Rachel Newnes, Cambridge Library Supervisor, speaks to library users: File photo
Jo Davies-Colley
It has been great to hear from young library users and understand their thoughts and opinions on the need for a new library in Cambridge.
Part of the board’s focus is to maintain an overview of the services council delivers and assess how they meet community needs. The board has been connecting with the community over the need for a new library and community hub.
We are in the final stages of our public engagement and over the last few weeks we have held focus groups at Kaipaki School and Cambridge Middle School. I am looking forward to the insights from our teenagers when we visit Cambridge High School this week.
The Cambridge Community Board’s mission statement is: “we are friendly and visible representatives working effectively together for the good of our communities”.
We are a link between residents in the Cambridge and Maungatautari communities and Waipā District Council and we believe that we are an important step in the process to achieve council’s vision to build connected communities.
The board advocates for and represents the Cambridge and Maungatautari communities to ensure council and other agencies have a clear understanding of our needs and aspirations.
Alongside the excellent feedback from our focus groups, we have received a great response from our library survey. This community feedback will inform our submission to Council’s 2024-23 Long-Term Plan. The Long-Term Plan is a document which sets the direction for the district and is formally reviewed and updated every three years. It describes the activities of Council and shows the whole picture of how the activities are managed, delivered and funded.
The community board will begin work on our submission over the next few weeks. Earlier this year, we gave council feedback that the abolishment of library fines would be a positive and helpful decision for our community and we were pleased when councillors decided to remove them. It has been great to see the positive response from the community and hear from our town librarians that many overdue books have been returned and a greater number of people have been using the library due to the decision to remove fines.
The Cambridge Community Board is responsible for the relationship between Bihoro and the town. Four members of the previous board were on hand to celebrate last year: l-r Jo Davies-Colley, Sue Milner, Alana Mackay and Mike Montgomerie.
The board is also preparing for two delegations from our sister cities in November. We have groups from Le Quesnoy and Bihoro visiting Cambridge and we are well underway in our plans to host them. They will have the opportunity to stay with local families and experience life in our great little town.
We hope to have an audio-visual system in place in our meeting room next month, so the community can join our meetings remotely if they so wish. Our monthly meetings have a public forum and if you have any issues that we could help with, we would love to see you there. Our meetings are held in the council room behind the library, details can be found on council’s website and in the Cambridge News.
See: Celebrating 25 years with a sister
See: Sister cities, what’s the cost?
