry-Campbell, Cr Steve Laurence, Cr Grace Ayling, Cr Lou Newman, Cr Steve Gallon, Joel Ngātuere (Ngāti Kahukuraāwhitia) via videoconference

IN ATTENDANCE: Staff

Geoff Hamilton (Chief Executive), Karon Ashforth (Corporate Services Manager), Solitaire Robertson (Planning and Regulatory Services Manager), Glenda Seville (Community Services and Facilities Manager), Johannes Ferreira (Infrastructure Services Manager), Marcus Anselm (Communications and Engagement Manager) via videoconference, Robyn Blue (Democratic Services Officer)

1 Karakia Timatanga

The meeting opened with a karakia by all members.

2 Apologies

MOVED

That an apology be received from Cr Dale Williams.

Cr L Newman / Cr B Deller

CARRIED

3 Conflicts of Interests Declaration

There were no conflicts of interest declared.

4 Public Forum

There was no public forum.

5 Youth Council views on agenda items

Nil.

6 Confirmation of the Minutes

Nil.

Speaking notes from the oral submitters are in Appendix 1.

1. Amber Craig – Tina te Pu – Rangitāne o Wairarapa

2. Holger Jesson

3. Erica Jar – Sustainable Wairarapa

The meeting went into recess at 10.50 am and reconvened at 11 am.

4. Michael Hewison

The meeting adjourned at 11.20 am and reconvened, 9 am Thursday 22 May 2025.

KARAKIA

The meeting re-opened with a karakia by all members.

APOLOGIES

MOVED

That apologies be received from Cr G Ayling, Cr R Cherry-Campbell and J Ngātuere.

Deputy Mayor S Cretney / Cr S Gallon

CARRIED

7 Reports

8.1 Hearing and Deliberations – Local water done well Consultation

1. Purpose

To provide Council with the feedback received following the public consultation on Local Water Done Well (LWDW) options and advise on the process for finalising a decision of the future delivery of Water Services for the Carterton District.

MOVED

That the Committee:

1. Received the report.

Deputy Mayor S Cretney / Cr B Deller

CARRIED

2. Heard the submitters.

Deputy Mayor S Cretney / Cr L Newman

CARRIED

3. Considered each submission and other feedback received on the LWDW Consultation Document.

Cr B Deller / Cr S Gallon

CARRIED

4. Approves:

b) delegating authority to the Chief Executive and Mayor to enter into a Commitment Agreement with the three Wairarapa Councils and Tararua District Council to progress the joint WSCCO.

Mayor R Mark / Deputy Mayor S Cretney

CARRIED

c) the Chief Executive progressing a joint Wairarapa – Tararua Council Owned Organisation Water Services Delivery Plan with Masterton, Tararua and South Wairarapa District Councils, and bring this back for consideration at the 25 June 2025 council meeting.

Cr L Newman / Cr S Gallon

CARRIED

d) delegating authority to the Chief Executive and the Mayor to negotiate key terms and conditions of a joint Wairarapa – Tararua Council Owned Organisation with Masterton, Tararua and South Wairarapa District Councils and bring this back for consideration at the 25 June 2025 Council meeting, noting the following items must be included:

(i) a prohibition on price standardisation between the current territorial authority boundaries for a period of no less than 10 years;

(ii) a limit of the maximum amount of debt Councils can transfer to the WSCOO based on a consistent measure (e.g. debt / revenue ratio), and

(iii) a limit on, or ringfencing of, each Council’s capital requirements relative to that district’s ability to fund capital repayments;

(iv) fair representation of Carterton District Council on the Shareholder Council based on the number of water user connections;

(v) An expectation that Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa and Rangitāne o Wairarapa are represented on the Shareholder Council.

Cr S Laurence / Cr L Newman

CARRIED

e) instructing the Chief Executive to develop a standalone Water Services Delivery Plan as a back-up option.

Mayor R Mark / Cr L Newman

CARRIED

f) a motion of thanks to the management team for the work undertaken to progress the LWDW proposal to this point.

Mayor R Mark / Deputy Mayor S Cretney

CARRIED

Appendix 1 – Notes from the oral submitters

1) Amber Craig – Tina te Pū – Rangitāne o Wairarapa

Amber Craig presented and spoke on behalf of Rangitāne o Wairarapa.

Rangitāne o Wairarapa are kaitiaki for the environment, whose role is to interpret the knowledge of their ancestors. Māori fully understand the holistic nature of the environmental ecosystem. Water is a taonga in te ao Māori, and the concepts of tāpu and noa are intrinsically linked. These concepts relate to water and waste water, and how they are managed. To break tapu is a hara / violation.

CDC needs to ensure the involvement of iwi/hapū and whānau to ensure culturally-appropriate solutions for LWDW. This includes the complete removal of treated wastewater being discharges into streams and waterways.

Rangitāne o Wairarapa supported Carterton remaining as a stand-alone water services provider.

2) Holger Jesson

Holger’s background is audit, assurance and risk, and that is the lens he put on the consultation document.

He said that he has two issues with the proposal:

· He challenges the assumptions

· There are significant risks that he believes are not fully understood

The assumptions in the proposal are:

· Efficiency

· Cost savings

All major projects predict efficiency and cost-savings, but the reality is that it may not happens. Health NZ and the school lunch programme are such examples.

Predicting the price for water in 20 years is impossible – we wouldn’t be able to predict the price of butter in 20 years. . . Prediction of the cost of water does not predict the cost of rates.

Issues with the assumptions:

· There is misleading pricing. If the cost of water reduces, people may think that the rates may reduce.

· There is an issue of stranded overhead costs that need to be paid for (i.e. operating expenses that remain after the business unt has been fully divested), as well as the additional overhead costs in the CCO. Basically, the Council is paying twice for overhead costs.

He would rather see the money invested in infrastructure than invested in overhead costs.

Risk:

Holger went through four financial statements and compared the amount each Council is spending on water. The table below shows that CDC is spending about 30 cents in every dollar on water, while Tararua is spending about 16 cents/dollar. There may be many reasons for this. However, in terms of an Investment Plan, would the CCO invest in the district that has the best infrastructure in place, or would they try to close the gap where water hasn’t had a high priority in the past? Carterton may be at a disadvantage when it comes to the CCO’s investment priorities.

Issues

· Cross Subsidisation – this can be avoided with a very good cost-coding system in place. But if not, then you may have to divide the maintenance cost and overhead costs by 4 and everyone pays their share.

· Shared debt is a risk that needs to be managed. For example, if there is an infrastructure project in Masterton which the CCO has to finance by taking on a loan, Carterton may be responsible for the paying the interest and principle as part of a shared debt agreement.

· Setting priorities at the CCO.

· Managing limited resources at the CCO.

Summary

Holger supports the Carterton only option.

Cons

· We are gifting away $70M of infrastructure assets

· We may be disadvantaged due to our advanced infrastructure in the Investment Plan in the next 5-10 years

· We have the risk of shared debt

· We are losing the power to make decisions for Carterton and/or set priorities for Carterton

· There is a risk of cross subsidising other regions

Pros:

· Hope of reduced water costs in 20 years – not rates

· There may be promised efficiencies.

3) Erica Jar – Sustainable Wairarapa Incorporated (SWI)

1. For communities to actually understand the complexity of the local proposal and make an informed decision, it is important that all four councils produce one set of metrics that can be directly compared.

2. The creation of a Tararua-Wairarapa CCO will be one of the most complex LWDW operations in the country, with a mix of communities from very small, such as Castle Point and Ngāwi, through to Masterton, a town of approximately 30,000 people. The operation will also manage water for manufacturing, some primary production, and solar farms across the region.

