Minutes of Upper Harbour Local Board

Upper Harbour Local Board

14 October 2014

1 Welcome

The Chairperson opened the meeting and welcomed those in attendance.

2 Apologies

Resolution number UH/2014/203

MOVED by Chairperson BK Neeson, seconded by Member CK Rankin-MacIntyre:

That the Upper Harbour Local Board:

a) accept the apologies from Member Margaret Miles for lateness, Member Blair for early departure and Councillor Wayne Walker for non-attendance.

CARRIED

3 Declaration of Interest

There were no declarations of interest.

4 Confirmation of Minutes

Resolution number UH/2014/204

MOVED by Chairperson BK Neeson, seconded by Member JG McLean:

That the Upper Harbour Local Board:

a) confirm the ordinary minutes of its meeting, held on Tuesday, 23 September 2014, including the confidential section, as a true and correct record.

CARRIED

5 Leave of Absence

There were no leaves of absence.

6 Acknowledgements

There were no acknowledgements.

7 Petitions

There were no petitions.

8 Deputations

There were no deputations.

Margaret Miles entered the meeting at 9.39 am

9 Public Forum

9.1	Howard Williams

	Howard Williams was in attendance to address the Upper Harbour Local board regarding the maintenance of the wooden sculptures in Kell Park.

	Resolution number UH/2014/205 MOVED by Chairperson BK Neeson, seconded by Member C Blair: That the Upper Harbour Local Board: a) receive the public forum presentation from Howard Williams regarding the maintenance of the wooden sculptures in Kell Park. CARRIED

9.2	Shirley Dobbin - Albany Village Business Association

	Shirley Dobbin – Albany Village Business Association was in attendance to address the board regarding the relocation of the police community constable.

	Resolution number UH/2014/206 MOVED by Chairperson BK Neeson, seconded by Member C Blair: That the Upper Harbour Local Board: a) receive the public forum presentation from Shirley Dobbin Albany Village Business Association regarding the relocation of the police community constable. CARRIED

10 Extraordinary Business

There was no extraordinary business.

11 Notices of Motion

There were no notices of motion.

12	Meeting Minutes Upper Harbour Local Board, Tuesday 23 September 2014

	That the Upper Harbour Local Board note that the open unconfirmed minutes of the Upper Harbour Local Board meeting held on Tuesday, 23 September 2014 are attached at Item 12 of the agenda for the information of the board only, and will be confirmed under item 4 of the agenda.

13	LTP 2015-2025 Feedback on mayoral proposal

	The tabled document is attached to the official copy of these minutes and is available on the Auckland Council website as minutes attachment.

	MOVED by Member CK Rankin-MacIntyre, seconded by Member JG McLean That the Upper Harbour Local Board: a) provide the feedback below on the mayoral proposal and the implications of this proposal, noting that this feedback is provided in the context of limited information, and request that opportunity for further feedback is provided once the implications are more clearly understood. b) support, in principle, a rates increase where this will ensure that the level of investment in Upper Harbour, as previously assured to our community can continue, and that budget cuts need to be found in regional budgets rather than local parks, community and lifestyle activity areas. c) does not support the proposed budget envelope for the parks, community and lifestyle theme, as these activities are the most significant for local boards and are the most valued by our communities. d) support an adequately funded and timely renewals programme for all of our assets (including assets on parks and reserves, community facilities, pools and leisure centres, libraries and all other local assets), noting that the renewals programme should be funded from depreciation. The selection criteria to determine assets requiring renewal funding should be based on robust asset management plans and timely condition assessments. e) note that our communities have told us that renewal of our existing assets is more important to them than building new ones; therefore renewals budgets must be sufficient to deliver on the programme and take precedence over new capital developments. f) does not support any ‘slowing down’ of the renewals programme, as this would create a false economy that would cause asset and subsequent service failure. g) support a slowing down of Auckland Council’s entire new capital works programme (including CCOs and regional budgets), as well as a review of the Southern Initiative and a review of the urgency of the City Rail Link, to ensure that important local services continue, and that our communities do not experience significant rates increases. h) raise concerns regarding the unfair distribution of capital expenditure across the region, especially the acquisition of recreation and open space in new developments and the lack of securing land for future use. i) request further information and modelling around the funding allocated to regional projects, as well as what impact the slowing down of some of these projects may have on the overall budget. j) support investment in regional projects where they provide benefits to all Auckland residents, but query the speed of their delivery where this has a material impact on the ability to deliver local projects. k) believe the loss of new capital projects is unacceptable, and that small local projects should not be unilaterally de-prioritised in favour of regional projects, as the board believes that local projects have a major impact on shaping our neighbourhoods. l) note that the implications of the mayoral proposal in the parks, community and lifestyle activity areas is that no new capital development is likely to take place during the lifetime of the local board plans (unless it is funded through the board’s locally driven initiatives budget which will effectively become a sinking fund due to the associated consequential opex charged). m) do not support any proposed adjustments to levels of service in our parks and reserves where there is a material impact on our ratepayers’ experience of these assets. n) do not support the introduction of non-organic or other associated chemical spraying or the removal of street planting which adds amenity to our places. o) do not support the divestment of any parks and reserves. p) support the ongoing development of pools and leisure services as an attractive service for all Auckland residents, as it not only generates income for the council but provides centres of development and family orientated programme opportunities, keeping families to be more active. q) support a more empowered community approach for community development services and programmes. r) request that the work to re-model community development, arts and culture services includes a thorough analysis of current spend across the region (including both direct service delivery and business unit overhead costs), and that equity in expenditure is addressed as the model is developed and implemented. s) request further information on the way in which the geographic spatial priorities were determined and how they align with the Auckland Plan and other strategic planning documents.
	Member MA Miles moved an amendment to the original recommendation seconded by Deputy Chairperson L M Whyte: Resolution number UH/2014/207 MOVED by Member MA Miles, seconded by Deputy Chairperson LM Whyte: b) support, in principle, a rates increase up to 3.5%, noting that the legacy North Shore City Council (NSCC) projected rates increase in the NSCC legacy city plan 2006-20016 was 8%, if this will ensure that the level of investment in Upper Harbour, as previously assured to our community can continue, and that budget cuts need to be found in regional budgets rather than local parks, community and lifestyle activity areas. The amendment was put and declared CARRIED

	The Chairperson put the substantive motion.

	Resolution number UH/2014/208 MOVED by Member CK Rankin-MacIntyre, seconded by Member JG McLean: That the Upper Harbour Local Board: a) provide the feedback below on the mayoral proposal and the implications of this proposal, noting that this feedback is provided in the context of limited information, and request that opportunity for further feedback is provided once the implications are more clearly understood. b) support, in principle, a rates increase up to 3.5%, noting that the legacy North Shore City Council (NSCC) projected rates increase in the NSCC legacy city plan 2006-2016 was 8%, if this will ensure that the level of investment in Upper Harbour, as previously assured to our community can continue, and that budget cuts need to be found in regional budgets rather than local parks, community and lifestyle activity areas. c) does not support the proposed budget envelope for the parks, community and lifestyle theme, as these activities are the most significant for local boards and are the most valued by our communities. d) support an adequately funded and timely renewals programme for all of our assets (including assets on parks and reserves, community facilities, pools and leisure centres, libraries and all other local assets), noting that the renewals programme should be funded from depreciation. The selection criteria to determine assets requiring renewal funding should be based on robust asset management plans and timely condition assessments. e) note that our communities have told us that renewal of our existing assets is more important to them than building new ones; therefore renewals budgets must be sufficient to deliver on the programme and take precedence over new capital developments. f) does not support any ‘slowing down’ of the renewals programme, as this would create a false economy that would cause asset and subsequent service failure. g) support a slowing down of Auckland Council’s entire new capital works programme (including CCOs and regional budgets), as well as a review of the Southern Initiative and a review of the urgency of the City Rail Link, to ensure that important local services continue, and that our communities do not experience significant rates increases. h) raise concerns regarding the unfair distribution of capital expenditure across the region, especially the acquisition of recreation and open space in new developments and the lack of securing land for future use. i) request further information and modelling around the funding allocated to regional projects, as well as what impact the slowing down of some of these projects may have on the overall budget. j) support investment in regional projects where they provide benefits to all Auckland residents, but query the speed of their delivery where this has a material impact on the ability to deliver local projects. k) believe the loss of new capital projects is unacceptable, and that small local projects should not be unilaterally de-prioritised in favour of regional projects, as the board believes that local projects have a major impact on shaping our neighbourhoods. l) note that the implications of the mayoral proposal in the parks, community and lifestyle activity areas is that no new capital development is likely to take place during the lifetime of the local board plans (unless it is funded through the board’s locally driven initiatives budget which will effectively become a sinking fund due to the associated consequential opex charged). m) do not support any proposed adjustments to levels of service in our parks and reserves where there is a material impact on our ratepayers’ experience of these assets. n) do not support the introduction of non-organic or other associated chemical spraying or the removal of street planting which adds amenity to our places. o) do not support the divestment of any parks and reserves. p) support the ongoing development of pools and leisure services as an attractive service for all Auckland residents, as it not only generates income for the council but provides centres of development and family orientated programme opportunities, keeping families to be more active. q) support a more empowered community approach for community development services and programmes. r) request that the work to re-model community development, arts and culture services includes a thorough analysis of current spend across the region (including both direct service delivery and business unit overhead costs), and that equity in expenditure is addressed as the model is developed and implemented. s) request further information on the way in which the geographic spatial priorities were determined and how they align with the Auckland Plan and other strategic planning documents. t) receive the tabled resolutions from the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board regarding the Long - term Plan (LTP) 2015-2025 feedback on Mayoral proposal for consideration. u) delegate to the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson approval for any minor wording changes that maybe required.
	Attachments a 14 October 2014, Upper Harbour Local Board item 13 LTP 2015-2025 Feedback on mayoral proposal, Hibiscus and Bays Local Board resolutions

