As a current councillor I am proud of the fact that the Napier City Council\'s books are in the best shape they have been for 50 years. We have also delivered one of the lowest rate increases in the country.

These things don't happen by chance. They are the result, in the first instance, of good governance and subsequently excellent managment practices.

So governance is my strength and I have enjoyed bringing those skills to the Council table.

The cuurent Napier City Councillors are a very good team. They work hard and well together and the good decisions that have been made this term reflect that effort. As a "Team Man" I am delighted with what we have been able to achieve this term and I look forward to making further contributions to the well-being of our city over the next three years.

Hello Marion

Thank you for taking an interest in the Council elections....I think you are the first one to ask a question of Napier CC candidates.

Firstly, I consider myself to be one of 13 representatives of the citizens around the table and week in and week out I read agendas and reports, talk to residents, council officers and experts to make myself familiar with the issues and make decisions on a variety of topics which are the core business of the council. This is the primary job of a councillor....to be informed and make policy which guides the workings of the council.

Secondly, I am always available to listen to questions and requests for help from citizens who contact me by phone or email. This too is a basic role of a councillor. It is on-going and not highly visible. For example, at a recent election meeting I stated my willingness to help citizens sort their way through council processes if they needed help. A woman asked me afterwards to help her with a problem re her vehicle access ramp. As a result, I talked to the relevant officer, he visited her home, and sorted out her issue.  During the winter, I helped a group of residents who lived down a shared driveway answer a number of questions about their rights and responsibilities as a body corporate. They gave me a list of questions, I sought answers from the CEO, attended a neighbourhood meeting one Saturday afternoon, passed on the advice, took back some more questions, had the relevant council officer visit the site and as a result, a number of their concerns and improved access to their driveway have been dealt with. I give you this detailed answer because it illustrates how involved some of the councillor to citizen contact can be and how much time it takes. These are recent examples but they are typical of the way I have worked over all my time on council.

Thirdly, as Deputy Mayor, I have represented the mayor at many meetings and functions either just as a courtesy, or more formally when opening conferences, welcoming visitors to the city, or taking charge of a project on her behalf. An example of that is the Taradale Town centre upgrade. I have been the councillor responsible for the long consultation process, the focus group meetings, the point of contact with the Retailers Assn, etc. This project has taken a nu,mber of years from start to almost-finish and has involved a lot of people-contact and information gathering to feed into the process.

I have also Chaired a number of special committees such as the consultation for the future of the Botanical Gardens, the consultation on the future of Marineland, and the community reponse to the Prostitution Law Reform and location of Brothels.....that was a tricky one!!

Over the years I have been council delegate on a number of outside committee such as Creative Napier, Art Deco Trust, HB Cultural Trust, Inner City Marketing and during this term the Regional Land Transport Committee.

I have been party to many council decisions....some popular and some not so....but I don\'t claim that I alone achieved any particular thing. I am one vote out of 13.

I have not been part of the Napier City Council these last three years, so can only reply in terms of what I have personally done, through submissions to Council, to try to keep it accountable and forward-looking. These have focused on two key areas:

(1) Wards. The previous Council did not want them. Back in 2006-7 the people of Napier WON a partial ward system through appeal to the Local Government Commission against Council\'s decision. Council had had every opportunity to put its case, and both the Mayor and the Chief Executive had appeared before the Commission.

Once the decision had been made to have the new system, Council had a clear duty to put aside its previous views which had been overruled, and to make the new system work. Instead, quite deliberately, it has done nothing. It has never introduced ward councillors to their wards. It has failed time and again to identify which councillors represent which wards. The one and only relevant decision it has taken in its whole time in office has been not to hold any ward meetings.

In my view this was a dereliction of its clear responsibility, so I made submissions urging a new course of direction.

(2) Policy for local suburbs. As part of my work on wards, I obtained the best professional statistical advice to align the national index of deprivation with the Napier ward boundaries to provide a snapshot of their condition. (Council should have done this itself, but had not.) This showed that three Napier suburbs were very heavily decile 9 and 10 (10 = greatest comparative deprivation). It is possible for such suburbs to turn into \'black spots\' with high crime rates, and there are steps that can be taken by Council to mitigate the situation such as ensuring well placed street lighting and adequate local recreational facilities. I therefore urged that Council develop ten year plans for these areas. Unfortunately there was no response.