3. Each of these many installations has operating idiosyncrasies, which will make it costly to integrate into a single entity and maintain in the future, potentially limiting the ability to reach the economies of scale required to financially benefit the water users within the proposed CCO.

4. The CCO will be funded by a low population base that is also the poorest in the Wellington region. From this perspective, are the councils confident that the financial forecasts for the proposed CCO will attract and hold onto appropriately qualified and experienced staff and fund the different and varied operations?

5. Is there enough scale to separate ourselves from Wellington in a manner that has suitable staff to manage, plan, and implement a CCO?

6. Only South Wairarapa District Council has identified the level of debt it will be transferring to the proposed Tararua-Wairarapa CCO. This raises two further questions:

a. How much debt will the other Councils be transferring to the new entity?

b. How much debt will the new entity be carrying before it even starts?

7. The New Zealand Government has stated clearly that these CCOs are its preferred model for LWDW. How is the NZ Government supporting the proposed entity to make it financially viable? Speaking plainly, what money is the NZ Government contributing to get this entity off the ground, and what conditions come with any financial support?

8. In separating water debt out from the rest of the individual Council’s operations, all Councils have identified that this will allow the proposed CCO to increase their debt to 500 times their operating revenue, a level of debt that has little chance of ever being paid back, forcing the CCO’s customers to servicing the interest through their water invoices. Considering again that Wairarapa has a small population with low-income residents, where is the social equity in invoicing these people for interest on corporate debt?

9. Separating water debt out from the rest of the individual Council’s operations, will also reduce their debt initially, but as pointed out in the South Wairarapa District Council’s consultation document, this provides the opportunity to borrow for other Council operations, ultimately keeping their debt levels the same, or even increasing them.

10. This doubling down on debt for operations will increase rates by double billing. While all four councils show on a graph that the projected rates with the CCO will be lower than maintaining the status quo, SWI is suspicious of the accuracy of the figures. The only way that ratepayers will know is when we receive our first invoice!

11. SWI is concerned that the environment has not featured in the proposals for the new structure. The LWDW operation has the potential to have a profound effect on the local and regional environment, and any new entity should be working to improve the current situation, for example, where consent extensions allow the discharge of wastewater into rivers beyond publicly and environmentally acceptable quantities. But who will be measuring environmental impact and change?

12. Where do water races fit in the new structure?

13. Where do aquifers fit into the new structure? It is deeply concerning that aquifers are being touted as ‘new water’ when these are water stores that should be restricted in their use.

14. Where does a potential dam/pond/reservoir for agricultural water storage fit into the new structure?

15. How will the individual Councils work with the proposed CCO? An example of this question can be found in wastewater operations. As oxidation ponds fill with sludge, whose responsibility would it be to solve that issue? The water would be the CCO’s, but who owns the sludge? And who owns the solution to the sludge (for example, a biogas fermenter such as Watercare in Auckland has)?

16. The proposal documents focus little on the makeup of the CCO board. Are the four councils willing to bring in outside expertise to develop the structure to deliver the complex operation? SWI does not support the use of consultants/contractors, as has been the practice in Wellington Water.

17. SWI desires an efficient professional water authority without the petty ‘local patch’ politics that have plagued the Wairarapa for decades. ‘Point scoring’ rather than give and take.

In summary:

Sustainable Wairarapa Incorporated (SWI) supports a Tararua-Wairarapa CCO in principle, but there is not enough information about the current proposal to make an informed decision for a new, highly complex entity (financially and structurally).

How can we as a community develop the trust that the CCO will deliver with too little information? If SWI and the populace of our communities knew the principles the CCO was being built on, we would be better able to support or decline specific parts of the proposal.

Our hope in supporting the principle of the CCO is that it will be less bureaucratic and more consultative.

The CCO should deliver better and cheaper water services than the current Council operations.

Moving forward:

For SWI to convert our ‘in principle support’ to ‘confirmed support’, our membership needs:

a. A complete set of information from each authority that is directly comparable. This should include, but is not limited to, the transferable debt on water operations, leakage, and current consent information.

b. The potential structure of the CCO from Board through to the operational level.

c. Relatively accurate future operational costs of the CCO.

d. A working party that represents all four councils, iwi, and environmental watchdogs, to sit down and work to understand the scale of the issue, solutions, and whether the ability to borrow 500 times the operational revenue will be sufficient to implement the solutions. If it is not, then the NZ Government should be approached to provide sufficient funding to ensure the successful transition of water services to the proposed CCO.

e. The up-front benefits of a CCO to communities – regardless of NZ Government push for a CCO, what is the benefit that will pull a low-income region in? Borrowing and economies of scale have been mentioned, but will the service be demonstrably better than our current offering, and who will measure this proposed improvement?

4) Michael Hewison

Michael is Chairman of the Waiohine River Committee. He has an engineering/ project background. and identified it is extremely important to get this change right.

He identified he supported the joint Wairarapa-Tararua water services option

Key points

· The change needs to be fair, measured, fit-for-purpose, cost effective and efficient, and reflective of the community

o Costs will quickly become unmanageable with code of practice requirements and monitoring etc

o His submission highlighted the need for a small team doing the small jobs around town, and contractors managing bigger jobs

· There needs to be a very strong process for board selection, and an ability to easily remove non-performers.

· There need to be very strong guidelines to the board to follow regarding community expectations and levels of service.

· There need to be minimum standards e.g. for water supply, leak testing, repair of mains and laterals leaks, and metering etc.

· There is a need to not only harmonise the 10 year LTP but also to harmonise/optimise the contents of each Council’s 10 year LTP to ensure all functions are identified and compared, if necessary using some form of weighted averages or other mechanism – so “apples are being compared with apples”.

· He is concerned there a too many unknowns, and this change has been mandated to move too quickly.

· If Council no longer has technical expertise in house, it may not be able to know how well things are being managed.

· The change must be designed such that it can move as easily and quickly as possible to a Unitary Authority. The economics of moving to this make sense – with 40% of each Council’s business being transferred to the CCO.

8 Karakia Whakamutunga

The meeting closed with a karakia by all members.

The meeting closed at 11.35 am

Minutes confirmed: …………………………………………………

Date: ...................................................

Ordinary Council Meeting Minutes

25 June 2025

DRAFT

MINUTES OF Carterton District Council
Ordinary Council Meeting
HELD AT THE Carterton Events Centre, 50 Holloway St, Carterton
ON Wednesday, 25 June 2025 AT 1:00 pm

PRESENT: Mayor Ron Mark, Deputy Mayor Steve Cretney, Cr Brian Deller, Cr Robyn Cherry-Campbell, Cr Steve Laurence, Cr Lou Newman, Cr Steve Gallon

IN ATTENDANCE: Staff

Geoff Hamilton (Chief Executive), Geri Brooking (Group Manager, People and Corporate), Solitaire Robertson (Group Manager Planning and Regulatory), Glenda Seville (Group Manager Community and Facilities), Johannes Ferreira (Group Manager Infrastructure, Odell Sugrue (Parks and Reserves Planner), Megan Pullin (Youth Development Coordinator), Lawrence Stephenson (Waters Operations Manager), Sara Renall (Senior Communications and Engagement Advisor), Robyn Blue (Democratic Services Officer), Katrina King (Democratic Services Officer)

Other

Stuart Taylor and Matt Carrere (WellingtonNZ)

1 Karakia Timatanga

The meeting opened with a karakia by all members.

