Councillor Comment

It is lovely to have the Star back up and printing now that the Government has moved to Covid-19 Level 2. Thank you to everyone in the STAR team for the electronic version of the April issue and for holding the fort so that we can now print the June issue.

Martinborough Ward Councillors would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank all those essential services and workers who carried us through Levels 3 & 4 – Medical Centre, Pharmacy, Pain & Kershaw, 4 Square Dairy, Ambulance, Fire Service, Garages, Foodbank, Earthcare and all those individuals who worked tirelessly over this period – we could not have got through without you all. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

A great initiative over the lockdown period was that Council staff ran an online training session on Food Control Plans – approximately 104 food providers registered interest and 76 people attended the course and this was provided free of charge to all attendees. There were four sessions of one-hour duration over four consecutive days and covered the “A-Z” of a Food Control Plan. There were both experienced and new providers participating and the idea was that each learnt something to assist going forward. From the comments around town, this was very well-received…. I understand that the intent, going forward, is that Council staff will look to use this type of training in the future.

Thank you to everyone who has made a submission to the Council’s Annual Plan. It certainly was different having the question and answer sessions online and there were some great questions posed by a number of residents. We have received a record number of submissions – still being counted at the time of writing – and will hearing and deliberating over these on the 10th and 11th June.

South Wairarapa District Council is just one of four small councils to be awarded funding from the Industry Partnerships, Skills for Industry – Mayor’s Taskforce for Jobs (MTFJ) Community Recovery Pilot, supported by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and other government agencies.

The Council will receive up to $100K to run a pilot, until 30 June 2020, to deliver employment outcomes for a minimum 30 people who are not in education, employment or training (NEETS) and/or have been displaced from employment under Covid-19. The funding will be used to directly assist local small- medium enterprises (SMEs) with recruitment, training, wage subsidy support for at-risk youth or initiatives that will enable employment. It will also fund a local coordinator, Alan Maxwell of the Wairarapa Whanau Trust, to provide his extensive expertise to supporting youth with being retrained or placed in employment. Council & Alan will be working alongside UCOL, Yeti, REAP, NZ Police, Kurunui College, Wairarapa Economic Development Agency, Pae tŪ Mōkai o Tauira, SWDC Māori Standing Committee, Rangitāne Iwi Governance and Ngāti Kahungunu Governance, to see that this funding reaches those in need and achieves the desired outcomes. More information will be made available on the SWDC website.

Pam Colenso