Latest news with #WaitakiDistrictCouncil
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Fundraising to start as St John station consented
The Waitaki District Council headquarters in Oamaru's Thames St. Photo: ODT files Fundraising for Oamaru's new ambulance station starts next week. The Waitaki District Council has granted resource consent for the long-awaited project. The new Hato Hone St John station will be built on an area of land that will be subdivided off the northwest corner of 4 Weston Rd. The charitable organisation hopes that construction of the new station for Oamaru will start in the 2026 financial year. Otago Southland district operations manager David Milne said the new station would also have a public training facility. "The team is very excited about getting a new station as once it is complete, it will future-proof our operations. "Having a new station will have an incredibly positive impact on Hato Hone St John's people and services in Oamaru and will ensure the organisation can support the town and its surrounding rural district for years to come." "Once it is finished, the new station will also ensure our team can continue operating through any disruption or natural disaster. "We still need to fundraise for this project, though, so really do appreciate the continued support of the North Otago community," Mr Milne said. The Oamaru project will form part of St John's annual national fundraising campaign. This month, the organisation hopes to raise $4.5 million for the building and urgent repair and rebuild of 13 ambulance stations around New Zealand. Chief executive Peter Bradley said this year's appeal was about more than just raising money for bricks and mortar. "This is about future-proofing our stations, the home base for our emergency crews, so that no matter what tomorrow brings, our teams will always be there for communities when they need us most," Mr Bradley said. "For our ambulance officers, they [stations] are also a home away from home and a place to reset, recharge and connect with each other after attending a callout." Ambulance stations were also often a vital community hub for volunteers including those delivering first-aid training and running St John Youth programmes. Hato Hone St John staff and volunteers will be out on the streets of Oamaru with collection buckets on June 14 and June 15. Schools and businesses will be supporting them with local fundraising activities. • To donate online, visit the Light the Way Annual Appeal website at
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Statue to honour VC war hero
More than a century after his death at the Battle of the Somme, Oamaru war hero Sergeant Donald Forrester Brown VC is set to be honoured in his hometown with a life-size bronze statue. The New Zealand Remembrance Army (NZRA), led by local advocate Barry Gamble, has announced plans to commemorate Sgt Brown — the first New Zealander awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) for bravery on the Western Front and the only VC recipient from North Otago. The Victoria Cross is the highest award in the British honours system, awarded for gallantry "in the presence of the enemy". "It's all about recognition — honouring this man who is a true blue Kiwi farmer, who spent most of his short life working the land and then bravely fought for his country," Mr Gamble said. Born in Dunedin in 1890 and raised in Oamaru, Mr Brown gave up his farm on Waiareka Rd, along with his horse and dog, to enlist in the First World War. A former student of Waitaki Boys' High School, he was serving with the 10th (North Otago) Company of the Otago Infantry Regiment when he was killed in action at the age of 26. On September 15, 1916 — the opening day of New Zealand's Somme campaign — Brown distinguished himself by capturing key enemy machine-gun positions, helping New Zealand troops break through German lines. Two weeks later, during another assault, he ordered his men to take cover while he single-handedly attacked two enemy trenches chasing the enemy down before he was fatally struck by machine-gun fire. In 1917, his Victoria Cross was presented posthumously to his father, Robert Brown, by Governor-General Lord Liverpool in Oamaru. Mr Gamble believed the statue would serve as a lasting educational and cultural tribute, preserving Mr Brown's legacy for future generations. "Other towns have honoured their Victoria Cross winners with statues and paintings — why not Oamaru? This is something we can be really proud of." Despite his name appearing on the honours board at Waitaki Boys' and a portrait in the Waitaki District Council chambers, Mr Gamble said Sgt Brown had largely faded from the town's collective memory. "It's quite sad. We've got a proud heritage of buildings and some of the best memorial statues in the country. "Yet his story is not well known." The estimated cost of the statue is $160,000. Rakaia man Bob Brown, great-nephew of Sgt Brown, has donated $10,000 towards the project. "They were really stoked that someone was wanting to do this, and they're right behind me." Mr Gamble said he will also be seeking donations from the public and organisations. Renowned New Zealand Army artist Matt Gauldie has been commissioned to create the statue. Mr Gauldie had already produced a detailed miniature maquette for $2000 to aid fundraising efforts. The NZRA contributed $1500 toward the initial concept plan, and the Waitaki District Council has expressed support. Mr Gamble, who has previously led efforts to restore the graves of former soldiers in the Waitaki district, expects the statue to take around 18 months to complete. A final location for the monument has yet to be determined. A book of letters Sgt Brown wrote to his father during the war was published in 1998 entitled Your Loving Son, Don , edited by his neice, Eunice P. Brown. In a letter from Egypt in 1916, he wrote of the camaraderie among Oamaru soldiers: "it's just great the number of Oamaru boys one finds here, and one and all are certain, old Oamaru is quite good enough for us in future".