2 Apologies

MOVED

That apologies be accepted from Cr Dale Williams and Cr Grace Ayling.

Cr R Cherry-Campbell / Cr B Deller

CARRIED

3 Conflicts of Interests Declaration

There were no conflicts of interest declared.

4 Public Forum

There was no public forum.

5 Discussion of Public Forum

Not applicable.

6 Youth Council views on agenda items

Megan Pullin, Youth Development Coordinator, identified that the Youth Council had strong interest in the Carrington Park paper in the agenda. They supported investment on the park in the playground area and skate park, rather than CDC paying to fix or replace old equipment.

7 Confirmation of the Minutes

7.1 Minutes of the Ordinary Council Meeting held on 14 May 2025

NOTED

· In future, Cr Newman identified she is happy to have her name recorded if she is against a motion.

MOVED

1. That the Minutes of the Ordinary Council Meeting held on 14 May 2025 are true and correct.

Deputy Mayor S Cretney / Cr S Laurence

CARRIED

7.2 Minutes of the Ordinary Council Meeting held on 11 June 2025

MOVED

1. That the Minutes of the Ordinary Council Meeting held on 11 June 2025 are true and correct.

Deputy Mayor S Cretney / Cr L Newman

CARRIED

8 Reports

8.1 Wellington NZ Quarterly Report

1. Purpose

For the Council to receive a report of activities for the quarter ending March 2025 on the delivery on the Wairarapa Economic Development Strategy.

NOTED

· Mayor Ron Mark identified that WellingtonNZ could improve promotion of major events in the Wairarapa, such as the Balloon Festival, Wings over Wairarapa, and Golden Shears.

MOVED

That the Council:

1. Receives the Wellington NZ quarterly report.

Deputy Mayor S Cretney / Cr B Deller

CARRIED

8.2 Chief Executive Report

1. Purpose

For the Council to be informed on planned Council operational activities, major projects, and other matters of importance and interest.

NOTED

· That the Annual Plan 25/26 was approved on 11 June (not 11 July 2025).

· Councillors complimented Council on the Ngā Tawhai Reserve Unveiling on Saturday 21 June, the Neighbourhood Support newsletters, and Animal Control and Regulatory and Planning activities (building consents issued within 5 days).

MOVED

That the Council:

1. Receives the report.

Cr R Cherry-Campbell / Cr B Deller

CARRIED

8.3 Water Race Capital Projects

1. Purpose

To consider increasing the current budgets for the capital projects of the Water Races to complete the scope of work.

MOVED

That the Council:

1. Receives the report.

2. Approves that the Water Race Capital Projects Budget be increased by $254,294.00 and be funded from the Water Race Reserves.

Cr B Deller / Cr S Gallon

CARRIED

8.4 Carrington Park Play Space Upgrade Proposal

1. Purpose

For the Council to consider the Carrington Park Upgrade proposal and approving funds from the Reserves Contribution Fund to start this project.

MOVED

That the Council:

1. Receives the report.

Cr L Newman / Cr B Deller

CARRIED

2. Agrees to progress a refined Stage 1A and 1B of Carrington Park Upgrade project.

Cr R Cherry-Campbell / Cr L Newman

CARRIED

3. Approves up to $2,000,000 unbudgeted expenditure for a refined Stage 1A and 1B of the Carrington Park project, to be funded from Reserves Contributions Fund and Parks & Reserves depreciation reserves as appropriate.

Mayor R Mark / Cr R Cherry-Campbell

CARRIED

4. Instructs officers to present the revised Stage 1A and 1B plans for the Carrington Park Project to the Policy and Projects Committee prior to construction.

Deputy Mayor S Cretney / Cr B Deller

CARRIED

8.5 Wairarapa Consolidated Bylaw (Part Nine)

1. Purpose

The purpose of this report is to seek Council adoption of the draft Part Nine: Water Supply Bylaw Wāhanga Iwa: Kohinga Wai and Ngā Ture ā-Rohe Tōpu o Wairarapa Wairarapa Consolidated Bylaw Statement of Proposal for consultation.

MOVED

That the Council:

1. Receives the report.

2. Adopts the revised Draft Part Nine: Water Supply Bylaw and the Statement of Proposal for consultation.

3. Notes the consultation for Part One - Part Ten of the Consolidated Bylaw will take place 25 June – 25 July 2025, and that consultation for Part Eleven: Trade Waste is currently open, closing on 25 July 2025.

Deputy Mayor S Cretney / Cr R Cherry-Campbell

CARRIED

8.6 Committee Membership

1. Purpose

For Council confirm replacements on Committees with the resignation of Cr Dale Williams.

MOVED

That the Council:

1. Receives the report.

Cr R Cherry-Campbell / Cr L Newman

CARRIED

2. Agrees to not undertake a by-election with the resignation of Cr Williams.

Deputy Mayor S Cretney / Cr L Newman

CARRIED

3. Agrees to allocate the additional remuneration pool funding on the basis of Option A.

Mayor R Mark / Cr S Gallon

CARRIED

4. Agrees to appointing Deputy Mayor Cretney as the Chair, and Cr Ayling as Deputy Chair on the Chief Executive Employment Review Committee.

Mayor R Mark / Deputy Mayor S Cretney

CARRIED

5. Agrees to appointing Cr Newman on to the Risk and Assurance Committee.

Mayor R Mark / Cr S Laurence

CARRIED

6. Agrees to appointing Cr Gallon on to the Community Grants Committee.

Mayor R Mark / Cr R Cherry-Campbell

CARRIED

8.7 Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act Requests

1. Purpose

To inform the Council of the number of requests under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) 1987 (the Act) 2 May 2025 to 17 June 2025.

MOVED

That the Council:

1. Receives the report.

Deputy Mayor S Cretney / Cr B Deller

CARRIED

8.8 Service Requests and Complaints

1. Purpose

For the Council to be informed on Service Requests received in May 2025 to 17 June 2025, and Complaints received from May 2025 to 17 June 2025.

MOVED

That the Council:

1. Receives the report.

Cr L Newman / Cr S Gallon

CARRIED

9 Exclusion of the Public

RESOLUTION TO EXCLUDE THE PUBLIC

MOVED

That the public be excluded from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting.

The general subject matter of each matter to be considered while the public is excluded, the reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter, and the specific grounds under section 48 of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution are as follows:

General subject of each matter to be considered	Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter	Ground(s) under section 48 for the passing of this resolution
9.1 - Confirmation of the public-excluded minutes of the Council meeting 14 May 2025	s7(2)(a) - the withholding of the information is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons	s48(1)(a)(i) - the public conduct of the relevant part of the proceedings of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding would exist under section 6 or section 7
9.2 - Confirmation of the public-excluded minutes of the Council meeting held 11 June 2025	s7(2)(h) - the withholding of the information is necessary to enable Council to carry out, without prejudice or disadvantage, commercial activities	s48(1)(a)(i) - the public conduct of the relevant part of the proceedings of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding would exist under section 6 or section 7

Deputy Mayor S Cretney / Cr S Laurence

CARRIED

MOVED

That Council moves out of Closed Council into Open Council.

Mayor R Mark / Cr R Cherry-Campbell

CARRIED

10 Karakia Whakamutunga

The meeting closed with a karakia by all members.

The meeting closed at 12.25 pm

Minutes confirmed: …………………………………………………

Date: ...................................................

Ordinary Council Meeting Agenda

13 August 2025

8 Reports

A logo with text on it

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

8.1 Chief Executive Report

1. Purpose

For the Council to be informed on planned Council operational activities, major projects, and other matters of importance and interest.

