Whakatāne news digest. Whakatāne Airport, left, Ataturk Turkish Kebab shop owner Jahn Ozgur and the Hillcrest Cemetery.
Whakatāne news digest. Whakatāne Airport, left, Ataturk Turkish Kebab shop owner Jahn Ozgur and the Hillcrest Cemetery.
Last minute stay of execution for parklets
A last-minute plea from Ataturk Turkish Kebab shop owner Jahn Ozgur has deferred the removal of “parklet” dining platforms from car parks on The Strand.
Whakatāne District Council was to have made a decision last week about removing the parklets, which have been in the town centre since March 2021.
However, owners of two restaurants currently using the parklets, Ozgur and The Wagon owner Alex Potter, “caught wind” of the meeting the night before and were there to plead their case in the public forum.
Ozgur told the council they were happy to pay a lease for the parklets to stay, and pay for improvements to them as he saw them as a benefit to the town centre.
The parklets were one of three projects the council developed, funded by New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi’s Innovating Streets for People programme. Three movable wooden platforms, each taking two angle-car parking spaces, were initially introduced as a three-month trial.
Once the programme ended, the parklets were placed under the management of EPIC (Events, Promotions, Initiatives, Community) Whakatāne Town Centre, and were to be rotated around various businesses on a six-monthly basis.
More than two years later, after a survey of the community, EPIC has recommended to the council that the parklets be removed.
A report to yesterday’s full council meeting included a statement from EPIC saying feedback showed “limited public support” for the parklets with the majority of complaints being that they were unpleasant to look at, not used during the day and blocked parking unnecessarily.
The report also stated that, with one exception, there had been a general unwillingness from the businesses using the parklets to invest in the appearance of the parklets. They were described as “dirty and not well furnished.
EPIC chairwoman Lani Thompson told the meeting all the businesses that had used the platforms since the initial trial had been sent invoices of $1500, which included the costs of moving and maintenance of the platforms and none had paid, despite the invoices being followed up in person.
Ozgur later told the Whakatane Beacon he had never received an invoice from EPIC related to the parklets.
“I’m happy to take over the management of the three platforms, cover all expenses, shifting them, maintaining them, plus doing them up, because we think it is good for the town centre,” he said.
Turkish kebab shop owner Jahn Ozgur says he is happy to pay for all three parklets to stay on The Strand. Photo / Diane McCarthy
He was critical of the way EPIC had managed the parklets.
“EPIC has been approached because we wanted to pay a lease to keep the platforms but they never responded. They don’t respond to emails.”
Potter said she had received an invoice for about $1500 from EPIC some time ago.
“I emailed back asking them to outline exactly what this is for, because they had only moved one (parklet) and $1500 seemed a little bit excessive and then I didn’t hear anything back in regard to that invoice, so I didn’t pay it. I am happy to pay something for the parklet, there’s just been really bad communication in regard to it all.”
She had received no follow-up about the unpaid invoice.
“In February I did have someone come in from EPIC and speak to me but she didn’t say anything to me about the invoice, she was just asking whether we want to keep [the parklet].
“I said, if another business wants it, by all means, share it around, but we were keen to keep it.”
She said she was also willing to spend money to make the parklet more attractive, but she hadn’t because she had been told it was being removed.
During a discussion of the report, various suggestions were made by councillors about how businesses could be charged an upfront fee or bond to have the dining platforms to cover any expense to the council and guarantee they were well maintained.
The council decided to delay any decision on the parkets, one of which is currently in storage.
Mayor Victor Luca said it was clear some new information had come to light and maybe further deliberations were in order.
He proposed that EPIC go away and explore some of these other options and come back to council with another recommendation.
By six votes against five, Whakatāne District Council has opted to stay with the first past the post electoral system for the 2025 local election — though some councillors may be hoping a poll can overturn the decision.
The decision against changing to single transferrable voting (STV) was made at a meeting last week.
Electoral officer Dale Ofsoske from Election Services presented three options to the council — to stay with FPP, change to STV or poll electors on what system to use for the next triennium.
Elected members were told that if they wanted to change the system they needed to make a decision by September 12 and notify the public by September 19.
However, a poll of electors could be demanded if 5 per cent (1295) of electors asked for it through a petition before December 11 this year.
Ofsoske said the district had previous experience with STV as the former Bay of Plenty District Health Board had used this system.
A lengthy presentation was given, explaining in detail how STV worked. In short, rather than ticking one name for each position they were eligible to vote for on council, voters would be asked to rank the candidates, marking their first choice with a “1″ their second choice with a “2″, and so on.
A candidate must get over half of the votes to win.
