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Meeting |
26 August 2025 |
CONFIRMED MINUTES
OF THE Council Meeting
HELD IN THE Council Chamber, Third
Floor, Office of the Waitaki District Council, 20 Thames Street, Oamaru
ON Tuesday, 26 August 2025 AT 11:00 am
PRESENT: Mayor Gary Kircher, Cr Hana Halalele, Cr Rebecca Ryan, Cr Jim Hopkins, Cr Tim Blackler Cr Jeremy Holding, Cr Brent Cowles, Cr Guy Percival, Cr Courtney Linwood (online), Cr Jim Thomson, Cr John McCone
IN ATTENDANCE: PAR Committee Chair Simon Neale
Roger Cook (Director Natural and Built Environment)
Alex Parmley (Chief Executive)
Paul Hope (Director, Support Services)
Joanne O’Neill (Director, Strategy, Performance & Design)
Lisa Baillie (Director, Community Engagement and Experience)
Amanda Nicholls (Finance Manager)
Joshua Rendell (Infrastructure Manager)
Jason Lilley (Livestream Support)
Arlene Goss (Governance Lead/Minutes)
Andrew Ashton (Otago Daily Times and Oamaru Mail)
Louise van der Voort (Organisation Transition Manager)
Paul Hayes (Assets Planning Manager)
John Palethorpe (Media and Communications Specialist)
Frans Schlack (public)
David Wilson (public)
Mike Sweeney (public)
This meeting was livestreamed and can be watched at https://www.youtube.com/live/jNV3xC-y8BY?si=-nyROR3me1zp1R-a
The Chair declared the meeting open at 11am and welcomed everyone present.
1 Apologies
The Mayor and the Chief Executive both declared an interest in Item 9.2: Council Controlled Organisation Directorships, and will leave the room for that item.
2.12 Frans Schlack joined the table. He said he previously emailed the councillors some reference material in advance of this meeting.
Mr Schlack read from a written statement on the topic of the Water Services Delivery Plan. He expects that central government will reject the plan submitted by Council.
He complimented Finance Manager Amanda Nicholls and Infrastructure Manager Josh Rendell and their teams on their work. Anyone who followed the workshops was now very much the wiser for it.
He gave his views and supported an increased investment scenario, whether that was in-house or as a council controlled organisation. He also challenged central government for putting an unnecessary burden on communities in a cost-of-living crisis.
12.58 Mike Sweeney then joined the table. He also spoke about the Water Services Delivery Plan and the costs involved. He considered that the costs would be the same under different structures.
He did not believe that the Southern Water Done Well model would have the same regard for local issues, and implementing it would require the community to pay for an additional structure. An assumption that a regional water company would have operational savings due to its size was incorrect, he said.
Councillors asked some questions of Mr Sweeney and he answered them. The situation at Wellington Water was raised and the issues that arose in Wellington recently. This was compared to the situation in Waitaki.
The Mayor then moved to Item 7.1 on page 41 of the agenda.
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7.1 Local Water Done Well Water Services Delivery Plan Model Confirmation and Adoption |
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25.29 The chief executive presented this report. He thanked staff for their work on the plan and said the final plan reflected advice given by the governance team in their workshops. He went through the budgets and reminded the elected members these were budgets and not commitments to spend the money. Before spending money, they would go through a formal procurement process. The council was legally committed to the Water Services Delivery Plan. There were some things not included in the plan, as they were not yet considered, and this detail would come in the next step, which was to form an implementation plan. Mr Parmley said he did not want to include things in the plan that would create “trip hazards” for future councils. Paul Hope (Director, Support Services) said the original advice from the Department of Internal Affairs was that the plan was a high-level document. The information in the plan was mostly already seen by councillors and already discussed, and collated in a different form. This plan had a life of less than two years, and Council would need to develop a strategy in line with the next Long Term Plan in 2027. There were opportunities to refine the financial costs on the community. But the increase will still be significant. The next step was a water services strategy which would add a lot more detail. Cr Holding asked how confident Mr Hope was that this document would be accepted by DIA. Mr Hope said staff had done everything they could to produce a compliant document, but going alone was contrary to what the government was trying to achieve in getting councils to work together. Cr Hopkins asked about projected rates increases. Paul Hope said this would be 40% next year and double digit in the years after that. (Note: At the end of this meeting Mr Hope apologised for his error in this statement and clarified that projected rates increases added up to 25% next year and 40% over the next two years). Cr Hopkins asked whether councillors were happy to impose these rates increases on ratepayers and Cr Thomson raised a point of order. He said Cr Hopkins was not in a position to judge whether everyone around the table was happy with that. The Mayor said it was a question, not a judgement. Further questions were asked about what would happen in the future. Cr Thomson then moved recommendations numbered 1 to 5, and this was seconded by Cr Blackler. 1.15.09 Several councillors spoke to the motions, starting with Cr Blackler, followed by Cr Hopkins, the Mayor, and Cr Holding. 1.29.45 Cr Thomson responded. The Mayor then put the motions to the vote and they were carried. |
