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Extraordinary Sustainable Napier Committee - 6 August 2020 - Attachments
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Item 1 Attachments a |
Extraordinary Sustainable Napier Committee
Open Agenda
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Meeting Date: |
Thursday 6 August 2020 |
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Time: |
9.00am |
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Venue: |
Ikatere Boardroom |
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Committee Members |
Mayor Wise, Councillor Price (In the Chair), Deputy Mayor Brosnan, Councillors Boag, Browne, Chrystal, Crown, Mawson, McGrath, Simpson, Tapine, Taylor and Wright |
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Officers Responsible |
Director Infrastructure Services, Director City Strategy |
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Administration |
Governance Team |
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Next Ordinary Sustainable Napier Committee Meeting Thursday 10 September 2020 |
Extraordinary Sustainable Napier Committee - 06 August 2020 - Open Agenda
ORDER OF BUSINESS
Apologies
Nil
Conflicts of interest
Public forum
Nil
Announcements by the Mayor
Announcements by the Chairperson
Announcements by the management
Agenda items
1 Three Waters Reform Programme - Memorandum of Understanding.......................... 3
Public excluded ......................................................................................................... 54
Extraordinary Sustainable Napier Committee - 06 August 2020 - Open Agenda Item 1
1. Three Waters Reform Programme - Memorandum of Understanding
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Type of Report: |
Contractual |
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Legal Reference: |
N/A |
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Document ID: |
951023 |
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Reporting Officer/s & Unit: |
Adele Henderson, Director Corporate Services Jon Kingsford, Director Infrastructure Services |
1.1 Purpose of Report
Provide information to Council on the Memorandum of Understanding being the first stage of the Three Water Services Reform Programme
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The Sustainable Napier Committee: a. Approve entering into the Memorandum of Understanding and associated Funding Agreement and Delivery Plan for the first stage of the Three Waters Services Reform Programme. b. Note the Reform Programme is part of the Governments programme to reform current water service delivery, into larger scale providers, to realise significant economic, public health, environmental, and other benefits over the medium to long term, and that signing this MOU does not create any obligation upon Council with regard to future steps of this reform programme; c. Note that details on the allocation of the funding will come back to Council as a separate paper. Details of the actual funding are only provided on the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding. d. Delegate signing of the MOU to the Chief Executive, noting the attached is a template.
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Over the past three years, central and local government have been considering solutions to challenges facing delivery of three waters services to communities.
This has seen the development of new legislation and the creation of Taumata Arowai, the new Water Services Regulator, to oversee and enforce a new drinking water regulatory framework, with an additional oversight role for wastewater and stormwater networks.
While addressing the regulatory issues, both central and local government acknowledge that there are broader challenges facing local government water services and infrastructure, and the communities that fund and rely on these services.
There has been underinvestment in three waters infrastructure in parts of the country and persistent affordability issues; along with the need for additional investment to meet improvements in freshwater outcomes, increase resilience to climate change and natural hazards, and enhance community wellbeing.
In July 2020, the Government announced a funding package of $761 million to provide immediate post-COVID-19 stimulus to local authorities to maintain and improve three waters (drinking water, wastewater, stormwater) infrastructure, and to support reform of local government water services delivery arrangements.
The Government has indicated that its starting intention is public multi-regional models for water service delivery to realise the benefits of scale for communities and reflect neighbouring catchments and communities of interest. There is a preference that entities will be in shared ownership of local authorities. Design of the proposed new arrangements will be informed by discussion with the local government sector.
There is a shared understanding that a partnership approach between Central and Local Government will best support the wider community interests, and ensure that any transition to new service delivery arrangements is well managed and as smooth as possible. This has led to the formation of a joint Three Waters Steering Committee to provide oversight and guidance on three waters services delivery and infrastructure reform.
At the recent Central/Local Government Forum, central and local government leadership discussed challenges facing New Zealand’s water service delivery and infrastructure, and committed to working jointly on reform.
The Joint Three Waters Steering Committee has been established to provide oversight and guidance to support progress towards reform, and to assist in engaging with local government, iwi/Māori and other water sector stakeholders on options and proposals.