If no candidate passed the 50 per cent mark from the voters’ first selection, the lowest-ranked candidate’s votes were redistributed among the remaining candidates depending on who the voters ranked second. If there was still no clear winner, the same happened with the second lowest-ranked candidate, and so on, until someone ended up with the majority of votes.
Councillor Nandor Tanczos said he would be voting for STV because it seemed clear to him that it produced better representation and a better mandate.
He used the analogy of a family of eight ordering one pizza and having to vote for the topping.
“Three people out of eight really love super-hot chilli so they vote for that. Two people vote for margherita, two people vote for cheesy garlic, one person is going to go for pineapple, because, you know ... there’s always one person who likes pineapple.
“Under first past the post, five out of eight people would be forced to eat super-hot chilli. Maybe some people can’t stand super-hot chilli or are allergic to it.
“Under STV it would be different. You’d go back to the person who likes pineapple, because they had the least number of votes, to see what’s their second preference. Maybe it’s a margherita, so now you’ve got three people voting for chilli and three for margherita.
“Then you might knock out the cheesy garlic and they might say, ‘we can’t stand the super-hot chilli, we’ll go for the margherita too’. So you end up with a margherita, which everyone can eat and everyone is pretty happy with, instead of three people determining what everyone should eat.”
Tanczos said there had been two elections during his time in council when having STV would have given the people voted for a greater mandate.
“I think, particularly, back to the contest between Alison Silcock and Hinerangi Goodman, where it was down to only one vote. STV would have delivered a clear winner and that councillor would have had an absolute mandate.”
Councillors Toni Boynton, Tu O’Brien, Ngapera Rangiaho and Lesley Immink agreed.
Rangiaho said there was some discontent in the community with people feeling they were not being heard. She felt staying with first past the post just because it was the status quo showed complacency.
Immink was keen to “embrace change”.
“I don’t accept that just because it’s always worked the same way that that is the best way. Just because it’s not broken doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try something new.”
However, they were outvoted by councillors Gavin Dennis, Wilson James, John Pullar, Andrew Iles, Julie Jukes and Mayor Dr Victor Luca.
“Despite councillor Tanczos’ mouthwatering analogy … FPP is really quite simple and it has done the job for us,” Luca said.
“I personally haven’t seen much clamour for STV except for one or two people,” Dennis said.
To cater for the needs of the community over the next 100 years, the council was looking for between 11 and 17 hectares of predominantly flat or rolling land within a 10 to 15-minute drive of the Whakatāne town centre.
In a report to the council’s finance and performance committee last week, the need for a new cemetery was reported to be less urgent than previously predicted.
Hillcrest Cemetery may last another 15 years before new land needs to be found. Photo / Whakatane Beacon
New calculations indicated a capacity for about another 15 years at the lawn cemetery and 13 years in the RSA section.
Councillor Andrew Iles questioned how this had occurred.
“It was quite revealing to find that, all of a sudden, we seem to have not acquired more land … but we’ve got now another 15 years’ usage.”
Community experience general manager Georgina Fletcher said the council had conducted an analysis of trends around end-of-life decisions, such as burial or cremation in the district.
“Based on what we have been seeing, there is a boost in the number of cremations. Based on our calculations, we do have some more time than we initially thought to find alternative land, but it still remains a priority. It’s still a big task.”
Board to have half of positions appointed
Whakatāne District Council has voted to allow two new appointed positions to its Commercial Advisory Board.
The board meets quarterly to advise the council on its strategic landholdings, such as its harbour lease land portfolio, ports and harbour assets and Whakatāne Airport.
It also advises on economic and business development opportunities, the development of council-owned assets and the purchase, divestment and development of strategic landholdings.
The board membership consists of five elected members, Mayor Victor Luca, deputy mayor Lesley Immink and councillors Wilson James, John Pullar and Nandor Tanczos.
The board has an independent chairman, Whakatane lawyer Steve Franklin, appointed by the council, and is allowed up to two other external members appointed by the board.
A report to the council by strategy and transformation general manager Steven Perdia sought approval to increase the number of independent members allowed from two to three people and also that there be a representative from Ngāti Awa, to be agreed upon with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa.
The request has come as the result of a discussion by the current board, which noted it would benefit from a better balance of elected members and independents, who would bring commercial, finance and business skills to the discussions.
“The board also discussed the nature of the work programme over the next triennium, specifically establishing a Council Controlled Trading Organisation (CCTO) and the development of a Commercial Investment Strategy to improve the level of returns on commercial property,” Perdia’s report said.
“It was recognised that the board had a need for members who bought specialised skills and experience to these processes.”
The proposal would result in five elected members and five independents, including the independent chair and Ngāti Awa representative.
The report also asked the council to approve provision for reasonable travel costs associated with independents attending meetings, to ensure there was scope for the board to appoint independents living outside the region.
