Welcome to the Clutha District Council E-Newsletter, a Council service that aims to keep ratepayers, residents and stakeholders more informed. The E-Newsletter is released every six weeks, following Council meetings. It is also available online at www.cluthadc.govt.nz

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In this edition of Clutha District Council E-Newsletter:

Submissions close to draft Annual Plan

Well over 600 Clutha District ratepayers and residents have had their say on what’s planned for the district over the next decade.

Submissions to Council’s draft Annual Plan, outlining services and projects it intends to deliver over the next year, closed on Monday 10 May following a month-long consultation period.

Council received over 600 survey responses and submissions relating to either the proposed Clutha Recreation Centre or West Otago Health, and a further 50 submissions relating to other matters.

Data from the surveys is currently being collated and will be presented along with all written submissions to assist councillors in their decision-making.

Council will meet this Thursday (20 May) to hear from those 20 organisations and individuals who wish to speak to their submissions. Council will then meet again on Thursday 10 June to consider all of the submissions and debate any changes to the draft Annual Plan, before adopting the final Annual Plan and ‘striking the rates’ for 2010/11 on Thursday 24 June.

NZTA to fund investigation and design of Tawanui Bridge

Council is pleased to advise that the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has agreed to fund its share of the $75,000 investigation and design phase of a new Tawanui Bridge.

The Tawanui Bridge spans the Catlins River about 12km west of Owaka. It has been closed since November when inspections revealed significant damage thought to have initially been caused by an overloaded vehicle.

Council agreed in February to replace the bridge with a single-lane concrete structure subject to an application the NZTA for a 70% funding assistance.

The NZTA had asked Council for more information on the importance of retaining a bridge at Tawanui, initially indicating that replacing the bridge may be uneconomical. Council provided further information including what the effect would have been on the valuation of affected properties and on the operations of local businesses.

The project has since been separated into a $75,000 Investigation and Design Phase and a $625,000 Construction Phase in order to firstly verify that foundation conditions are good for the proposed driven piles for the new bridge.

Once the investigation and design phase is complete, we are hopeful the NZTA will then be able to also sign off on its share of the remaining $625,000 for construction of a new bridge.

Meanwhile, Council is currently in the process of getting quotes from local contractors to remove the bridge before it collapses into the waterway.

The bridge has the potential to collect debris and form a dam if it collapsed into the river.

New changing rooms for Milton pool expected next year

A major rebuild of the Milton Swimming Pool changing rooms will be completed before the start of the 2011/12 swimming season, subject to consultation with the community.

Council had previously approved a $200,000 budget for this financial year to enable the changing rooms to be re-roofed and to undertake some minor tidy up work.

However, a more detailed assessment revealed the changing rooms need a complete rebuild. Indicative prices for this are in the vicinity of $684,000, significantly more than initially anticipated.

The work would be loan-funded, meaning an additional cost to Milton ratepayers of around $24 to $30 per property per year for the next 25 years, plus an additional $1.70 on the Uniform Annual General Charge which is set for all households across the district.

While most councillors feel the work should go ahead as soon as possible, they also agree that the community should first be consulted given the scale of the increased costs, and that the design and tender process should not be rushed.

Council will spend $20,000 this winter addressing the heat and other minor issues in the changing rooms, while the major rebuild of the rooms will be completed before the start of the 2011/12 swimming season subject to consultation with the community. 

Council has also agreed to spend $90,000 to renew the pool’s heating system this winter.

Clutha community to ‘Get Dotted’

South Otago Victim Support is bringing the ‘Get Dotted’ programme to Clutha, aimed at bringing the community together while empowering all people, young and old.

The programme begins on Friday 28 May with a community evening show at the Balclutha War Memorial Hall. The content of the evening is a communication phenomenon named ‘Dickson’s Dots’, which teaches people to effectively communicate with family, friends, teachers, employers, team mates, work mates, and essentially anyone else that they meet. The idea is that when people communicate more effectively, this leads to a reduction in stress in people’s lives, in turn leading to happier communities.

The community evening is then followed up with a one-day course for 100 young people from throughout the district. This is a more intensive workshop with an educational rather than entertainment focus. Not only do the young people leave the course with a greater understanding of themselves, but also the core life skill of how to communicate more effectively with other people.