Hi Marion
 
Thanks for a great question"what have your councillors done since the last election"
 
Although some candidates will always claim projects as their own at election time the reality is that little can be achieved by any individual councillor without the support and goodwill of the majority of their elected colleagues. Good working relationships with council's senior management are also essential.I am proud of the achievements of this council and believe that I have been an effective part of an effective team.
 
Some but by no means all of the achievements since last election including large projects completed on time and on budget are:
 
* Completion of the $12 million cross country drain which is essential to handle the increased storm water from recent large residential development in Western Napier.
 
* The $1.5 million new library and $3 million CBD re-development in Taradale.
 
* A $2 million re-development of Dickens Street a large part of this being the replacement of 80 year old below ground infrastructure
 
*Planning and funding in place for Westshore beach protection and enhancement work after hundreds of hours of studying reports and peer reviews,site visits, and attending CHZ hearings.
 
* Council's  key role in the Maraenui Urban renewal project.Upgrade of the city's skate bowls and increased support for skate.Recent support for a new safe youth centre.
 
* A 30% increase in funding for our cities social agencies whose hundred of volunteers have worked tirelessly through the recession
 
* Reaching the stage in the development of Parkland residential development where the council controlled project is cash flow positive.The free cash flow from this will fund the 40 hectare industrial park which in turn will provide the many factory floor to middle management jobs that our community needs.
 
*Council,is currently awaiting the plans and feasibility report on the re-development of Marineland based on information it received from some of the ideas it received from hundreds of submitters to the recent public consultation process.It has also worked on a number of road network improvements designed to remove HGV's from Marine Parade and a public transport link from the CBD to Ahuriri.
 
*Working to achieve Napier's lowest external debt level in 50 years of $7 million dollars.This careful fiscal management during harder times allowed council to set one of New Zealand's lowest rate increases at 1.98% this year.The free cash flow from the Industrial Park will ensure that future council's will have the capacity to take on large capital projects`while keeping rates to an absolute minimum.

As well as my role in making initiatives such as the above realities during the last three years I have also had the privilege of chairing the Resource Consent Hearings and District Plan Committees.All six council members on these have become Auckland University accredited RMA commissioners during this term and three have completed the additional statutory requirements needed to chair such meetings.This ensures that Napier's natural and man made resources are in capable hands and protected from inappropriate development.
     
Most importantly, with regard to what I have done since last elected, I have consistently and effectively worked as a constituency councillor whose business office doubles at all times as a busy citizen's clinic for the hundreds of people of all ages and cultures who need assistance with civic matters.

I know that this question is not aimed at me (as I am not a current councillor) but I find your question interesting as a person who has been outspoken on my lack of committee involvement.

What I can say is, if elected, my priority will be to serve the people of Napier first and foremost as a Councillor. If, as an extension of that primary focus, there is a need for me to be a part of any other boards or committee\'s in order to fully act in that role, I will of course be only to happy to do so.

Personally, I am an advocate of action, and feel that if all that can be achieved is to talk about the problem without finding a solution, then it is a pointless exercise.

I would prefer to go out to meet the people and hear the issues in their own words, so that I can represent them to the best of my ability, and work on getting a satisfactory outcome to their problems.

Hi Marion

I\'m not a current Councillor so cannot answer your question however I thought you may like to know that people have been asking the incumbent candidates that very question at some of the meet the candidates meetings we\'ve attended the last few weeks around Napier.  When that\'s been responded to they\'ve all pretty much said \"we\'ve kept the rates down\" as their collective main achievement - nothing specific by any single incumbent.  Hope this is helpful to you.

Michelle Pyke

Candidate for Mayor of Napier & Council at Large

Napier 

Obviously this question is aimed at the current councillors, and a very good question indeed. It seems to me many things have just been left to stagnate over the past few years. Personally I have a great empathy with the \"older population\", the less fortunate and youth. On a day to day basis I am helping elderly and less fortunate people with their housing needs. I currently work at the coal face for elderly and less fortunate people, I have previously worked with disadvantaged youth and people with disabilities. All of these sectors of our community are undervalued and not represented at the local council table. I will represent these sectors and make things happen for them.