2. Significance

Unless otherwise stated the matters for decision in this report are not considered to be of significance under the Significance and Engagement Policy.

3. Community services

Community Development

Community Funding and Support

Waste Minimisation Grant

The final Waste Minimisation application received for 2024 FY was assessed on 1 July 2025 by Council Officers and funding approved. Hockey Wairarapa are installing recycling bins to ensure more user-friendly recycling and reduce waste.

The 2025 - 2026 Waste minimisation ‘Annual Contestable Fund’ and ‘Rapid Fund’ were opened for applications on 1 July. The Annual Contestable Fund will be open from July – 31 October 2025 and welcomes applications for funding over $2,000. The Rapid Fund will be open from July 2025 – 31 May 2026 and is for funding amounts less than $2,000.

Community Grant 2025 applications:

The 2025 Community Grant applications opened on 15 June and have been advertised in the Carterton Crier, Wairarapa Times Age, the Carterton Neighbourhood Support newsletter and Facebook page. Applications closed on 31 July 2025, with the Grants Committee meeting later this month to allocate funds.

Community Events

Citizenship Ceremony

The next Citizenship Ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday 20 August 20.

Carterton Daffodil Festival

Planning is underway for the Carterton Daffodil Festival to be held on Sunday 14 September. The festival has gone through a rebrand, and new promotion material will be rolling out as part of advertising for the festival.

Other Community Events Information

The Community Events information page on the Carterton District Council website outlines information about the Events Approval Process. Community Events | Carterton District Council (cdc.govt.nz)

Community Support and Promotion

Wairarapa Walking Festival 2025

The Wairarapa Walking Festival celebrates walking of all kinds, cultural, heritage, at the coast, up a hill or around urban environments each November. This year’s festival is 14 – 23 November.

A screenshot of a social media post

AI-generated content may be incorrect. Elder Abuse Awareness Day

Elder Abuse Awareness Day was on 15 June, with each Mayor doing a social media post.

Over the Fence/Kei tua o te taiapa

Over the Fence/Kei tua o te taiapa is having another season. Two more models will be used for new stories. This will be accompanied by a video. The messaging of this project is to support and encourage neighbourliness and the strength of our older persons.

Connections project

August will see the production of the Connections project – a pocket-sized resource outlining activities available to Carterton older persons. The intention of this project is to encourage Carterton’s older persons to make connections.

A poster for events with text and images

AI-generated content may be incorrect. A flyer with text and images of people around a table

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

StoryWalk®

Story walk was updated in June to align with Matariki. The new story is Twinkle, Twinkle Matariki.

Neighbourhood Support

Weekly newsletters with community updates and NZ Police crime reports are shared with Neighbourhood Support groups. New groups have been established in several areas including Park Road, Mill Grove, Brooklyn Road and Hilton Road.

A group of people on a stage

AI-generated content may be incorrect. Life Education Workshop

On 16 July, Year 7 and 8 students from Carterton schools took part in an engaging interactive theatre workshop led by the Life Education team. The workshop explored the impacts of vaping and social media, and there were dynamic performances and discussions that empowered rangatahi to think critically and make informed choices. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and Harold’s appearance was a highlight.

St Johns Mentoring

Last month, St John ran two interactive sessions at the Events Centre for Carterton Year 7 students, focusing on leadership, first aid, and wellbeing to help prepare and empower them as future school and community leaders.

Next month, St John will be facilitating two sessions of "Harnessing Potential: Leadership, First Aid, and Wellbeing Day" for the Year 7 students of Carterton at the Events Centre. These sessions are designed to support our younger leaders, who will be seniors next year, by equipping them with the skills and confidence to support and encourage other rangatahi (young people). Through interactive activities and practical training, students will learn essential leadership qualities, first aid techniques, and strategies for maintaining their wellbeing. This initiative aims to empower our future leaders to make positive contributions to their schools and communities.

Youth Week

To support Youth Week this year CDC ran a mural competition, supporting the theme of youth week whai wahitanga (take our place). The winner of this competition will have their design put on the walkway entry to Howard Booth Park.

Emergency Preparedness and community emergency hubs

Emergency preparedness and community emergency hubs was a feature promo in the July edition of the Carterton Crier. This also included a section on Grab-bags and joining Neighbourhood Support.

Climate Change

Carterton’s Climate Change Strategy Implementation Plan for 2025/26 was agreed in the Policy and Projects committee meeting on 18 June 2025. The Strategy on a page document was also finalised in June and is now on the CDC website.

In line with the Implementation Plan's emission reduction section, the CDC Emissions Reports for 2022 and 2023 have been drafted, as well as the draft Six Year Emissions Analysis Report. We are planning to take the Six Year Emissions Analysis Report to the Policy and Projects committee meeting on 10 September. Analysis shows that there has been little impact on reducing CDC's emissions over the six-year period, and recommends more deliberate action be taken to reduce our emissions.

Examples of other activities in the implementation plan during the last period include displays in the library in support of Plastic Free July organic waste collection (and composting) from Council's Holloway Street offices, and the change in Carterton's rubbish collection bags to higher recycled content.

The Climate Change Coordinator is in discussion with local sustainability groups about their suggestion of running a regular climate cafe in Carterton. This was done in the past and seen as a useful way to coordinate between the groups. It also has the potential to support interest in grant applications.

Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs Wairarapa

The Contractual Outcome Target for FY 24/25 was 58. At the end of the contract the team placed 66 people into permanent employment. In total 114 people have been placed into work during the past financial year.

The previous contract for 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025 has now concluded and we have begun delivery on the F26 contract.

About Mayors Taskforce for Jobs

MTFJ is a movement of mayors around Aotearoa who advocate for a bottom-up approach to employment solutions to deliver the Community Employment Programme (CEP) along with broader initiatives. In particular, CEP is a nationwide partnership between Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) and the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) that is delivering great outcomes in rural and provincial communities. It’s championed by mayors who are working together towards the vision of all young people 16-25 engaged in employment, education, or training in their communities.

https://www.lgnz.co.nz/local-government-in-nz/mayors-taskforce-for-jobs/

Wairarapa Events Centre

In June we hosted our first Mixtape event which was great fun and thoroughly enjoyed by staff and patrons alike. Inspired by the popular ‘Home by Ten’ events and themed club nights in Wellington, this is a dance party aimed at over 30’s, full of throwback bangers that’s all over by 10PM. This event created a lot of online engagement and buzz in the community, and we’ve had predominantly great feedback on the event itself, with patrons saying they would likely attend a similar style of event 2-4 times a year. It was also a commercial success, with strong results in box office takings and Food & Beverage spend. The event is relatively cheap and simple to run and gives us a good option moving forward to plug gaps in our programme when we have cancellations or quiet booking periods.

In July we had a full programme for kids over the school holidays with Kitchen Chaos, The Home Inside and the return of the Pantaloons with Little Red Riding Hood. Nearly 400 tamariki and their caregivers attended shows at the centre over this school holiday period. We also delivered the annual Wairarapa Rockquest regional final.

We also hosted Mr & Mrs Alexander, an old timey illusion and circus show, a matinee of Operatunity for our older audiences, and the sold-out immersive theatre work Before We Slip Beneath the Sea which was performed in the Rangatahi Hub. The team also delivered the Wairarapa Times-Age (WTA) Sports Awards and gala dinner. WTA staff said:

“A massive thank you for your team's contribution towards making last night's Wairarapa Times-Age Sports Awards a huge success. Everything went smoothly, and I couldn't fault your team. They were extremely accommodating with any requests we had…We truly value your ongoing support in celebrating the Wairarapa's sporting achievements in our region. We are very proud of yet another successful evening, and your contribution certainly helped make it an event to remember.”

