From the Mayor

Fredericka Walker-Murray and Martin Connelly sitting in front of some of her works in Martin’s office.

By the time this edition of the Star comes out, the Council will have set its rates for the year.  I regret to report that the rates have been set at a higher rate that I would like.  There are two reasons for this happening:

1. The clearly expressed views of people who responded to our recent consultation and said the Council needed to spend more on Water Infrastructure than we, the Council, had proposed doing.
2. The state of our Wastewater plants.

The Council has known for some time that it had problems with its Featherston Wastewater plant.  But recently, problems have emerged with the plants in Greytown and Martinborough.  The Martinborough plant has reached capacity, no more connections are allowed to be joined to it.  It requires cleaning (or ‘desludging’) and it has an abatement notice.  

An abatement notice is a legal instruction requiring us to operate the plant in accordance with its resource consent.  If we ignore the abatement notice, we may find ourselves receiving a hefty fine.  Getting the plant back into a condition that meets its resource consent will cost money, but better to spend the money that way than on legal fees and fines.

Desludging should occur round about every ten years, but we understand that the Martinborough pond has never been cleaned. Thus, the need to make progress quickly.  The council also needs to get cleverer at programming these long-term, infrequent maintenance jobs, so that they get properly signalled in our long term plans, and don’t just pop up and surprise us with unexpected bills.  … Continue Reading

Country Dog City Dog

Martinborough Community Board

Decisions Decisions – We seem to have had a lot of opportunities to consult on various topics recently, starting of course with the Annual Plan.  Thank you for everyone who took time to do this it is so important to hear from as many people as possible.  Local Easter Trading Hours and Dangerous & Insanitary Buildings consultations close on the 10 July.  Consultation on The Draft interim Speed Review document closes on the 23 July.  These topics are important to our community, especially the speed of our roads, if you haven’t already done so read this online, or contact the council to ask them for a copy.  We have a passionate caring community, make your voice heard. 

Each month I have included a little Be Prepared message in this column – one of these tips was around water storage, as a result of this and an emergency expo in Greytown I am pleased to report 66 Water Storage Tanks have been ordered.  That equates to an extra 13,200 litres of water once they are installed. (These discounted 200 litre tanks can be ordered from the council and will fit into the back of most cars for easy pick up)

Supporting the community to be prepared and plan for an emergency is one of the Martinborough CB priorities.

Do you know where the Martinborough Emergency Community Hub is located?  Do you know what it is?  We are looking for members of the community to come along and learn more about how we as a community would respond in an Emergency.  This will involve a couple of sessions led by a representative from WREMO and a public event to be held at the end of September.  You will learn how to prepare at home and how you can support your community should a major event occur.  If you are interested in finding out more, please contact me to register your interest angela.brown@swdc.govt.nz   

Next Meet the Community Board Second Saturday Session is on 8^th July at the Waihinga Centre 10am-12pm – if you have a suggestion for another time or venue please reach out.

Book Review June Martinborough Star

“Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts” by Josie Shapiro.  Winner of the inaugural Allen and Unwin Commercial Fiction Prize.

The title attracted me immediately – I wanted to know what kind of state ‘everything is beautiful and everything hurts’ was referring to.  I turned to the first page and was dropped straight into the last five minutes before the start of the Auckland marathon and the thoughts inside Mickey’s head as she waits for the starters gun.  Running, of course.  If you have been a runner, or even merely thought you might like to be a runner, the story of Mickey Bloom will resonate with you long after you have finished reading it.   … Continue Reading