Member C Blair left the meeting at 10.24am.

Financial Policies Issues for Long-term Plan 2015-2025

Resolution number UH/2014/209

MOVED by Chairperson BK Neeson, seconded by Deputy Chairperson LM Whyte:

That the Upper Harbour Local Board:

a) support an investigation into raising the Uniform Annual General Charge (UAGC).

b) support the business differential being slowed down or retained in its existing form.

c) support the maintenance of the status quo in relation to the rural differential, recognising that service levels differ in rural settings.

d) support the maintenance of the status quo in relation to the government rebate scheme.

e) request that an analysis be provided on the implications on the removal of the rates transition policy.

f) support the maintenance of the status quo in regard to the existing remission and postponement policies for community, sporting and heritage groups and request an analysis of remissions by local board area.

g) support the graduated implementation of social housing fees to market related costs.

h) support one approach across the Auckland Region for street trading license fees and rentals.

i) support street trading license fees and rentals which are scalable to the level of service offered by the business and be applicable to the size of the business.

j) support the fair cost recovery of street trading license fees and rentals which are based on effective service delivery and efficiencies.

k) support further standardisation of cemetery fees across the region.

l) support the future proofing of cemetery land and the implementation of commercial rates per plot, due to land scarcity.

m) request a complete review of Auckland Council’s development contributions policy, with local board involvement in the review through the establishment of a political working party.

n) support the expenditure of development contributions in the local board areas in which they are collected.

o) request clarity on the definition of the word “catchment” in the policy.

CARRIED

Secretarial Note: Pursuant to Standing Order 3.15.5 Member Margaret Miles requested that her dissenting vote against k) be recorded.

Adoption of the Upper Harbour Local Board Plan 2014

Resolution number UH/2014/210

MOVED by Deputy Chairperson LM Whyte, seconded by Member JG McLean:

That the Upper Harbour Local Board :

a) adopt the Upper Harbour Local Board Plan.

b) delegate to the Chairperson approval of any minor wording changes that may be necessary following adoption.

c) note that the current Mayoral proposal relating to the Long-term Plan 2015-2025 will impact on the board’s ability to deliver on the activities outlined in the local board plan.

CARRIED

Draft Community Grants Policy

Resolution number UH/2014/211

MOVED by Member MA Miles, seconded by Deputy Chairperson LM Whyte:

That the Upper Harbour Local Board:

a) endorse the Community Grants Policy as a regional framework for the Auckland Council community grants programme, noting that the local board will be supported to develop an individual schedule to the policy that sets out the specific outcomes, priorities and structure of their local grants programme.

b) provide the following feedback on the policy provisions of the Draft Community Grants Policy, for consideration during the review and finalisation of the Community Grants Policy:

I) Local Grants Programme:

i) support the provisions of the local grants programme, as it provides local boards with the flexibility to establish a range of funding schemes which reflect the priorities identified in the Auckland Plan and aligned local board plans.

ii) support the provisions for local boards to approve their local grants programme for each financial year, in accordance with the draft Community grants policy. This includes:

