Brown takes museum post

It owns a multimillion-dollar collection on behalf of the community. The council plans to establish Te Ara Wai, a $27 million facility, to house the collection.

Andrew Brown also chairs the Te Ara Wai Governance committee which aims to deliver a new museum facility in Arawata Street, in what was the former Bunnings building.

At the council meeting, councillor Roger Gordon asked whether the trust board was required to report to council and when was the last time a report had been received from it.

O’Regan said the trust board was

Councillors given food for thought

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O’Regan said she was appalled at what was collected. Half of it should never end up in landfill.

“It’s challenging because as our population grows, our waste is increasing. There are huge costs involved in dealing with that waste which ratepayers right across the district pick up,” she said.

Council is about to embark on consultation starting next week in Cambridge and Te Awamutu farmers’ and produce markets.

Residents have till April 23 to have their say.

More details teawamutunews.nz

Before I start my round up of the events of last week, I would like to make a public service announcement. I have been asked by several staff to remind everyone of the road code and the rules around emergency vehicles.

If an emergency vehicle (such as an ambulance, fire engine or police car) is coming towards you or behind you, and is using sirens and/or flashing red, blue, or blue and red lights, you must pull over and, if necessary, stop and allow it to pass. Rant over.

This week police attended a mental health incident and a breach of electronically monitored bail which turned out to be a technology issue. Police also arrested a male with an active warrant to arrest after a minor car collision on Arawata Street. Later in the day police attended a serious assault incident at a supermarket involving two customers. Enquiries are ongoing for this.

On Tuesday police recovered a stolen independent of the council while Governance manager Jo Gread said council made appointments to a number of groups.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean there is any reporting back,” she said.

“Why do we need two representatives then?” asked Gordon to which O’Regan said she was unsure what the trust’s constitution required.

“Last term there were three representatives, now it has dropped down to two,” she said.

Gread said she was unaware of any request from the trust to reduce its councillor membership further.

The News asked the council through a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) request about the ongoing relationship between the council and the trust and whether the collection was in safe hands.

In her response Customer and Community