The events calendar continues to ramp up in the second half of the year. In the next six weeks we will host the Wairarapa Business Summit, The Fleetwood Mac experience, The Annual Rotary Club Book Fair, The Kuranui College Ball, Wairarapa Bride of the Year and a concert from the Wairarapa Youth orchestra.

Statistics

June 2025

Total Audience of public events	696
Public/ticketed events held	4
Commercial Meetings/Events held	14
Community Meetings/Events held	82
Internal/local govt Meetings/Events held	83

Geographical spread of audience surveyed for events during period:

Masterton	57%
Carterton	40%
Greytown	3%

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A graph showing a number of events

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Sales and Marketing

Facebook and Instagram – Reporting period 1 - 30 June 2025.

Wairarapa Events Centre Page Insights

· Reach: The number of people who saw content from our Wairarapa Events Centre pages was 23.3k on Facebook and 1.7K on Instagram

· Page and profile views: The number of times our page was viewed on Facebook was 124.4K and 5.3K views on Instagram.

· New likes and follows: We’ve increased our Facebook page follows by 50 followers this month and 17 followers on Instagram

Mailchimp

1 - 30 June

We achieved an average open rate of 42.2% across the newsletters and feedback forms sent during this period. During this period we gained 35 new subscribers.

This is a great result from our newsletter subscribers with eDM open rates across all industries typically averaging between 15-25%

Summary

With several straight hire events occurring through late July/early August it is typical to see a drop in reach and views as we tend to do less sponsored advertising for straight hire contracts. Therefore the distribution of our posts and advertising differs somewhat to if they were joint ventures. Our eDMs are still proving to be a strong communication channel with solid and consistent open rates.

Audience Feedback:

Mixtape: 90s Nightclub

Great event will definitely keep an eye out for the next dance party.

I really really really loved this event. I would make sure to share this more from my social media in the likelihood this happens again. I would be keen for an 80's, 90's or 2000's remix. The DJ was awesome and really interactive. If something like this was on every month I would attend. I haven't smiled so much for years!

So so so primo!!!!!

Mr & Mrs Alexander
It was great, we drove over from Wellington city for the show. The venue was awesome, parking was easy

Considering it was a Tuesday night - it was good to see a reasonable number of people out

Kitchen Chaos

Kitchen Chaos was a perfect show for our 6 yr old granddaughter.

My 5yr old granddaughter giggled and laughed throughout the Kitchen Chaos show. She talked about sneaker juice for the rest of her stay with me. Great entertainment.

The Home Inside

Well done. Great show. My daughter enjoyed all of it.

I loved that we were encouraged to talk through the show, discussing certain concepts with my daughter.

The Pantoloons: Red Riding Hood

Great venue on your doorstep

Always love taking my children to see the Pantoloons. We have a great time and are never disappointed.

It was a great show not only for the kids but adults as well can't wait now for Cindarella

Carterton Library

Circulation

June 2025

Hard copy items issued

9,030 (WLS)

3,697 (Carterton)

E-books, audiobooks and e-magazines

4,538 (WLS)

New users joined

16 (Carterton)

Programming

Wā Kōrero continues to be held weekly, drawing strong attendance from local daycare centres and preschools.

A highly successful Teddy Bear Sleepover took place on 10 July as part of the school holiday programme. Children enjoyed an early evening of crafts and story time before leaving their teddies and toys for a special overnight stay in the library.

Divine River is once again delivering Connected Creativity courses throughout Term 3.

Stuffed animals with newspaper hats

AI-generated content may be incorrect. Code Club for 8–13-year-olds has also resumed for Term 3.

RFID Project

RFID tagging continues with completion now estimated for August.

Workroom/Layout

The new workroom has been installed, providing a private, efficient, and productive space for staff while preserving the building's heritage aspects.

The children's picture book collection has been reorganised and displayed in new shelving for increased discoverability.

Parks and Reserves

Spraying and general town maintenance activities, including mowing, are ongoing as part of regular service schedules.

Rural Reserves

New playground-safe bark has been added to ensure a safer environment for children at the Longbush Hall.

Parks and the CBD

Refurbishment and replacement of CBD rubbish bins are underway, with completed units returned as they become ready.

An accessible drinking fountain has been installed at the Carrington Park Pavilion, improving amenities for all park users. Graffiti removal has been completed at the Carrington toilets, addressing vandalism both on the concrete outside and throughout the toilet block.

A community noticeboard has been installed at Wild Oats, providing a new channel for public information sharing. This work has been in collaboration with a community led group.

Swimming Pool

The pools continue to receive infrastructure upgrades, including the relocation and improvement of the waste pump system, ensuring more efficient operation. The team is beginning to prepare the pool for the upcoming summer season.

Cemetery

New gardens are currently being developed at the Clareville Cemetery, specifically around the RSA memorial area, contributing to the site's overall appearance and sense of respect.

The team have been working on developing a concept plan for the future development of Clareville Cemetery.

4. Regulatory and Planning

Regulatory and Planning

Farewell and Best Wishes to Brett and Kathy

It is with sincere regret that we announce the departure of two valued members of our team.

Brett Rudman, our dedicated Building Control Officer, has made the exciting decision to pursue a new career path with the New Zealand Fire Service. His commitment and expertise have been instrumental in our operations, and while we will greatly miss his presence, we applaud his courage and wish him every success in this new chapter.

Kathy Dhamodharan, our talented Environmental Health Officer, will be relocating to Melbourne with her family. Kathy’s professionalism and warmth have left a lasting impact on both our team and the community. We are sad to see her go, but we send our heartfelt best wishes as she embarks on this new journey.

Both Brett and Kathy have contributed immensely to our organisation, and their absence will be deeply felt. Please join us in thanking them for their service and in wishing them all the very best for their futures.

Building services

Resource content decisions are reported at the Policy and Projects Committee and we have 13 active consents at the time of writing.

The building comparison table is shown below, and despite an increase in the value of construction in June 25 vs June 24, overall volumes remain very quiet.

Despite government’s view, Council is not the sole barrier to quick consenting times. The quality of plans and specifications contribute to the Council’s ability to process consents quickly.

Generally speaking, 99% of our local designers do a fantastic job of providing quality building consent applications with all of the relevant information at consent time.

This means we can pick up the consent, understand what is being built, and with what, on what way, and get the consent out the door quickly.

The reason we average 6 day turn arounds for consents is because of the great work of our local designers. The building team congratulate these local firms - well done!

There have been discussions in the press around councils having to undertake inspections within 3 days (80% of time). It appears that this requirement will be put into Regulation, not the Building Act, as the Act doesn’t require councils to do inspections anyway.

It is unlikely to be an issue in Carterton at the moment, however we encourage consent holders and builders that they still need to plan ahead and take responsibility for managing work-flow and inspection requirements. We work closely with all our customers, but it is difficult to expect our team to cancel booked inspections, to cater for an urgent client deadline that was never advised to Council.

We are also now required to do additional reporting to MBIE on a range of functions every three months (as well as other surveys). The reporting currently takes one of our team a day to get all the information together and populate MBIE’s new spreadsheet surveys.

Animal Control

At the time of writing animal control has seen an increase in activity related to Dog Registrations and is directly attributable to the impending deadline for dog registration payments due to the 31 July deadline for avoiding the 50% late penalty. Special recognition is given to Erin and the Customer Service team for their diligent efforts in managing the increased volume and ensuring efficient processing.

