News in Brief
i-Site grants
Te Awamutu and Cambridge i-Sites have been given grants of $30,000 each by Waipā District Council in the 2024-2025 financial year
to help recover from the loss of the council’s funding. The decision was made at the Enhanced Annual Plan hearings today (Tuesday)
Memorial service
Former Waipā District councillor Alan Empson died this month in Auckland. A private family service has been held but there will be a public memorial held at Te Awamutu’s St John’s Church, Arawata St, on Friday, starting at 1.30pm.
Valuation delay
Updated rating valuations for Waikato district will go to property owners next month. Revaluations were due to be
finalised this month, but the Office of the Valuer General says Quotable Value should take more time. The new values will be based on the
most likely selling price if the property had sold on October 1 last year, the valuation date, and will be used to
help inform rates for the next rating year.
Boat show
A new event catering for boating and fishing enthusiasts will be held at Mystery Creek Events Centre in late August. The expo will feature exhibits and activities highlighting various aspects of the marine community.
15 May
Fluoride in
A recommendation by the Te Awamutu and Kihikihi Community to pause the fluoridation of Cambridge’s water supply failed by 7-5 at Waipā’s Service Delivery committee this week. Clare St Pierre, Andrew Brown, Liz Stolwyk, Susan O’Regan, Lou Brown, Mike Montgomerie and Bruce Thomas opposed it while Mike Pettit, Roger Gordon, Dale-Maree Morgan, Philip Coles and Hinerangi Kara were in favour.
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- Mike Pettit
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- Jo Davies-Colley
During the meeting, Pettit suggested the Cambridge community should get involved in the fluoride debate.
He said he was surprised the Cambridge community had not said much.
Board chair Jo Davies-Colley said the board understood that people had very serious thoughts, some for, and some against, the fluoridation of the Cambridge town water supply.
“We acknowledge that there is complex scientific debate underpinning this issue and at this stage, consider that this level of advocacy to central government is beyond our purview,” she said.
Montgomerie, a member of the board and district councillor, said territorial authorities were not the place for debate about fluoride.
“For me it isn’t a local community issue. (It is) a complex scientific debate best handled at director general level. I don’t think we should be engaging.”
End in sight
Work on the SH1 improvements between Cambridge and Piarere should be complete next month. A key section between Gorton Road and Keeley’s Reserve is now complete, with turnaround bays in place at Gorton and Tunakawa roads and flexible median barrier installed in sections through to Fergusson Gully Road. Further south, work continues between Keeley’s Reserve and Moana Roa Road where median barrier is being installed.
Quarry update
Beacon Hill Contracting, the owners of a Maungatautari quarry which operated without a resource consent for several years, are finalising a Cultural Impact Assessment as part of their retrospective application.
Numbers up
Completion of the new cycleway in Wilson Street can’t come soon enough for the Cambridge Library team which has seen a decline in issue and visitor numbers during construction. Despite this disruption, the library picked up 372 new patrons from January through to March taking its numbers to 23,214. With three months of the financial year to go, Cambridge has issued 230,141 books and Te Awamutu 123,320.
Potholes fixed
More than 1750 potholes were repaired in seven months around the Waipā district by the council’s new roading contractor. Downer picked up the $30 million contract in September to maintain the district’s roads for three years and wasted no time on taking to the potholes. Making good use of the weather, the company patched 358 from January through to March.
Waipā winners
Pirongia farmer Kirwyn Ellis is the New Zealand dairy trainee of the year and Ngāhinapōuri’s Logan and Sian Dawson runners up in the share farmer of the year competition. They were presented with their awards at the New Zealand Dairy Industry awards in Queenstown on Saturday night.