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Resolved WDC 2025/084 Moved: Cr Jim Thomson Seconded: Cr Tim Blackler That Council: Approves the following changes to information previously considered to be included in the Water Services Delivery Plan: a) Additional budgeted expenditure of $9,790,000 to address compliance issues identified in the WSDP development process. b) Additional expenditure of $9,450,000 to address resilience and renewal issues identified in the WSDP development process. c) To increase charges in an approach to achieve a balanced budget and revenue sufficiency to meet operational, investment and borrowing costs. Carried The Mayor and Cr Hopkins asked for their votes against the motion to be recorded. |
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Resolved WDC 2025/085 Moved: Cr Jim Thomson Seconded: Cr Tim Blackler Approves the Water Services Delivery Plan, subject to any adjustments required by the above decisions, set out in Attachment 1 for submission to the Department of Internal Affairs by 3 September 2025 for acceptance. Carried The Mayor and Cr Hopkins asked for their votes against the motion to be recorded.
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Resolved WDC 2025/086 Moved: Cr Jim Thomson Seconded: Cr Tim Blackler Notes that in accordance with section 18 of the Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act 2024, the Chief Executive must provide certification to the Department of Internal Affairs in respect of the information provided by Waitaki District Council that the Water Services Delivery Plan complies with the Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Act 2024 and that the information contained in the plan is true and accurate. Carried
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Resolved WDC 2025/087 Moved: Cr Jim Thomson Seconded: Cr Tim Blackler Delegates to the Chief Executive the authority to finalise the plan including making minor amendments to the Water Services Delivery Plan (if required) in advance of submission to the Department of Internal Affairs. Carried |
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Resolved WDC 2025/088 Moved: Cr Jim Thomson Seconded: Cr Tim Blackler Notes the willingness of the Council to explore future opportunities for collaboration with other Councils in relation to water services delivery. Carried |
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Council adjourned for lunch at 12.34pm and reconvened at 1.02pm. |
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7.3 Revocation of Reserve and Gifting of land |
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2.02.13 The purpose of this report was to seek Council approval to initiate the statutory process for revoking the reserve status of Section 1 SO 605185, Kurow (corner of Gordon and Wynyard Streets, adjacent to Kurow Memorial Hall) from local purpose (community buildings) reserve to fee simple title, and to obtain approval for the subsequent transfer of the property to Waitaki Valley Health Trust to enable development of a community medical centre facility. The existing medical centre at 10 Wynyard Street, also on Council land, was no longer suitable for future community use. As part of the agreement, the Trust would remove all buildings and improvements from the current site at 6–10 Wynyard Street before returning it to Council. Cr Holding asked if it was possible to add a clause to the agreement that the land be gifted back to council if the medical centre doesn’t go ahead. Cr Hopkins said if the land was gifted, ratepayers would be missing out on the proceeds of an asset. He suggested selling 51 Gordon Street as an alternative site to reimburse ratepayers for the loss of the asset. He asked to add a fifth recommendation as follows: That as part of this process Council commits to the sale of 51 Gordon Street, with the proceeds to be used to reimburse ratepayers. The motion lapsed with no seconder. |
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Resolved WDC 2025/089 Moved: Cr Brent Cowles Seconded: Cr Rebecca Ryan That Council: 1. Approve pursuant to section 24(1) of the Reserves Act 1977 that the Local Purpose Reserve classification over the land on the corner of Gordon Street and Wynyard Street, Kurow, Section 1 SO 605185 is revoked and the land to remain vested in Council in a fee simple estate on the basis the site is no longer needed for reserve purposes due to change in community needs. 2. Approve the land being declared as surplus land. 3. Approve the land being gifted to Waitaki Valley Health Trust on the following basis: a) The sale is subject to the reserves revocation process being completed as required under the Reserves Act 1977; b) The agreement requires the removal of improvements from the existing site at 6-10 Wynyard Street, Kurow. 4. Delegate to the Chief Executive the authority to take such action and sign such documents as may be reasonably necessary to implements Council’s resolutions above, and matter ancillary to them. Carried |