Environmental Health

Noise

In June, there was a significant increase in after-hours noise control complaints, with 17 call outs attended by Armourguard. Each call out incurs a fixed fee charged to Council.

Of these 17 call outs, only 3 resulted in an Excessive Noise Direction (END) notice being issued. Under Council's Fees and Charges Policy, we are able to recover the cost of the call out only when an END notice is served. Unfortunately, the cost cannot be recovered when Armourguard attends and assesses the noise as not excessive.

In order to improve transparency and provide a clearer picture of ratepayer funding versus service outcomes, Council will begin reporting regularly on the number of noise control call outs and the number of END notices issued. This will assist in identifying trends and ensuring effective use of resources.

Complaints judged to be frivolous or fanciful may result in Council considering cost recovery from the complainant. In these cases, Council will keep a register of serial complainants whose complaints repeatedly lead to no enforcement or are deemed base-less, so cost recovery for investigations is possible.

In preparation for the upcoming summer and holiday season, Council will be including communications about noise control and responsible behaviour in an upcoming edition of the Carterton Crier. The aim is to raise community awareness around acceptable noise levels, the impacts of excessive noise, and the potential consequences of non-compliance.

By getting this messaging out early, we hope to reduce the number of after-hours complaints and promote a respectful, considerate environment for all residents during the busy holiday period.

5. Infrastructure services

Asset Management

On 18 May, 2025, we experienced a significant water main burst on High Street North. During the repair, our team recovered a section of the damaged pipe for further destructive condition assessment. This assessment will help us gather information to improve and calibrate our asset management database and plan. We take advantage of these incidents to learn more about our network to assess and refine the estimated lifespan of our assets.

Image: High Street Water Main burst Image: Pipe Samples at WSP Laboratory

According to the WSP Condition Assessment Report, the burst was likely caused by the surrounding environment and does not necessarily indicate a problem with the entire section of AC pipe or with other pipes in the network that share similar characteristics. As a result of the Destructive Condition Assessment, our asset data has been updated from a classification of “Very Poor Condition” to “Poor Condition.” This revision also changes the required renewal date from “urgent” to a range of 2039 to 2044.

6. MAJOR PROJECT UPDATES

Waingawa Process Water Project

We are pleased to report that the physical works for the Waingawa Process Water Project have been completed. At time of writing, the team was in the final stages of programming and general housekeeping. A formal opening of the project is planned by the end of September.

Image: New intake installed in the Water Race Dam

Image: James Grant A.D. Reilly finalising the programming for the pump station

Ordish and Stevens Staff inspecting the new intake to the concrete storage

Image: New pump stations in the final stages of assembly

Operations Depot Ablution Upgrade

The new portable ablution building has been successfully installed at the operations depot. The new ablutions facility includes toilets, hand basins, and showers. The only work outstanding for this project is to remove the old toilets and repurpose the area as much-needed office space. All works are being completed under the original approved budget.

Image: New portable ablution building.

WWTP Sludge Composting Trail

Composting NZ were established on site in July and started with the construction of a temporary bunded lime pad. The composting operation will be completed on the bunded lime pad to ensure a firm working platform. The pad is being constructed as close as practically to Pond 3 to reduce sludge handling costs.

Pond 3 will be de-watered following the completion of the lime pad after which the desludging process will start. The desludging will be achieved through the addition of an organic bulking agent and then removing a workable mixture. We are planning to have Pond 3 offline for about 10 days. During this time we will rely on Ponds 1 and 2 for WWTP operations. The process of isolating Pond 3, has been done in the past, and was trialed at the beginning of August without any issues.

Image: bunded lime pad 50% complete

Image: Aerial description of location of the lime pad

7. PEOPLE AND Corporate

Our People

The focus of the reporting period July - August has been filling vacant positions, ongoing organisational reviews, and maintaining staff wellbeing.

Our current staffing level is at 82 people (74FTE). We have recently appointed to three key roles, Chief Financial Officer, People & Wellbeing Manager, and Water Races Overseer Assistant 2IC. Currently, we have no vacancies that we are recruiting for.

We continue with a phased approach to reviewing the Council’s organisational structure. During June and July we confirmed a change in the Community Development Team, now renamed as the Community and Partnerships Team. Three positions were disestablished, and three new positions created including two for the new in-house delivery of the Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs contract.

Some of our teams have been affected by winter illnesses which is a seasonal hazard for the organisation. Staff have done well to continue to maintain levels of service while managing absences, adverse weather conditions and weather-related service requests.

Health & Safety (H&S)

For the period June-August we have received 9 incident reports:

• 3 near miss reports

• 2 injury reports

• 2 Incidents

The graph below is taken from our new health and safety platform, Assura. Reporting in Assura started on 23 June. One near miss and one damage report were reported prior to Assura going live.

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Our Induction Tour for new staff was held in June. This gives new staff an opportunity to visit CDC working sites and understand the wider Council functions and responsibilities.

Māori Liaison
On Saturday 21 June, Council staff and hapū gathered at dawn at Ngā Tawhai Reserve, Te Wharau, to unveil a new tomokanga (entrance). The name of the tomokanga, Te Tātau o Ngā Pekapeka o Te Wharau. Symobilises all the hapū connected to Te Wharau.

Unveiled during Matariki, a time of reflection, remembrance, and renewal, the tomokanga and its design embodies the enduring presence of hapū and their deep ties to Te Taiao. This kaupapa was a collaborative effort between hapū and Council, bringing life, visibility, and wairua back to the space.

The event reflects Council’s commitment to its Māori Responsiveness Action Plan and to honouring the aspirations of Te Ao Māori. It also strengthened connections within the Te Wharau community.

Group photo on the day of the Unveiling, Council staff, Te Wharau community and hapu members

Pou whakairo / Carver – Wayne Pitau of hapū Ngāti Maahu

Local Body Elections 2025

Nominations have now closed for the 2025 Carterton District Council elections.

A very late rush in the last week of registrations saw two-thirds of nominations being recorded which placed election staff under significant pressure. However the result is fantastic with 3 candidates standing for Mayor, and 18 candidates standing for the eight At-Large Councillor positions.

Registered voters will receive voting papers from 9 September, ahead of Election Day on Saturday 11 October. Council events are planned to provide opportunities for voters to register and/or place special votes if required.

Full Election details including Candidate information is available on the Council website.

Information Systems (IS)

Information Services continues to provide and support the underlying technology that enables the services provided across the council. In the last reporting period, we have been ensuring the deployment of network connectivity, and integration into the overall council environment, for new infrastructure projects such as Waingawa Process Water.

IS has also been an active part of the deployment of the Health and Safety solution Assura, and is currently involved in the change in structure of the library services, and the on boarding of the MTFJ contract.

We are also actively working to produce a framework for the delivery of regular and robust reporting on the council performance overall. The framework will be used for the completion of the Annual Report.

Customer Services

July has been an extremely busy time at the front counter with a triple-whammy clash of annual Dog registrations, annual Rates Rebates applications, and six-monthly Water Rates billing and remission applications. As well as the usual enquiries and activities, this has placed significant pressure on the team who have worked hard to manage the increased workload, including those that have provided back up support. As of 4^th August the team have processed 253 Rate Rebates applications following their availability from 10 July.

Rates

The start of the new Rating Year, Rates Rebates applications, and the issue of Rates Instalment 1 have resulted in a flurry of requests to move to direct debit payments and email billing over the last few weeks. Our team continue to encourage these processes as they increase the timeliness of invoicing and ease of payments for ratepayers and reduce the manual paperwork and postage cost for the council.

