Mayor's Column
Hello, and welcome to another edition of Newsline. I would like to start by expressing my sadness at the passing of former Councillor David Anderson. David was a popular and well respected member of the Waimate District who gave so much to the urban and rural community over many years. I especially note his exceptional work as a Councillor from 2014 to 2019 in the Pareora-Otaio-Makikihi ward. He contributed much at the Council table, and we valued his deep wisdom and his dry sense of humour, along with his intense knowledge of the rural sector and farming in general. Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time. He will be missed by many.
You may have seen in the news recently that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made some comments about how councils should be operating and how to spend their money. While I agree with his point that these are challenging times and councils need to spend appropriately, I do not think it is up to the Government to dictate this when we are elected by our own community, and many of our cost pressures are coming from that very organisation.
Government’s new water legislation, the Water Services Preliminary Arrangements Act, received royal assent on 2 September 2024. This means that councils have 12 months to develop a water services delivery plan which details how they will meet higher drinking water standards, investment and regulations.
To prepare for this piece of work, Council is undertaking a viability and sustainability assessment to inform Council’s decision on whether to prepare its own water services delivery plan on a standalone basis or whether to work with neighbouring councils to explore larger scale service delivery models. The final assessment is expected to be presented to Council later in the year.
For those of you reading this in the newspaper, here is a reminder you can sign up to receive Council news directly via email by subscribing at waimatedc.govt.nz/notifyme.
Until next time, take care.
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