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7.4 Palmerston Squash Racquets Club - Gifting of Building |
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2.15.52 Joanne O’Neill, Director, Strategy, Performance & Design, introduced this report. This will bring this squash club into line with other sports clubs in the district. They are financially viable and can bring the squash court building up to standard. There would be a condition in the lease that if the club folded, the building would return to Council. |
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Resolved WDC 2025/090 Moved: Cr Jim Thomson Seconded: Cr Rebecca Ryan That Council: 1. Approves the transfer by way of gift to the Palmerston Squash Racquets Club, the Palmerston squash courts building located at 33 Gilligan Street, Palmerston on Section 82 Block XXXIII Town of Palmerston. 2. Delegates authority to the Chief Executive to conclude the transfer of the building. Carried |
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7.5 Ratification of Submissions on Changing Resource Management National Directions |
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2.21.39 David Campbell and Victoria van der Spek joined the meeting. The purpose of this report was to retrospectively ratify Waitaki District Council’s (WDC’s) submissions on Resource Management Act (RMA) national direction packages, being Infrastructure and Development, Primary Sector, Freshwater and Going for Housing Growth, as submitted to the Ministry for the Environment on 25 July 2025. Discussion took place on the short time frame to submit this feedback, and that some councillors did not agree with aspects of it. Cr McCone said he could not support the submissions. |
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Resolved WDC 2025/091 Moved: Cr Jim Hopkins Seconded: Mayor Gary Kircher That Council: 1. Formally ratifies Waitaki District Council’s submissions on updating RMA national direction, as submitted to the Ministry for the Environment on 25 July 2025. Carried
Cr McCone asked for his vote against the motion to be recorded. |
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7.6 Development Contributions Decisions Made Under Delegated Authority |
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Cr John McCone declared a conflict of interest and left the room. 2.35.37 The purpose of this report is to inform Council of the decisions made by the Development Contributions Subcommittee under delegated authority. Mandy McIntosh, Strategy and Commissioning Lead, joined the table and answered questions from the councillors. |
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Resolved WDC 2025/092 Moved: Cr Guy Percival Seconded: Cr Jeremy Holding That Council receives and notes the information. Carried |
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7.2 Notice of Motion - Establishment of Local Water Done Well Independent Advisory Group |
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2.38.09 The Chief Executive received a Notice of Motion from Cr Tim Blackler with the request that it be placed on the agenda for this meeting. The purpose of the notice of motion was to request that a Local Water Done Well Advisory Group be established. There was some discussion on whether Council needed to pass a resolution to receive the notice of motion before considering the proposal from Cr Blackler. It was decided that the chief executive had accepted the notice of motion so this was all that was required. Cr Blackler outline his argument for establishing a Local Water Done Well Independent Advisory Group. Questions were asked by councillors on various issues. A point of order was raised by Cr Blackler in response to a statement from Cr Hopkins. The Mayor said he was concerned about setting up a group that allowed full council to abdicate its responsibilities. He was also concerned about the advisory group getting into the operational space. The Mayor suggested that the governance team meet next Tuesday afternoon to discuss the terms of reference. Cr Blackler moved the following recommendations from the notice of motion, and this was seconded by Cr McCone: That Council; a. Request the Chief Executive to establish a Future Water Services Advisory Group. b. Agree that the remit of the Future Water Services Advisory Group is to provide advice and support to Council and the CE on: i. Further development of the Water Services Delivery Plan should this be required. ii. The development of the Implementation Plan for delivering water services in-house efficiently and effectively. iii. engagement with a Government Water Services Facilitator or Specialist should one be appointed. c. Appoint an Elected Member to the Future Water Services Portfolio to work with the CE. d. Request the Chief Executive, working with the Future Water Services Portfolio Holder, appoint up to six members to the advisory group with the required skills and attributes highlighted in this report by mid-September. e. Delegate to the Chief Executive working with the Future Water Services Portfolio Holder the authority to establish any necessary further expectations, scope or structure to enable meaningful input. The Mayor then