Communications and Engagement

This report summarises Carterton District Council’s communications and engagement activities for July 2025 across email, social media, and internal campaigns. Key highlights include strong performance from the Vote and Dog Registration campaigns, consistent engagement via Binfluencer emails, and strategic planning initiatives aligned with organisational KPIs and community wellbeing outcomes.

8. CONSIDERATIONS

8.1 Climate change

Considerations have been noted in the report, as appropriate.

8.2 Tāngata whenua

Considerations have been noted in the report, as appropriate.

8.3 Financial impact

Considerations have been noted in the report, as appropriate.

8.4 Community Engagement requirements

Considerations have been noted in the report, as appropriate.

8.5 Risks

Considerations have been noted in the report, as appropriate.

9. Recommendation

That the Council:

1. Receives the report.

File Number: 438542

Author: Geoff Hamilton, Chief Executive

Attachments: Nil

Ordinary Council Meeting Agenda

13 August 2025

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8.3 Policy and process for CDC Submissions on legislative and regulatory changes

1. Purpose

This paper proposes the development of a framework for CDC submissions on legislative and regulatory changes.

2. Significance

The matters for decision in this report are not considered to be of significance under the Significance and Engagement Policy.

3. Background

Central Government frequently proposes changes to legislation, regulation, and policy. These changes can significantly affect local government responsibilities, roles, and operations. As part of the democratic process, Government agencies and departments invite public feedback on many of these changes. Often, agencies specifically seek feedback from Local Government where the changes affect role and responsibilities of Territorial Authorities, such as the Building Act, Transportation, or the RMA.

Currently, CDC operates an ad-hoc process for identifying areas of interest in proposed legislative and regulatory changes. Once identified, the response or submission is usually the responsibility of the area most affected (e.g. Infrastructure Services has made submissions on Local Water Done Well). Sometimes other parts of our organisation have a particular interest in a subject being consulted on (e.g. climate change impacts of RMA changes), resulting in different more comprehensive feedback than just the affected specialist area.

The challenges with the current process include:

1. The sheer number of legislative changes targeting Local Government in particular makes it difficult for staff to be across all the proposed changes, and the impacts of these changes for Carterton District Council. Just keeping up with proposed legislative and regulatory changes can absorb significant amount of staff time, leading to questions of priority.

2. Any submission is made on behalf of Council, and needs to be circulated to Council for feedback and endorsement preferably before a submission is made, or ratified by Council after the submission is lodged.

Obtaining Council feedback can be very challenging given the growing trend of Government to reduce submission timelines.

3. The effort of making, and potentially speaking to a submission needs to be weighed against the potential to influence change. In some case (e.g. Granny Flats) the Government position is clear, and feedback provided by our Building Team is likely to be disregarded, given Councils have been unfairly labelled as a contributor to the affordable housing problems facing the country.

This paper proposes a framework to ensure that CDC’s responses are well-coordinated, reflect the perspectives of both elected members and council officers, and align with the council’s strategic priorities.

4. Discussion

This paper seeks Council's approval for the development of a formal policy and process to guide this involvement, ensuring consistency, transparency, and effective contributions to consultations that directly or indirectly impact Council operations and local governance.

While Government’s legislative and regulatory changes may be brought to the attention of council officers or elected members, CDC has responded in an ad-hoc manner. This can lead to inconsistent feedback, missed opportunities, or misaligned priorities.

Any process would need to consider the interests and perspectives of Elected Members as consider feedback from Local Government New Zealand, subject matter experts and council officers. Depending on the change, some form of community engagement may also be desirable (e.g. Local Water Done Well).

It is expected there may be times when less significant feedback is sought. In these situations it may be entirely appropriate for the submission to come directly from a council officer - such as when the feedback is consistent with the way we operate.

Often the timeframes given for responses can be very short, so processes need to be flexible enough to enable rapid approaches, if needed.

The organisational appetite for making responses, submissions and feedback also needs to be considered, and a reasonably high level of impact or concern would be needed before entering the process.

Key Considerations

1. Stakeholder Involvement:
Responses and submissions must reflect both the political perspectives of elected members and the expertise of council officers. A collaborative approach is necessary to ensure submissions are comprehensive and represent CDC's interests.

2. Community Engagement:
In some cases, especially when legislative changes have a direct impact on the community, it may be appropriate to engage with the public before finalising CDC’s submission. This could take the form of a formal consultation process or informal feedback mechanisms, depending on the nature of the change.

3. Timeframes:
Legislative changes are often announced with short consultation periods, which can make it difficult to develop detailed and thoughtful submissions. Any process must be flexible enough to accommodate rapid responses when required, ensuring CDC can meet deadlines while still producing quality submissions.

4. Organisational Impact:
The level of CDC’s involvement in the submission process should be aligned with the potential impact of the proposed change. While some legislative changes may require a substantial response, others may be less significant and may not warrant a formal submission. A threshold should be established to help determine when CDC should engage in the submission process.

Our organisational approach to making submissions and providing feedback could either be permissive or constrained. We recommend adopting a constrained approach, which reflects that engaging in submissions and feedback should be an exception rather than a routine part of council officers’ work.

Submissions or feedback should only be considered when there is a substantial level of concern or impact, ensuring that resources are directed towards matters of significant importance to CDC and the community.

The proposed policy and process will ensure that CDC is able to respond to legislative and regulatory changes in a timely, consistent, and effective manner. By formalising the approach, CDC will be in a stronger position to influence decisions that impact the community and local government operations.

Council's approval of the work to be undertaken on this framework will enable a structured and strategic approach to submissions that have Elected member support and feedback.

5. Options

Option One: (Recommended)

Council agrees to the development of a framework which includes a formal policy and process for submissions, feedback and responses to legislative and regulatory responses.

Option Two:

Council retains an ad-hoc approach to making submission on Government legislative and regulatory changes.

Next Steps

That Council approves the development of detailed policy and process documentation for consideration at Policy and Projects Committee on 10 September 2025.

6. CONSIDERATIONS

6.1 Climate change

This paper is neutral about the considerations, however enabling submissions empowers the considerations. Furthermore, considerations will be included in the policy and process outlined in the document attached.

6.2 Tāngata whenua

This paper is neutral about the considerations, however, enabling submissions empowers the considerations. Furthermore, considerations will be included in the policy and process outlined in the document attached.

6.3 Financial impact

No financial impact.

6.4 Community Engagement requirements

6.5 Risks

The development of a framework will strengthen the democratic process and reduce organisational risk by establishing an agreed-upon approach that captures the voices of both elected members and staff. This will enable CDC to speak with one voice on matters of importance.

6.6 Wellbeings

7. Recommendation

That the Council:

1. Receives the report.

2. Instructs officers to draft a Legislative and Regulatory Submissions Policy and associated process for Council to consider adopting.

3. Notes the draft Submissions Policy and associated process will be presented for consideration at the Policy and Projects Committee meeting on 10 September 2025.

File Number: 477915

Author: Becks Clarke, Community Development Team Leader

Attachments: 1. Proposed Framework - Policy and process for submissions ⇩

Ordinary Council Meeting Agenda

13 August 2025

8.8 Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act Requests

1. Purpose

To inform the Council of the number of requests under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) 1987 (the Act) 17 June 2025 to 23 July 2025.

2. Significance

The matters for decision in this report are not considered to be of significance under the Significance and Engagement Policy.

