Proudly Napier Aug 2021

Proudly

NAPIER August 2021

Word from our Mayor

ALERT LEVEL

Kirsten Wise Kia ora koutou.

I hope you and yours are staying safe and well through these COVID-19 affected times.

Water is a high priority for Napier. It’s not just at the top of the work programme but an integral part of our geography, our sense of place, and the love we have for our region. Issues we have been working hard to resolve, growth we are planning for, weather events that affect our systems and networks: water is always top of mind for us at Council.

At the moment, we are being asked by Government to consider their proposal for how our water should be managed in the future. Three Waters Reform has been on the table for a few years and now the Government has prepared a proposal and given us until the end of September to consider its merits and downfalls, and whether it is right for our community.

There is no doubt that there is a case for change and that the status quo is not an option for future water services management. Changes to the regulatory environment, growing infrastructure costs, future population and industry growth, and climate change all mean the way we run water services now will not get the job done in the future.

What is important is what the new water services entity will look like. Retaining a strong local voice in decision making around water services is important and under the current proposal this may be challenging. Keeping costs affordable for our community is also essential. Finding that balance between control and costs is a key focus of our Council as we feed back on the Government’s proposal.

We are working closely with Hawke’s Bay’s other Councils and with mana whenua to put together our responses to Government, clearly outlining what is important to our community. It is also vital we hear from you about what is important to you in the future delivery of water services to our community.

There is a lot of information available on Three Waters Reform, alongside what we’re providing in this issue of Proudly Napier, but there are also a lot of questions that remain unanswered. As we learn more we will share it with you, and we look forward to hearing your views on the future of our three waters: drinking water, stormwater and wastewater.

Finally, I would like to thank you, the community, for your efforts over the past week to keep yourselves and others safe.

He waka eke noa – we are in this together.

New Zealand is currently in Level 4 •

People are instructed to stay at home in their bubble other than for essential personal movement.

•

Safe recreational activity is allowed in local area.

•

Travel is severely limited.

•

All gatherings are cancelled and all public venues are closed.

•

Businesses are closed except for essential services for example, supermarkets, pharmacies, clinics, petrol stations and lifeline utilities will stay open.

•

Educational facilities are closed.

•

Rationing of supplies and requisitioning of facilities is possible.

•

Reprioritisation of healthcare services.

Council services at Alert Level 4 Animal Control Shelter - Priority calls only Building consents - Online only Funerals and tangihanga - Reduced services Customer Service - Online only Waste services - Kerbside rubbish, recycling will continue as normal.

Parks and Reserves - Restricted: Dolbel Reserve is closed. Sugar Loaf, Maggie’s Way and Sturms Gully remain open at this stage. If usage increases to the point where there is an increased risk to the community, the reserves will be closed.

All Council facilities are closed along with playgrounds and public toilets.

three w a reform ter s

The Government is considering changes to the regulation and delivery of the country’s ‘three waters’ services: drinking water, wastewater and stormwater. It has proposed four regional water entities to replace the work currently done by Aotearoa New Zealand’s 67 councils. At the moment, the vast majority of three waters assets and services in the country are owned and delivered by local councils and paid for through rates.

The reason for change is two-fold. It is about achieving higher regulatory standards and minimising the costs to households. The Government’s proposal is to create four new entities to look after Three Waters to achieve ‘economy of scale’: spreading the increasing costs over many people. The proposed structure will require more skilled people in the water services workforce with potentially several thousand new jobs created nationally. To help with transition costs and community initiatives around wellbeing, Napier City Council will be allocated close to $26 million from Government through Three Waters Reform.

What is being proposed?

The Government’s Three-Waters Reform proposes transferring ownership and management of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater from 67 independent Councils to four council-owned entities, which would be governed by independent boards.

Council representatives would be joined in their governance oversight by mana whenua. This is similar to what our Hawke’s Bay regional study recommended to our five Councils in 2020 last year, but at a much larger scale.

The Government’s proposal puts Napier’s three waters services in an entity comprising 21 Councils from the east coast of the North Island, the top of the South Island and including the Chatham Islands.

What would it cost us in Napier?

Central Government modelling says by 2051 Napier's costs are estimated to be $2540 per household (not inflated) without reform. Costs are currently $610 per household. With reform, Central Government modelling says by 2051 Napier's costs are estimated to be $1,260 per household (not inflated). Costs are increasing due to higher water standards and costs associated with meeting those standards.

Costs from ‘Day 1’ (July 2024) are not known and a request for this information is included in our Council’s feedback to Government.

Who would pay?

The Government has given councils until 30 September 2021 to analyse the proposal and feed back to them. The proposal suggests boundaries for the four entities. Napier is included in Entity C, along with the rest of Hawke’s Bay, the East Coast through to Wellington, as well as the top of the South Island. This area covers close to 1 million people and 21 councils. Hawke’s Bay’s councils have collectively discussed the impacts of becoming part of Entity C and are investigating options around boundaries.

Every council has been given a ‘dashboard’, a snapshot of the costs and benefits of reform. The dashboard shows cost savings will be reached over a number of years and that with reform annual water costs per household will sit at around $1,260 by 2051, whereas without reform each household will have an annual water cost of $2,540.

Households and businesses connected to the infrastructure would still be responsible for paying for the water services they receive. We don’t yet know how this charging would be structured.

If I am not connected, would I pay?

At this point, there is no indication in the current proposal that those not connected to the networks would be involved or expected to pay.

What about local voice in decision making?

One of the key questions we are taking back to Government in our feedback of their proposal is: What will Day 1 costs looks like for our community?

Although there are still many questions around what reform will look like for our community, what is clear is there is a case for change. The status quo will not be sustainable with changes in the regulatory environment, infrastructure, future growth and climate change. Through our feedback on the Government’s proposal, we have the opportunity to clearly state what is important to our community in terms of the balance between retaining a local voice in decision making and ensuring sustainable, affordable, reliable and safe water services in the future.

Tell us what’s important to you in the future delivery of water services to our community.

Visit sayitnapier.nz to have your say

The Government has proposed each Entity will have a ‘regional representation’ group of 12 people (six from local councils (there are 21 in Entity C) and six from mana whenua). This group will appoint an ‘independent selection panel’ that will appoint board members for each entity. The ‘board’ is the management structure that will operate the new entity.

What are the drawbacks?

A possible drawback is in the level of direct, local control and influence we have on the prioritisation, investment, expansion and outcomes delivered by the larger entity. For example we do not know if Napier would be able to pursue a chlorine-free network.

To ensure a local voice for Napier we would be relying on mechanisms and processes that are different to those we currently have. This is the area where the most unanswered questions lie.

Napier has been involved in both Central and Local Government conversations related to this reform in the preparation of the proposal.

However, we do not know how the interests of our community will be protected and empowered in the new structure. We will continue to advocate to Government on the importance of local voice in decision-making around three waters services.

What do we get out of it?

The recent Government announcement allocated funding support to individual councils on the basis of a nationally consistent formula that takes into account population, relative deprivation and land area. For Napier, this grant would be $25.8 million.

This is known as the “better off, no worse off ” grant.

The new water service entities would have access to significantly more borrowing capacity due to their size and structure, with aggregation of costs over the population resulting in lower costs overall.

Can we just work with our neighbouring Hawke’s Bay Councils instead?

The five councils of the Hawke’s Bay region have been working together closely for nearly two years on how we could deliver a more affordable and effective three waters service as a region.

An independent report released last year showed this was achievable. We will continue to work together as we analyse the reform information and will include this work in our feedback to the Government.

What’s the next step in the process?

The Government has provided councils with an opportunity to go back to them with clarifications, questions and feedback on key issues of the Three Waters Reform proposal by 30 September 2021.

This is an important time to analyse the impacts the reform will have on our community and our Council services.

While we’ll be doing this at a local level, we will also continue to work with other Hawke’s Bay councils to do detailed analysis of the reform and how it relates to the previous work we have done together as a region.

The Local Government Act and our Significance & Engagement Policy require us to consult with our community on an issue of this significance.

We are committed to ensuring you will be given the opportunity to have your say on decisions the Government makes on this Reform programme, and we will actively advocate for community voice to be an essential element in the Government’s decision-making process.

What we don’t yet know: •

When and how decisions on the entities, including the exact boundaries, will be made.

•

What the process and content of formal community consultation will be. This will be guided by Government.

•

The full impact of the reform on Napier, its Council and community.

•

The full detail of the proposed reforms including financial forecasts.

•

Details of the accountability mechanisms including consumer panels, iwi representation, zoning and direction of growth, role in emergency management and requirements for delivery of local priorities and local voice.

Join us for a Facebook Live Community Meeting!

7pm Tuesday 7 September at fb.com NapierCityCouncil

Have your say on Māori wards now!

Māori wards aim to make sure that Māori are represented in local government decision making.

Visit sayitnapier.nz to have your say before 5pm, 10 September.

PROJECT UPDATES

Every day our teams are out there doing their thing - the regular upkeep and maintenance that keeps Napier on course. But we're also working on a number of larger projects that reshape our city. Here is a selection.

Roberts Terrace playground upgrade

A depiction of the playground being upgraded at Roberts Terrace

We’ve taken into account the feedback from the community about what they wanted for their playground. New features include a 3x3 basketball court and new play equipment such as a 3-bay swing set, spinning carousel, climbing frame and slides. There will be a shadesail, seating and a new concrete pathway to link the playground with the existing nearby footpaths. This path will be suitable for young cyclists and scooter riders to use.

Timeline: To be constructed August-September 2021

Mahia St safety improvements We are trialling changing this Ahuriri street to one way for three months.

We want to see if it will help the traffic flow, and improve parking options for motorists as well as improve safety for all users.

Estimated timeline: Trial completed in November.

A OR A KI

In my third year of study the then programme coordinator decided to take a year off, so I applied for the job. She didn’t come back and I’ve been here ever since.

TO

SA

Y

I was studying for a Bachelor of Earth Science and Geography and working as a lifeguard here in the summer holidays.

UL

EE

S BAAR

P

RE N

It was very challenging to begin with, because I’d never done anything like this before, and over time the role grew, partly due to an idea I had, for a bootcamp style programme.

I was doing my own training, as I had dislocated my shoulder playing rugby league and was trying to get my fitness and strength up again to get back to sport.

NAPIER AQUATIC CENTRE PROGRAMMES & EVENTS COORDINATOR

What is your role?

I coordinate the children’s school holiday programmes, operating on and off site, and the on site Aqua Fitness and AquaMax HIIT Squad programmes. I also organise events for facility users, such as parties for the Tiny Tots (children aged six months to five years of age).

What is your background?

I was a member of the Pacific Surf Life Saving Club, and worked at Wet N Wild in Australia for a year when I was 18. I am Ngāti Pāoa (Waiheke Island/Hauraki Gulf) and Ngāti Porou (East Coast).

A couple of people asked me if they could join in. It got me thinking, and in 2013 I set up AquaMax, with a bit of basic equipment. We would do our sessions poolside, outdoors if the weather was good, and sometimes off site.

Now we’re based in the former Magpies gym on site, and have a core membership of 70-80 members.

We want it to be accessible for the community, so it is low cost. There were so many bootcamps around when we started, we’re now the only one going and have now progressed into more of a fitness programme and facility.

I think the reason we’ve been so successful is that the instructors have more input, and we can adapt to members’ needs. They range in age from teens to people in their 60s, so we’re quite unique.

Do you have any interests?

I’ve done Crossfit for four years, and been a competitive weightlifter for a year. My next big events are the nationals (weightlifting) in November, and Crossfit in December.

This year I set the NZ record for clean and jerk, and snatch in my category, the Masters 35 years under 81kg weight division, I’m aiming for the world record this year at Nationals.

What do you like the best about living in Hawke’s Bay? I grew up in Hawke’s Bay. I like the fact it’s a smaller city, it’s laidback so you can still have the city life, but it’s not busy, I think the weather helps too.

For more information on the AquaMax bootcamp visit napieraquatic.co.nz

Your Council

Mayor Kirsten Wise

Deputy Mayor Annette Brosnan

Councillor Api Tapine

Councillor Graeme Taylor

Councillor Greg Mawson

Councillor Hayley Browne

Councillor Keith Price

Councillor Maxine Boag

Councillor Nigel Simpson

Councillor Councillor Richard McGrath Ronda Chrystal

Councillor Sally Crown

Councillor Tania Wright

215 Hastings Street, Napier 4110 Private Bag 6010, Napier 4142 t 06 835 7579 e info@napier.govt.nz napier.govt.nz facebook.com/NapierCityCouncil