Catherine Stewart Tauranga City Councillor

Fellow Tauranga City councillor Kelvin Clout chaired our first City delivery committee (used to be called Projects and Monitoring committee) last week.

In the public forum, we heard from Ian McLean and Ron Lopert from the Toxic Agrichemical Advisory Forum, who are seeking better implementation of the Use of Toxic Agrichemicals for Vegetation Management Policy. One of their concerns regards the use of glyphosate (Roundup).

Next up was James Corlett and Richard Kettlewell from New Zealand Contractor's Federation. Council will have discussions with them to look at ways to save money on infrastructure projects.

Sport Bay of Plenty gave an update on what's been happening in the last six months. Paul gave an update on the youth programme and we heard first-hand from one of the participants as to the big changes he'd made in his life after going through the programme.

Penny Jackson and Phillida Perry gave an update on the Tauranga Art Gallery Trust. Some elected members suggested entry by donation, especially for visitors. It doesn't seem unreasonable given that when I visited the Auckland War Memorial Museum last year, New Zealand residents were being asked for a $25 donation.

Peter Farmer and Gary Dawson from Bay Leisure and Events Limited presented their six-monthly report. Expenditure is $860,000 over budget for the six months and tracking towards $1.38 million over budget by the year's end. Elected members were told the next six months will focus on revenue growth and cost reduction.

I look forward to efficiencies and savings, as this was the main rationale for having Tauranga City Venues Ltd and Tauranga City Aquatics Limited combine into a one council-controlled organisation.

Harry Wilson from NZTA and his team gave an update on projects around the Bay of Plenty.

A question was asked by an elected member regarding the current number of full-time equivalent staff at TCC. Council CEO Garry Poole did not have the information at hand, but did say FTEs increased because of demand. Garry is to come back to elected members with further details.