Otago Daily Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Rates rise of 9.79% splits council
Waitaki District Council's longest-serving councillor has been left annoyed and frustrated with fellow councillors' inability find further ways of reducing rates bills. At a meeting of the Waitaki District Council this week, councillors agreed a rates rise, from next year, of 9.79%. Cr Jim Hopkins was not impressed with the outcome of what was the final chance to make meaningful reductions before the long-term plan is finally adopted in June. ''No-one wants to spend 9%-plus on rates but none of you want to actually take a dollar off the bill — crying out loud.'' The Oamaru Freezer Building was a concern. Cr Hopkins had suggested the building be gifted to Heritage New Zealand to be looked after by the nation, rather than ratepayers having to pay $250,000 to keep it up to safety standards. His suggestion that the $80,000 planned to pay for demolition of aviaries at the Oamaru Public Gardens be saved by offering the work as a free project to a community group was also turned down by councillors. ''I would just say to my colleagues around the table that what you have decided in terms of the discussions previously and even today, is that every dollar, of every line item, on every page, is absolutely of essential importance and cannot be reduced or forsaken,'' Cr Hopkins said. ''I think that's untenable. ''There are discretionary items in the pages we've looked at that could and should be reconsidered and I stand by the points I've made. ''I'm disappointed the elected members won't accept the principle that if, as has been asserted by a Crown agency, the Oamaru Freezer Building is a building of national importance, there is no justification for 13,000 ratepayers to put the total cost of its upkeep.'' The council did manage to agree to a reduction of $100,000 in the budget which will have a further small reduction of about one or two tenths of a percent. While not as big as the 10.3% rise the council originally consulted on in March, councillors have approved a proposed rates strike for its 2025-34 Long Term Plan, which will be adopted by the council in June. Once adopted the plan will see rates rise 9.79% in 2026, then a rise of 6.5% the following year. Rates will then be reduced from that benchmark by 16.11% in the third year of the plan, as water services are transferred to a yet-to-be-confirmed water entity that will charge ratepayers separately for services. Following that, rate rises will remain below 4% for the following seven years. ''This has been an extremely difficult process as we juggled with many conflicting priorities, against a background of affordability challenges for our community,'' Waitaki District Mayor Gary Kircher said. ''We've been working on this long-term plan for around 20 months and a lot of work has gone in to reducing cost for the ratepayer. ''We started in late-2023 with a rates rise of 26% and pulled it down to 13.73%. ''Even then, cost pressures saw the draft budget increase to 16%. ''We've managed to get it down to 9.79%, which is still more than anyone would like.''
