Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

Knowledge is power, and this council wants to empower the community with the right information to help us make informed decisions.

While elected members debate each issue, no matter how big or small, we do not lose sight of our role as governing directors of a public organisation.

This week at council we reviewed the organisation's performance report for the last four months. It's an easy read. If you cannot find it on the council's website, please email me and I will personally send you the report.

I was shocked during last year's council election where candidates were throwing around financial comments that were ludicrously wrong. The information was made public, but it obviously wasn't reader-friendly.

We've responded by making our latest performance report more public-friendly. Our revenue, our expenditure, our debt, our capital programme, and our performance targets are all clearly laid out and colour-coded for an easy read.

Kudos to the Finance and Risk Committee, for leading the way with better, monthly financial reporting for everyone to clearly see the state of council's books.

In other news, the kindergarten next to Omanu Primary School wants to expand. But it's located on council reserve and expanding will cause traffic issues for Macville Park. Council declined the request, but we need to review how our reserves are used by education providers.

The Merivale Community Centre Trust is fundraising to upgrade and extend its facilities. Council has agreed, in principle, to lease the neighbouring property to the trust for $1 per year. While this is subject to the trust's business case, our support should help them raise external funding.

Planning for the Hairini Link connecting Welcome Bay to the central city is progressing well. But it requires the New Zealand Transport Agency to relocate the Baden Powell Hall (leased by the Scouts NZ) from 93 Welcome Bay Rd to Ila Park. The NZTA will pay for the relocation, subject to a publicly notified resource consent process.

‘Be the Change' is the theme for this week's Youth Week. It highlights the need for an ongoing conversation with our youth as they face some new issues we never faced when we were growing up. There is a lot of support online to help guide the conversation: www.teentools.co.nz is a great local site for both teens and parents to check out.

Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 027 6989 548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice.