"I hate it when I hear this. The reality is small community groups are dying. There is a move away from people joining groups. For a lot of families both parents are working and just trying to exist.
"You may ask what the council can do to help. But it can, it has tentacles in many parts of the district."
She said if nothing was done small towns like Woodville would be swallowed up by larger districts.
"The new Manawatū/Tararua highway will make it much easier for us to become part of Manawatū. We would be consumed and I would hate that. I love Woodville.
"Post Covid we have a fantastic opportunity for growth."
She said one of the problems community groups had was that people always tried to infiltrate them and be negative.
"The council works to support Tararua businesses, so do we do the same with local groups. How can we support, encourage and influence these groups? Do we look at an overarching support network?"
Tomlinson said breaking down the barriers of the old ways of thinking and thinking outside the square were needed.
She said an example of this was the town's Old Folks group whose constitution still contained references to pounds, shillings and pence.
"At many meetings I get the looks as if to say you are a young woman, what do you know, but I actually know a lot more than they do because I have an open mind."
She challenged the council to utilise its role of power and influence to help drive change.
Councillor Shirley Hull suggested that community groups would benefit from governance training and that was something WDV could do.
Tomlinson said the need for that had been recognised and it was something that was being worked on.
However, Hull said her advice was to be gentle when taking on this journey of change.
Tomlinson said she appreciated that making changes was difficult.
"Change is a big scary thing but changes don't have to be big, it can be a small thing such as changing meeting times so younger working people can get there."
Councillor Erana Peeti-Webber said she saw this resistance to change all the time.
"Another problem facing small groups is that they don't know how to apply for funding. The forms are quite daunting and if you don't get it right you don't get the funding."
Council economic development and communications manager Mark Maxwell said the issue of fewer people volunteering was nationwide.
"There are a few things that need to happen. One is the need to reduce the number of groups. There is a need for amalgamation. You see the same people at different meetings."
He said the council could look at development roles and help with training that is available through the Department of Internal Affairs.
"We are not going to solve this overnight but the direction we are heading in will see the council providing a lot of support."
Tomlinson said there had to be a combined approach to bringing about change.
"It won't work if it's left up to individuals."
Mayor Tracey Collis said Woodville was growing at a very fast rate.
"We need every one of our towns to continue to work together, that is our strength.
"I think you will be quite excited by some of the strategies we are working on."
