Council does very little business in the ‘confidential' section of meetings. Anecdotally – the least in NZ. The reason is inter alia 'to protect the privacy of natural persons…” and company's too!

At full council, elected members received a confidential report, 'To consider a request of some creditors of LeisureCo Tauranga Limited for financial assistance.”
It's not appropriate that details of that request get discussed publicly through council for a number of reasons. But it is in the public interest for everyone to know a realisation of LeisureCo finances was received – $417,012. Staff were paid in full and creditors get 30c in the dollar. And get this. The liquidator(s) got $132,417 or over 31 per cent of the cash available. There is no way of knowing how this is made up, but it seems very expensive ranging on supercharged that the 'system” allows this. The insolvency practitioners were of course based in Auckland and I have no doubt what they charged is legal.

Under a veil
A lengthy full council meeting started with a request for Vale Street West to be renamed Maungawhare Place. Residents made this request due to much confusion over where Vale Street West really is as it runs into Maungawhare Place. The Vale Street West reserve will also be renamed Waiaki, subject to a public consultation process, as there is already a Maungawhare Reserve.

Council's bare cupboard
Council spent over an hour on Rick Curach's regurgitated Notice of Motion on rates savings targets. Most elected members are well aware of the situation regarding rates and are active in seeking savings. Unfortunately the cupboard is pretty bare if we are to keep the city ticking over. What this proposal boiled down to was, whose responsibility budget initiatives are and after a prolonged debate, the motion was lost. But to put some perspective on it, council will continue discussions including the 10 year plan process seeking all avenues where costs could be cut. CEO Stephen Town advised elected members that any costs savings would need to go toward debt reduction, not rates reduction.

This is so that council didn't breach its debt/revenue ratio thereby incurring interest rate increases. Murray Guy appeared to support Rick throughout the debate speaking at length and at one stage claimed there was a deliberate attempt at misinformation to which Mayor Stuart Crosby replied that there was a lack of understanding of the LTCCP (10 year plan) process and said that there was a cost of time and resource as the process was dragged out.
The mayor said that we all support the intent of the Notice of Motion, but we should all be doing that 12 months of the year and not just budget time. He was referring to issues that crop up during the year for which there is no budget allowance. Sometimes it takes big tummy muscles to decline heart wrenching events and needs, but it's no use approving them and then trying to cut agreed essential items at budget time to make up the difference.

A halt to grind
Wayne Moultrie noted that in his opinion this Notice of Motion was all about individual egos. By this time Stuart was running out of patience with the debate and told Rick to stop rabbiting on and either move an amendment or get on with his pedantic motion. Rick then turned to the large public gallery assembled to hear another agenda item and tried to apologise for wasting their time.
Eventually things ground to a halt and the motion was put and lost. Inexplicably two of the Pick 6 councillors, Murray Guy and Catherine Stewart abstained even though they had signed the Notice of Motion. Rick and Hayden Evans voted in support, but Bill Grainger, who had also signed the Notice of Motion, voted against along with the rest of us.

Who's in charge?
Another lengthy debate on the request to close the walkway between Harrisfield Drive and Sapphire Drive at Ohauiti. Some residents cite bad behaviour, graffiti etc and wanted it closed. On a vote of 8-3 it will remain open.
Likewise the walkway between Eversham Road and Girven Road, a right little attraction for graffiti and cretins, will also remain open on a majority vote. David Stewart said it was all about management, but as I pointed out, there is no management. Walkways are not a police priority and council doesn't light them or take any management action. I had a motion to bring back a staff report on how council could manage problems but this got rejected too.

‘Taserfied'
Greg Brownless welcomed the introduction of 70 tasers for police and looked forward to their use. Another lengthy discussion on what to do about Fergusson Park toilets saw the whole proposal postponed. Staff had proposed a new toilet block at the eastern end at a cost of $170,000, and eventual removal of the existing amenity in the centre of the park by the ramp. To do up the existing block was $94,000. But new amenities at the soccer club were available, so by majority it all got kicked to touch and will come up again in the 2012 10 year plan review. Murray Guy abstained again, later claiming he hadn't had time to vote. It's understandable how that happens as it occasionally happens to all of us.

Let's get digging
Environment BOP (EBOP) is holding hearings into the Port Company's request to dredge 13 million cubic metres of sand to facilitate the new super container ships. In my opinion this initiative will be the lifeline to Tauranga's port industry and possibly NZ as well. As I understand it, they want to deepen the entrance, ship channels and a turning basin. The effect on the harbour won't be much different to what's gone on in the past. Blasting Tania Shelf in the entrance, blasting the Cutter Channel and dredging the bar at the Harbour entrance were all necessary. The harbour is/has always silted naturally and Waikato University said at a seminar I attended a few years ago that without manmade interruption, the harbour would completely silt up in about 6000 years, which in geological terms is the day after tomorrow. In comparative terms, 13 million cubic metres is a drop in the ocean and with so much at stake for the city and the country a positive outcome is essential.