The programme is run by communication specialist Amy Scott, of Alexandra, and was initially set up in Ranfurly in response to a challenging four month period for the community which included youth suicides, a serious assault on a key community man, and a tragic car accident in which a young girl was killed.

Feedback from other areas where the programme has been held has been hugely positive, and South Otago Victim Support saw an opportunity to help make a difference here.

The programme has also received funding support from the Clutha District Council and Telecom.

Tickets for the Get Dotted Community Evening cost $25 for adults or $10 for school children, and are available from Information Centres around the Clutha District, or from the Balclutha Police Station.

Goldrush event to weave rich stories from the past

Organisers planning the Gabriel’s Gully Goldrush 150^th celebration in Lawrence next March are calling for submissions of stories and artefacts from the Goldrush to form a special exhibition over the four-day event.

They are particularly interested to hear from descendants and relations of the early goldminers and prospectors, or anyone with any information on the Tuapeka Goldfields area. Historical records and artefacts will be displayed at The Goldrush Heritage Centre. The programme also includes Pioneer Stories – an opportunity for people to retell Goldrush stories passed down from their ancestors.

Wayman Roughan, 150 Celebration Committee Chairman says that gathering stories and artefacts from the past are vital to the celebration and will provide visitors and the local community with a fascinating insight into the region’s unique heritage.

“We also want to preserve our storytelling traditions and we think including Pioneer Stories in the programme is a great way to pass treasured yarns on to the younger generation for them to enjoy,” he says.

Anyone with stories, photographs or information can download an application form from the website www.lawrence.co.nz or contact the committee office on 03 485 9909.

The Gabriel’s Gully Goldrush celebration marks the 150^th anniversary of the first discovery of payable gold in New Zealand and runs from 18-21 March 2011. Full programme details will be released in December. For event updates, visit the website www.lawrence.co.nz

2010 local elections: enrol to have your say

It is local body election year again this year, and while the actual voting won’t take place until late September/early October, staff are busy preparing electoral rolls and working with other key organisations in the lead-up to Election Day on October 9.

Part of our preparation includes encouraging people to cast a vote – the voter turnout at local elections has been trending down in Clutha and most other parts of the country over a long period of time.

While we cannot enforce people to vote, there are things we can do to try and improve voter turnout, and one of these is to help as many people as possible to get enrolled. It is compulsory to be enrolled if you are qualified, and, essentially, you are qualified to enrol if you are 18 years or older.

If you are registered to vote in parliamentary elections, you will be automatically enrolled on the local body residential electoral roll at the address where you live. If you are on the parliamentary roll in one area and pay rates on a property in another area, you may be eligible to be enrolled on the non-resident ratepayer roll.

There are a number of ways to check whether you are enrolled, or to enrol, including online at www.elections.org.nz, by calling 0800 ENROLNOW (0800 367 656), or by completing the appropriate form at any Post Shop.

You can also provisionally enrol at 17 years of age. This means that when you turn 18, your name will automatically go onto the electoral roll.

Remember that you won’t be able to vote if you are not enrolled before Election Day on October 9.

Meeting agendas available online

Remember that it is now easier for residents and ratepayers to keep track of decisions made by Council, with meeting agendas available online.

Agendas for the full Council, Standing Committees, the District Development Board and the Community Boards are now accessible via the Council website by clicking here.

Agendas will generally be available online on the Monday prior to a particular meeting.

Agendas can be downloaded in PDF, either in full, or by each agenda item to make the service more user-friendly and accessible for those on dial-up Internet connections.

Minutes of each meeting will also be published on the website, after they are confirmed at the subsequent meeting.

Online Community Directory

The Community Directory lists about 300 groups, committees, sports teams, and associations from throughout the district.

If the contact details of your sports club or community organisation have recently changed, please email your updated details to jamie.shaw@cluthadc.govt.nz so we can keep the online Community Directory up-to-date.

The Community Directory can be viewed on our website by clicking here.

Upcoming Meetings

* These dates may differ from those previously advertised.

Don’t forget to check out the Events page on the district www.cluthacountry.co.nz website for a comprehensive list of upcoming community events.

Clutha District Council

1 Rosebank Terrace

Po Box 25,Balclutha

(03) 419 0200

www.cluthadc.govt.nz