1) drawing upon local board plans to determine priority areas for community grants;

2) the total budget available for community grants for the financial year;

3) the ability to ring-fence a portion of their budget for specific purposes or recurring, multi-year grants;

4) any additional accountability and performance measures relating to recurring, multi-year grants;

5) the number of funding rounds per year;

6) the mechanism for recipients to report back on how their grant benefitted the community;

7) any additional exclusions ;

8) any thresholds for local grants.

iii) recommend that local boards have the discretion to set their own thresholds for local grants, rather than adopting the proposed ‘up to $1,000 for Fast Response Local Grants’ and ‘over $1,000 for Local Grants’ thresholds.

iv) support the draft community grants policy provisions for multi-board grants, to be utilised as appropriate and at the discretion of local boards. Implementing this mechanism gives local boards the discretion to determine if existing joint funding committees will continue or not, which may mean the transitional phase as outlined in the report is not required.

v) recommend that community grants budgets that are currently administered by the Northern Joint Funding Committee be retained at the local board level, subject to the above.

II) Regional grants programme:

i) support a regional grants programme which is focused on providing multi-year strategic relationship grants and with key groups and organisations.

ii) support the creation of strategic regional grant schemes which support the implementation of the Auckland Plan and related strategic action plans to achieve agreed outcomes and priorities.

iii) recommend that opportunities be sought to maximise the use of regional grants where they can support, and add value to projects, activities and programmes provided locally or across multiple local boards.

III) Other identified issues:

i) recommend that relevant staff from the Community Development, Arts and Culture, Parks, Sport and Recreation and Infrastructure and Environmental Services report to local boards with a work programme and communications plan, including key dates and milestones to implement the new Community grants policy in preparation for the 2015 / 2016 financial year.

ii) requests that the operations division explore an integrated, and simple approach to administering the various grants programmes for the benefit of applicants, and also seek to locate a more efficient and effective way for all departments to work together to provide local boards with support, analysis, advice and monitoring of community grants.

c) support the proposal to participate in an interim ‘multi-board cluster’ with Devonport-Takapuna Local Board, Kaipatiki Local Board and the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board (covering the East Coast Bays subdivision) to consider jointly supporting projects and activities of mutual benefit, noting that:

i) staff will work with participating local boards to agree funding priorities and terms of reference for the cluster;

ii) participating local boards will continue to hold their funds separately within the cluster, and can choose whether or not to allocate funds towards individual grant applications on a case-by-case basis;

iii) additional multi-board clusters can still be explored, and will be supported wherever feasible;

iv) the cluster is a transitional arrangement and would exist for the duration of the 2015-2016 financial year only, unless otherwise agreed by the participating local boards.

CARRIED

Integrated bylaws review and implementation programme (IBRI) update – September 2014

Resolution number UH/2014/212

MOVED by Deputy Chairperson LM Whyte, seconded by Member JG McLean:

That the Upper Harbour Local Board:

a) note the progress of the Integrated Bylaw Review and Implementation programme towards its completion of the delivery of new bylaws by October 2015.

CARRIED

Local board feedback on the draft Arts and Culture Strategic Action Plan (ACSAP)

Resolution number UH/2014/213

MOVED by Member CK Rankin-MacIntyre, seconded by Member JG McLean:

That the Upper Harbour Local Board:

a) provide the following feedback on the Draft Arts and Culture Strategic Action Plan:

I) General feedback

i) recommend clarification for the rationale of council involvement, and explanation of council’s role versus the role of other implementation agencies before the draft Arts and Culture Strategic Action Plan is adopted.

ii) request that local boards be involved in the development of the implementation plan.

iii) request that the implementation plan details the role of local boards, where appropriate, and outline when they will be engaged.

II) Feedback on proposed goals and action areas

i) endorse the proposed goals and action areas of the draft Arts and Culture Strategic Acton Plan, noting that this is a high-level document with no detail of tangible actions, aligned funding and no indication of how outcomes will be realised.

ii) recommend greater recognition of the role of local boards and the activities being undertaken by local boards. This includes:

1) Auckland Council’s role in arts and culture (page 9): to outline the role of local boards in producing arts and culture outcomes though local facilities, initiatives and programming.

2) Strategic Framework section (pages 10-13): stronger alignment and recognition of the local board plans.

3) Throughout all six goals: to highlight where local boards have undertaken arts and culture-related activities in the ‘what we are already doing’ sections.

