Waitaki District Council - an Observer's view

Waitaki District Council - an Observer's view just an Observer's view of what's happening. NOT Meeting minutes, just a little commenting. Enjoy

09/10/2026

Non-political Post.
150th celebrations for our Gardens.
Noddy train running, just over from the bridge at Chelmer St carpark.
And it's FREE.
Thanks to Green By Nature.

07/10/2026

A big day at Council yesterday.
Lots & lots of Workshops; seems we don't have actual Committee Meetings any more.
The workshop for Assets & Infrastructure as a lead up to next year's Long Term Plan covering Rating year 2027-2028, & estimates through to 2037 was quite interesting.
We are well aware of the standard response to "We want Rates to decrease" that is "OK, but there'll be a cut in Services."
So now there is a determined plan to cut services to (hopefully) limit the level of Rate rises.
Some sealed roads may revert to gravel, some streets with footpaths on each side, may lose one of them.
Issues of accessibilty and safety will be taken into consideration, but be sure, these changes are coming.

01/10/2026

This is the worst of times for our Electoral Triennium.
Parliament shuts up shop, and the Parties give up Governing.
Instead they start pushing all sorts of 'policies' which may or may not happen.
Some are just a knee-jerk reaction to what the opposition have come up with and have little foundation in feasibility, or even commonsense. This is the Electioneering cycle.
Imagine in some other probably optimistically ideal world where these Parties would work at discussing/producing Policies and maybe even exploring common ground. Then could things actually be done during the rest of the Triennium when work is meant to get done?
What's happening now is just a farcical waste of resources.
🥲
This isn't Parliamentary procedure; it's anti-procedure, anti-Parliament, and basically .. non-governing.

24/09/2026

Ah, the fickle Public, particularly those overactive keyboard warriors.
Time and again I see the comment "well instead of complaining about Council, why don't you stand?".
So when a person who has stood previously (twice) has another go suddenly he is shot down as being just a 'fly in the ointment'.
That 'ointment', btw, is railroading through a Candidate who has never stood in Waitaki before. In fact, he comes from the 'opposite side'.
But what of his Challenger?
He has given of his time over many years, for little reward. Certainly nothing like a CE's salary. So good luck to the man who has our Community in his mind and his heart.
Some are saying this 'intrusive challenger' can't Win.
Well it is certainly a case of you can't win with this fickle gathering of the public.
🫤

from today's Strategy/Advocacy meeting:Stronger Waitaki has expressed a clear stance, possibly a stand against Central G...
21/09/2026

from today's Strategy/Advocacy meeting:
Stronger Waitaki has expressed a clear stance, possibly a stand against Central Government.
Despite the direction from Government to focus on Core activities and to steer away from needlessly dwelling on the Four wellbeings the following is in their Report:

20/09/2026

'Stolen' from another Political Commentary page:

What this says about something as important as the Governance of our Country ..
is equally important at the Local Government level.
These faults are not hiding 'below the radar' but are painfully obvious. Why then are we, the funders, being continually ignored?

Please read and take in the content:
"What exactly does the New Zealand Government and the public service not understand?
1. You work for the public. Your wages and operating budgets are ultimately funded by New Zealand taxpayers.
2. You are accountable to taxpayers. The public has every right to expect transparency, responsibility and results for the money being spent.
3. You are expected to perform. Poor performance, inefficiency and repeated failure cannot simply be accepted as business as usual.
4. Public trust has been badly damaged. When people see poor outcomes, waste, bureaucracy and leadership that appears disconnected from everyday New Zealanders, trust disappears.
5. Accountability has to mean something. Where individuals consistently fail to perform their responsibilities, there needs to be consequences. Sometimes that means performance management, and sometimes it means people need to leave their positions.
6. Ministers need to take responsibility. Ministers are there to provide leadership and direction, not simply stand on the sidelines while departments continue operating without meaningful consequences.
The public service is not a private club, and government departments are not above accountability. They exist to serve New Zealanders.
Taxpayers shouldn’t have to keep asking the same question: Who is actually in charge, who is accountable, and when is someone going to do something about poor performance?"

15/09/2026

From today's Council Meeting:
very pleased to hear a Positive approach to Item 7.1
namely to produce a regular Report that will highlight trends relating to Community cost-of-living issues, particularly relating to Rates affordability, and/or how this has affected the more vulnerable in the Community.

This dovetails nicely with a request I made on behalf of ORRg (Oamaru Ratepayers Residents Group) when we met with Mayor Mel & CE Alex on the possibility of a regular Reporting in media (Oamaru Mail, The Waitaki Weekly, .. other) of Financial information coming out of the PAR (Performance, Audit & Risk) Committee meetings/workshops.

At today's workshop on the Longterm Plan .. John McCone queried the "other" group.And well he might!This is the LTP for ...
08/09/2026

At today's workshop on the Longterm Plan .. John McCone queried the "other" group.
And well he might!
This is the LTP for next year 2027-2028.
Central Government has directed Councils to focus on CORE activities.
I have heard the statement at the table in Council chambers that the 4 well-beings have GONE.
Yet here we are, an activity group devoted to going beyond Core activities to support the well-being initiatives.
Pick a lane guys! & stick with it. Are you thumbing your nose at Central Government?

How do we stop this f**ken craziness?Do we, the people, have to physically pull these civil servants out of their office...
06/09/2026

How do we stop this f**ken craziness?
Do we, the people, have to physically pull these civil servants out of their offices and shoot them?
FFS - enough is enough

03/09/2026

A lot of discusion on 'news' channels, on TV this morning, and it has been for quite some time of:
the increasing prevalence, and influence, of UNELECTED people in the Political arena!
Let's get real.
Every Political party has UNELECTED people who set up the Party lists. Based on a reasonable assumption of what share of the Vote they'll get they are ensuring that SELECTED (not ELECTED) people will get into Parliament.
This year of the 120 Member seats available, 79 will be from actual Constituencies, so ELECTED in a Democratic manner. 41 will be List (SELECTED) 'representatives', over 34%.
Any overhang situaton will make this proportion even bigger.
😕

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