suggested an alternative motion as follows. A short break was taken to get the wording correct. It was seconded by Cr Hopkins: That Council; a. Establishes a Future Water Services Advisory Group. b. Agrees that the remit of the Future Water Services Advisory Group is to provide advice and support to Council and the CE on: i. Further development of the Water Services Delivery Plan should this be required. ii. The development of the Implementation Plan for delivering water services in-house efficiently and effectively. iii. Engagement with a Government Water Services Facilitator or Specialist should one be appointed. c. Delegates to the Mayor, in consultation with councillors, at a session to be held as soon as possible, the finalising of the membership and terms of reference for the advisory group The amendment was put to the vote and lost by majority vote. The recommendations from Cr Blackler were then put to the vote and carried as below. |
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Resolved WDC 2025/093 Moved: Member Tim Blackler Seconded: Member John McCone That Council; a. Requests the Chief Executive to establish a Future Water Services Advisory Group. b. Agrees that the remit of the Future Water Services Advisory Group is to provide advice and support to Council and the CE on: iv. Further development of the Water Services Delivery Plan should this be required. v. The development of the Implementation Plan for delivering water services in-house efficiently and effectively. vi. engagement with a Government Water Services Facilitator or Specialist should one be appointed. c. Appoints an Elected Member to the Future Water Services Portfolio to work with the CE. d. Requests the Chief Executive, working with the Future Water Services Portfolio Holder, to appoint up to six members to the advisory group with the required skills and attributes highlighted in this report by mid-September. e. Delegates to the Chief Executive working with the Future Water Services Portfolio Holder the authority to establish any necessary further expectations, scope or structure to enable meaningful input. Carried |
4 Confirmation of Previous Meeting Minutes
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4.1 Public minutes of the Council Meeting held on 29 July 2025 |
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Resolved WDC 2025/094 Moved: Cr Rebecca Ryan Seconded: Cr Jim Hopkins That the Council confirms the Public minutes of the Council Meeting held on 29 July 2025, as circulated, as a true and correct record of that meeting. .Carried |
5 Leadership Reports
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5.1 Chief Executive's Report |
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3.38.20 The chief executive went through the highlights of his report and answered questions from the councillors. This included a request for details about issues with the governance support area and the library. |
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Resolved WDC 2025/095 Moved: Mayor Gary Kircher Seconded: Cr Jim Thomson That Council receives and notes the information. Carried |
6 Recommendations from Committees Report
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6.1 Recommendations of the Performance, Audit and Risk Committee Meeting held on 29 July 2025 |
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Resolved WDC 2025/096 Moved: Cr Jim Hopkins Seconded: Cr John McCone That Council: 1. Adopts a Treasury Strategy for the first quarter of the 2025-26 financial year which includes: a) Monitoring available cash and projecting future cash requirements b) Liaising with the Local Government funding Agency (LGFA) to ensure Council’s ability to function and deliver on behalf of its communities is not impeded by lack of funds c) Obtaining advice and support from Bancorp Treasury Services on key projects in addition to ensuring compliance with policy limits d) Investing funds considered surplus to immediate requirements based on current forecasts to best advantage to maximise returns. Carried |
Correction: Paul Hope, Director Support Services, clarified that a comment he made earlier in the meeting under Item 7.1, about a 40% rates increase next year was incorrect. The proposed rates rise for next year is 25%.
9 Resolution to Exclude the Public
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Resolved WDC 2025/097 Moved: Cr Jim Hopkins Seconded: Cr Rebecca Ryan That the public be excluded from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting. The general subject matter of each matter to be considered while the public is excluded, the reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter, and the specific grounds under section 48 of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution are as follows:
Carried |
9 Public Excluded Section
10 Resolution to Return to the Public Meeting
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Resolved WDC 2025/098 Moved: Cr Jim Hopkins Seconded: Cr Jeremy Holding That Council resumes in open meeting and decisions made in the public excluded session are confirmed and made public as and when required and considered. Carried |
11 Release of Public Excluded Information
12 Meeting Close
The Chair declared the meeting closed at 3.26pm.
TO BE CONFIRMED at the Council Meeting to be held on Tuesday, 30 September 2025.