3. Background

The Act allows people to request official information held by local government agencies. It contains rules of how such requests should be handled and provides a right to complain to the Ombudsman in certain situations.

The purpose of the Act is to increase the availability of official information held by agencies and promote the open and public transaction of business at meetings.

The purposes of LGOIMA are specified in Section 4 which can be viewed here: https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1987/0174/latest/DLM122283.html

The information is not limited to documentary material, and includes material held in any format such as:

· written documents, reports, memoranda, letter, notes, emails and draft documents

· non-written documentary information, such as material stored on or generated by computers, including databases, video or tape recordings

· information, which is known to an agency, but which has not yet been recorded in writing or otherwise (including knowledge of a particular matter held by an officer, employee or member of an agency in their official capacity)

· documents and manuals which set out the policies, principles, rules or guidelines for decision making by an agency

· the reasons for any decisions that have been made about a person.

It doesn’t matter where the information originated or is currently located, if it is held by the council, it must be provided if requested, unless there is reason to withhold the information, as specified in Section 7 which can be viewed here: https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1987/0174/latest/DLM122287.html

Councils must respond to a requester ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’ and no later than 20 working days after the day on which the request was received. Our practice is to acknowledge receipt of the request within the first working day. We respond promptly to requests and generally well ahead of the 20 working days.

Where a person requesting the information indicates urgency, we can prioritise our response ahead of other work. This mainly relates to requests from the media. Not all media requests for information are treated as LGOIMA requests.

All requests are recorded in a register and saved in our document management system.

The Council proactively publishes official information responses on our website. As such, the Council may publish the response on the CDC website after five working days. The requestor’s name and contact details will be removed. Proactive release of information to the public promotes openness and transparency and fosters public trust and confidence in Council. There are administrative benefits for the Council, such as reducing requests for information which is publicly available and allowing for greater ease of handling of the requests that are received.

Published LGOIMAs can be viewed here: https://cdc.govt.nz/your-council/official-information/lgoima/

Most requests for information are supplied free of charge. Councils are entitled to charge for requests for information. Charging is based on the hours spent on a request, which includes the processing of files or any copying that is required. Councils charging policy is based on the Ministry of Justice Guidelines.

4. reporting lgoima requests to council

Attachment 1 contains the requests received from 17 June 2025 to 23 July 2025 as well as 4 requests received, one in the month of May 2025, and three in the month of June 2025, which were open at the time of the 25 June 2025 report to Council.

As of 23 July 2025, there is 1 open request.

The table below shows total numbers of requests received from the year 2023 to 23 July 2025.

Number of requests received 2023-2025
	2023	2024	2025
January	10	4	0
February	5	7	7
March	5	5	5
April	7	7	7
May	11	7	5
June	6	0	6
July	7	3	2
August	16	3
September	10	9
October	4	5
November	12	5
December	5	1
Total	98	56	32

5. OMBUDSMAN

There have been no LGOIMA complaints to the Ombudsman.

6. Recommendation

That the Council:

1. Receives the report.

File Number: 466796

Author: Serah Pettigrew, Democratic Services Officer

Attachments: 1. LGOIMA requests from 17 June 2025 to 23 July 2025 ⇩

Ordinary Council Meeting Agenda

13 August 2025

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8.9 Service Requests and Complaints

1. Purpose

For the Council to be informed on Service Requests received in June 2025 to 31 July 2025, and Complaints received from June 2025 to 16 July 2025.

2. Significance

The matters of decision in this report are not considered to be of significance under the Significance and Engagement Policy.

3. Background

Customer Service Requests and Complaints come to Council through many avenues. It is preferred that the Service Requests and Complaints are in writing, however, Council will accept these via telephone, people who come into the Council office, or by letter, email, and through our Social Media channels.

The local government legislation sets out specific responsibilities for functions and activities to be delivered by Council. Council’s obligation under the legislation is to meet the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) performance measures that are reported on quarterly and annually. The key performance is to acknowledge the Service Requests and Complaints within the first 24 hours.

Council has an obligation to respond within 10 working days of receiving the Service Request or Complaint to inform if any additional time is required to resolve the issue.

All requests are recorded in a Service Request Management system register and saved in the Council’s document management system.

Service Request Management is the operational system for the management of all requests for Council action excluding information requests, progress on consent/licence applications, and library/Event Centre activity. Such requests essentially cover the following business activities:

· Animal control

· Health

· Parks and Reserves

· Potable Water

· Waste Water

· Storm Water

· Roading

· Rural Water

· Solid Waste

· Building Services

· Operations

· Management

· Infrastructure

· Communications Team

Council officers consider these to be service-related, that is, Council responding to a resident or community request.

A Service Request is any notification received from a customer, client, contractor or member of the public regarding a fault, a breakdown in service, or investigation of issues and concerns.

A Complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction with a CDC decision, process followed, outcome, employee or contractor action, or quality of service.

A person can log a service request or a complaint or report a fault online which can be viewed in the Carterton District Council website on this link: https://cdc.govt.nz/service-request/ .

4. Service request reporting

For the year 2025, Attachment 1 contains the list of the 14 Business Activities and the number of Service Requests received covering the month of June 2025 to 31 July 2025. Depending on the circumstances of the request within each activity, some requests may take longer to complete and, in the case of Roading and Waters, can be affected by weather conditions.

For the year 2023, 1243 requests were opened and closed.

For the year 2024, 1333 requests were opened, and 1289 were closed.

As of 31 July 2025, 196 Service Requests are open, and 129 closed.

The table below shows total numbers of service requests received from January 2024 to July 2025.

	Number of service requests received
Row Labels	Opened Tickets	Closed Tickets
2024	1333	1310
Jan	133	131
Feb	130	127
Mar	119	118
Apr	114	111
May	103	102
Jun	80	79
Jul	123	121
Aug	107	107
Sept	128	126
Oct	127	124
Nov	93	91
Dec	76	73
2025	425	354
Jan	127	122
Feb	92	86
Mar	106	92
Apr	94	51
May	6	3
June	25	7
July	196	129
Grand Total	1979	1800

5. reporting ON service complainTS

As per Council’s obligations under the Local Government Act 2002, Council must respond to Service Complaints within 10 working days of receiving a complaint.

What constitutes a complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction, from our customers, with a CDC decision, process followed, outcome, employee or contractor action, or quality of service.

Where the information has been withheld under section 7(2)(a) of the Local Government Official Information and Meeting Act 1987 (the Act), the withholding of the information is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons.

Records of numbers of complaints received began in October 2023.

The table below shows total numbers of complaints received from the year 2023 to 16 July 2025.

Number of complaints received
Month	Year
	2023	2024	2025
January		5	0
February		6	5
March		6	0
April		1	0
May		4	7
June		1	3
July		3	2
August		5
September		8
October	3	3
November	7	3
December	6	0
Total	16	45	17

6. Recommendation

That the Council:

1. Receives the report.

File Number: 466797

Author: Serah Pettigrew, Democratic Services Officer

Attachments: 1. Service Requests received covering the month of June 2025
to 31 July 2025 ⇩

2. Service Complaints covering the period June 2025 to 16 July 2025. ⇩

[1] Refer section 193 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, Appointment of Commissioners.


AGENDA Ordinary Council Meeting
Date:	Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Time:	1:00 pm
Location:	Carterton Events Centre 50 Holloway St Carterton
Mayor R Mark Deputy Mayor S Cretney Cr B Deller Cr R Cherry-Campbell	Cr S Laurence Cr G Ayling Cr L Newman Cr S Gallon