4) Goal 1 (pages 27-29): to highlight the opportunities local boards can provide so that all Aucklander’s can access and participate in arts and culture.

5) Goal 2 (pages 32-33): to highlight how local boards can invest in arts and culture through events and programming, as well as advocating for new facility builds.

6) Goal 3 (pages 36-38): to reflect and recognise the opportunities local boards can provide arts and culture groups through community leases, venue hire, partnering and programming.

7) Goal 4 (pages 41-43): to recognise the role of local boards in place-making.

8) Goal 5 (pages 46-48): to recognise the role of local boards in celebrating cultural identity by undertaking a range of local events.

9) Goal 6 (pages 51-53): to highlight how local boards can contribute to a creative economy through local economic development and arts and culture facilities, initiatives and programming.

iii) recommend that since local board feedback has not been sought in time to influence the final draft Arts and Culture Strategic Acton Plan that will be presented to the October meeting of the Arts, Culture and Events Committee, that the Chair and Community and Cultural Strategy Manager be delegated authority to make final changes based on local board feedback.

b) note that further work on the implementation section will be undertaken with local boards from November 2014 to February 2015.

CARRIED

Balance Sculpture in Albany Village

Resolution number UH/2014/214

MOVED by Member MA Miles, seconded by Deputy Chairperson LM Whyte:

That the Upper Harbour Local Board:

a) contribute up to $5000 from its discretionary community grants budget towards the reinstatement of the Balance Sculpture, subject to any additional costs being sought through the Albany Village Business Association and the wider community.

b) request staff investigate how the Balance Sculpture could be included on council’s asset register to insure against potential vandalism or theft.

CARRIED

Auckland Transport Report - October 2014 - Upper Harbour

Resolution number UH/2014/215

MOVED by Member JG McLean, seconded by Member CK Rankin-MacIntyre:

That the Upper Harbour Local Board:

a) receive the Auckland Transport Report – October 2014.

CARRIED

Member C Blair returned to the meeting at 11.13 am

Board Members' Reports

Resolution number UH/2014/216

MOVED by Chairperson BK Neeson, seconded by Deputy Chairperson LM Whyte:

That the Upper Harbour Local Board:

a) receive the verbal board members’ reports.

CARRIED

22 Consideration of Extraordinary Items

There was no consideration of extraordinary items.

23 Procedural motion to exclude the public

Resolution number UH/2014/217

MOVED by Chairperson BK Neeson, seconded by Member MA Miles:

That the Upper Harbour Local Board:

a) exclude the public from the following part(s) of the proceedings of this meeting.

The general subject 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(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution follows.

This resolution is made in reliance on section 48(1)(a) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 and the particular interest or interests protected by section 6 or section 7 of that Act which would be prejudiced by the holding of the whole or relevant part of the proceedings of the meeting in public, as follows:

C1 Spark Basketball Court Hooton Reserve Proposal

Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter

Particular interest(s) protected (where applicable)

Ground(s) under section 48(1) for the passing of this resolution

The public conduct of the part of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding exists under section 7.

s7(2)(h) - The withholding of the information is necessary to enable the local authority to carry out, without prejudice or disadvantage, commercial activities.

In particular, the report contains information that is commercially sensitive at this time..

s48(1)(a)

The public conduct of the part of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding exists under section 7.

The text of these resolutions is made available to the public who are present at the meeting and form part of the minutes of the meeting.

CARRIED

11.25 The public was excluded.

Resolutions in relation to the confidential items are recorded in the confidential section of these minutes and are not publicly available.

11.33 am The public was re-admitted.

restatementS

It was resolved while the public was excluded:

Spark Basketball Court Hooton Reserve Proposal

That the Upper Harbour Local Board:

f) note that this report will be released from confidential to public upon reaching all approvals and commercial agreement with SPARK.

11.34 am The Chairperson thanked Members for their attendance and attention to business and declared the meeting closed.

CONFIRMED AS A TRUE AND CORRECT RECORD AT A MEETING OF THE Upper Harbour Local Board HELD ON

DATE:.........................................................................

CHAIRPERSON:........................................................

Chairperson	Brian Neeson, JP
Deputy Chairperson	Lisa Whyte
Members	Callum Blair	Until 10.24am, item 13, From 11.13 am, item 21
	John McLean
	Margaret Miles, JP	From 9.39 am, item 9
	Christine Rankin-MacIntyre