FAREWELL TO A FRIEND

What can I say when a Tui comes to die with me. I was at the back of the house when I looked up and heard her call so I called back, she then fell at my feet. I picked her up and tried to give her current juice but too late. My young friend Anthony held her in his hands and she took her last breath. So very distressing for me but too late.

THE LOCAL NEWS IN WELLINGTON 22 NOVEMBER 2012

Today (NOVEMBER 21 2012) I attended a Hui in Lower Hutt. It was about proposals to amalgamate councils in the Wellington region. In a power grab Fran Wilde is pushing for a Super Council in Wellington. Other Councils are not convinced it is needed or a good idea. This is a battle to keep local democracy so I ask you to be on standby and ready to defend what is left of local decision making with all its imperfections. Things could be much worse under over paid bureaucrats with a small group of highly paid elected people on a Super Council. It will certainly be more expensive for home owners with less accessibility to decision makers. Those who get elected will certainly come from the monied class.

DOUBLE DIPPING AT WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL

COUNCIL TODAY
It was an astonishing day at the council where a vote was taken to immediately stop paying Councillors director's fees to serve on Boards, Trusts and CCOs.
Voting for were: Councillors Justin Lester, Iona Pannett, Bryan Pepper

ell, Helene Ritchie.

Voting against the amendment to stop paying Councillors who serve on Boards, trusts, and CCOs were: Mayor Celia Wade-Brown Councillors R
ay Ahipene-Mercer, Councillor Ngaire Best, Stephanie Cook, Jo Coughlan, Andy Foster, Leonie Gill, Ian McKinnon, John Morrison.

Most Councillors on Trusts, Boards and CCOs get an extra $15,000 but Ian Mckinnon gets an Extra $46,250 on top of his Council salary as Deputy.

Absent were Councillors Paul Eagle and Simon Marsh

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  Bryan Pepperell Councillors on CCO boards include Andy Foster, Capacity; John Morrison, Basin Reserve Trust; Jo Coughlan, Positively Wellington Tourism; Ngaire Best, and Paul Eagle Positively Wellington Venues; Ray Ahipene- Mercer, Wellington Museums Trust; Justin Lester, Wellington Waterfront Ltd; and Simon Marsh, Wellington Zoo Trust. Ian McKinnon Wellington Airport.

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HOW THEY VOTED ON COUNCIL CONTROLLED ORGANISATIONS

REPORT 4 Strategy and Policy 8 /11/2012

by Bryan Pepperell on Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 5:23pm ·

My e-mail to the Mayor and council
From: Bryan Pepperell [mailto:Bryan.Pepperell@wcc.govt.nz]
Sent: Tuesday, 6 November 2012 8:37 p.m.
To: Celia Wade-Brown (celia.wade-brown@wcc.govt.nz)
; GRP: Councillors
Subject: REVIEW OF COUNCIL CONTROLLED ORGANISATIONS

Hi, due to my medical dental needs today, I had to leave early, but I wish to return to the issues that I raised, and some new ones.  L

We did not get what we wanted with the review.  Last week a member of the public stopped me and asked if we were governing the system or was the system governing us?

We wanted a review of the CCOs’ and that included whether they were fit for purpose.  What we got was a justification for purpose.

We wanted to have a say in who did the review.  L

We wanted to have a workshop.

I’m sure many councillors will be concerned about making savings and finding less costly ways to deliver services.

If the economy goes belly up as a consequence of an energy crash we will be looking at how to survive it.  A further deepening of the recession will force a rethink.  We will still have the debt when 20 percent of the workforce are out of work.  The economy will tank

with further oil price increases. We will have to look at ways to cope. When people  lose their income rates will become a big issue.  So far all we have is status quo.  That is not the answer when the world is changing.

Large unemployment will cause further focus on higher salaries. The deputy mayor was right to raise the issue.  Things will get ugly and we will need to show we understand by our actions.

One of the CCO CEO’s  I’m told got a $40,000 bonus on top of $250,000. Sal.  I’m  told the job in house was worth $160,000.

We were told In - house there were possible net savings of $790k.  That being the case we need that as the less costly way to deliver services.  As I have not seen the breakdown I’m thinking there may be more savings to be made by bringing services in-house. J

Cheers

From: Bryan Pepperell
Sent: Wednesday, 7 November 2012 8:36 p.m.
To: 'Sally Dossor'
Subject: Report 4 Amendment S& P 8 November 2012

REPORT 4

Amendment:

•             Delete 2 – 11
•             New 2 and 3 as below

2.            Recommend to Council that the activities of the following Council CCO’s are brought in-house:

a)            Basin Reserve Trust
b)            Partnership Wellington Trust
c)            Positively Wellington Venues Limited
d)            Capacity Infrastructure Services Limited
e)            Wellington Cable Car Limited
f)             Wellington Museums Trust
g)            Wellington Zoo Trust
h)            Wellington Waterfront Limited


3.            Recommend to Council to instruct the Chief Executive to agree a transition process with the Board of each CCO to give effect to recommendation 2 and report back to the Strategy and Policy Committee on the transition plan for agreement by SPC by 31 March 2013.

Moved.
Cr Pepperell

Seconded Justin Lester

Voting for were: Stephany Cook, Iona Pannett, Bryan Pepperell, Helene Ritchie

Voting against were: Mayor Celia Wade-Brown
Councillors Ahipene Mercer, Ngaire Best, Jo Coughlan, Paul Eagle, Leonie Gill, Justin Lester, Ian McKinnon, John Morrison

Simon Marsh was absent.

LOSING LOCAL DEMOCRACY

Local Government Act 2002
Amendment Bill
As reported from the Local Government and Environment Committee.
A very dark cloud is hanging over our country. Local democracy as we have known it is about to be removed. Is that what you want ?

New Zealand First summed it up well in the last paragraph of its submission:
"This bill poses a direct threat to the important second tier of democracy in our country and could mean that the local council ends up being run exclusively by those that support the Government of the day--not controlled by those elected by the voting public. It is fundamental that communities have the democratic right to determine the local governance of their city and district. Any proposed amalgamations of local authorities should be as a result of local community acceptance and approval, not imposed on them by central Government intervention as occurred in Auckland."