Otago Daily Times
22-05-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Deputy mayor keen to continue council work — but not as mayor
Waitaki District deputy mayor Hana Halalele. PHOTO: JULES CHIN Waitaki district deputy mayor Hana Halalele has ruled out a tilt at the mayoralty but says she will continue her "big passion" for building better communities. The former Waitakian of the Year and Queen's Service Medal recipient (for services to Pacific health and community) became the first Pasifika councillor for the Waitaki District Council in 2019. She is also general manager for Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group (OPICG) and is serving her first term as deputy mayor and a second term as a councillor. Cr Halalele has announced she will not be running for mayor in October's local body elections, but she will stand again as a councillor for the Oamaru ward of the district council. There was "synergy" in her two roles, she said. "It's something that I've been weighing up just in terms of my capacity, because I'm so busy here with my work with the trust, but it's a really great correlation in terms of both of my roles. "There's a strategic opportunity at council. I can feed into what the community needs are because I work in that space and it makes sense." The trust was in the early stages of building a "learning hub" in the old Literacy Aotearoa building in Coquet St that would provide educational workforce development opportunities, she said. Cr Halalele also continues health outreach in the community with a nurse-led clinic supporting the OPICG team from a clinical perspective. "We employ a nurse one day a week [doing] screenings, immunisations, diabetes and heart, cardiac checks." Another trust focus was helping families into affordable housing, whether it was social, community housing or home ownership, Cr Halalele said. "We brought [rugby star] Mils Muliaina down with his team to help put Pasifika people into their own homes. In the last year, we've put about 19 families in their first own homes." Supporting "inter-generational changes" to help sustain and provide opportunities for Pasifika and the wider community was the trust's goal, as part of a national Pacific collective. Cr Halalele's commitments also include being a social work lecturer part-time at the University of Otago. "It is a juggle, you know, but it's a good juggle. "It's around where I can make the biggest impact, just to advocate and lobby for the changes that the community needs to see." Her entire career in community development was about ensuring social services were well-supported, she said. Cr Halalele values the "privilege" of being at the council table as a Samoan woman with 17 years' experience as a corrections officer and a registered social worker. "I bring a different lens to it. There's a cultural capacity and capability that is there that I know no-one else on the table will have. For example, when we're looking at developing different forms of policies or procurement policy or what the social return on investment and the broader outcomes are — and how is that going to impact on Maori, Pacific and migrant communities." Cr Halalele said meeting the diverse needs for the "growing migrant community" was something she loved contributing to, and the broader needs of the community. "I love the strategy work that we can do at local level and then how we can amplify that at regional and national levels."
Otago Daily Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Rare law change waives $1.4m bill for WDC
A rare parliamentary law change has waived a potential $1.4 million bill relating to environmental cleanup work that left a 2.2km stretch of scenic coast road at Kakanui unusable for the foreseeable future. Climate Change (Waitaki District Council) Exemption Order 2025, came into force on May 16, providing Waitaki District Council with a retrospective exemption from the Climate Change Response Act (2002), in relation to activity involving the disposal of historic waste located on Beach Rd. That work was part of Project Reclaim, an environmental cleanup of historic dump and illegal fly-tipping sites that resulted in the discovery of 58% more old rubbish than anticipated. The resulting holes left from digging up road to extract 19,000 tonnes of old refuse left the erosion-prone road unusable and it has been closed since November last year. Commenting on the exemption order, a WDC spokesperson confirmed the Order In Council, signed by the Governor-General, exempts the council from the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) levy for Project Reclaim. To gain the waiver, the Minister for Environment had to take the issue to full Cabinet and approval for an Order In Council. The exemption brings the current cost of Project Reclaim to around $13m. Overall, the project moved 67,465.49 tonnes of waste from seaside sites to a specially designed landfill cell near Palmerston. "Council's position has always been that the remediation of these historic waste sites should not be subject to the Waste Levy or Emissions Trading Strategy, as they have a far larger positive environmental effect than the law allows for. We have convinced the Ministry for Environment on both counts, and as a result have saved the ratepayer a total of $5.3 million," WDC director of natural and built environment Roger Cook said. While the money saved will reduce the costs to mitigate the road closure, the council will still be left with a multiyear, multimillion-dollar expense. At a council workshop earlier this month, council staff were tasked by councillors to explore a "deep dive" into the future of the erosion-prone Beach Rd at Kakanui after councillors were told of multimillion-dollar future expenses, no matter what decision they made. Initial staff assessments expected costs of realigning the road to be about $6.23m over 50 years, while closing just the southern section and maintaining the remainder would cost $7.71m, and moving to a single-lane access situation would cost $4.67m over 50 years. Project Reclaim last week also picked up an Āpōpō Asset Management Award last week, sharing The Sustainability Award for Excellence in Collaboration with project partners the Waitaki District Council, Morrison Low, Waste Management NZ, Fulton-Hogan, Tonkin + Taylor and GHC Consulting.