The Steering Committee comprises independent chair Brian Hanna, local government mayors, chairs and chief executives, representatives of Local Government New Zealand and the Society of Local Government Managers, officials and advisors from the Department of Internal Affairs, Taumata Arowai, and the Treasury.
The Steering Committee will ensure that the perspectives, interests and expertise of both central and local government, and of communities throughout New Zealand are considered, while the challenges facing water services and infrastructure are addressed. This will include periods of engagement, in the first instance with the local government sector.
The Steering Committee is supported by a secretariat made up of advisors and officials from Local Government New Zealand, the Society of Local Government Managers, the Department of Internal Affairs, and the Treasury.
In July 2020, the Government announced funding to provide immediate post-COVID-19 stimulus to maintain and improve water networks infrastructure, and to support a three-year programme of reform of local government water services delivery arrangements.
Central and Local Government consider it is timely to apply targeted infrastructure stimulus investment to enable improvements to water service delivery, progress reform in partnership, and ensure the period of economic recovery following COVID-19 supports a transition to a productive, sustainable economy.
While the Government’s starting intention is for publicly-owned multi-regional models for water service delivery, with a preference for local authority ownership, final decisions on a service delivery model will be informed by discussion with the local government sector and the work of the Steering Committee.
Initial funding will be made available immediately to those councils that sign up to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and associated Funding Agreement and Delivery Plan for the first stage of the Three Waters Services Reform Programme.
The Reform Programme is designed to support economic recovery post COVID-19 and address persistent systemic issues facing the three waters sector, through a combination of:
· stimulating investment, to assist economic recovery through job creation, and maintain investment in water infrastructure renewals and maintenance; and
· reforming current water service delivery, into larger scale providers, to realise significant economic, public health, environmental, and other benefits over the medium to long term.
The three waters reform programme can be found on the Department of Internal Affairs website.
In addition to working with the Steering Committee, there will be an ongoing programme of engagement with local government, Iwi/Māori, the wider water services sector, and communities of interest throughout the transformation programme.
Initial engagement started July/August 2020 with local government and iwi/Māori partners to discuss the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and associated Funding Agreement and Delivery Plan. This first engagement provides a forum for councils considering signing up to the reform programme to raise issues and work through questions ahead of signing the MoU.
Signing the Memorandum of Understanding commits councils to engage with the reform programme and share information but does not require them to continue with future stages of the reform.
From the initial workshops, ongoing work with continue with ad-hoc sessions and webinars, targeted engagement and formal information-sharing sessions with local government, iwi/Māori, water service providers and interested parties as we progress the reform programme.
Over the past three years central and local government have been considering solutions to challenges facing three waters services delivered to communities. There have been a series of hui and workshops with iwi/Māori as part of this, through the Three Waters Review and the establishment of Taumata Arowai. The progress of the proposed reform requires further engagement with iwi/Māori to more fully understand Treaty rights of interests over the course of the reform period.
A range of engagements are proposed over the next 6-12 months both directly through central government and in partnership with local government.
1.3 Issues
Signing the Memorandum of Understanding commits councils to engage with the reform programme and share information but does not require them to continue with future stages of the reform.
1.4 Significance and Engagement
Although the funding is considered significant, the projects that the funding will go towards are likely to be already covered in an existing Annual Plan or Long Term Plan. A separate paper will come back to Council on how the funding will be allocated should the Memorandum of Understanding be signed.
1.5 Implications
Financial
Funding will be provided as soon as practicable following agreement to the Memorandum and the associated Funding Agreement and Delivery Plan. The Delivery Plan will need to show that the funding is to be applied to operating or capital expenditure on three waters service delivery (with the mix to be determined by the Council) that:
• supports economic recovery through job creation; and
• maintains, increases and/or accelerates investment in core water infrastructure renewals and maintenance.
The Delivery Plan will be based on a simple template and will include a summary of projects, relevant milestones, costs, location of physical works, number of people employed in works, reporting milestones and an assessment of how it supports the reform objectives set out in this Memorandum.
The Delivery Plan will be supplied to Crown Infrastructure Partners, and other organisations as agreed between the Parties, who will monitor progress of application of funding against the Delivery Plan to ensure spending has been undertaken consistent with public sector financial management requirements.
Agreement to this Memorandum and associated Funding Agreement and Delivery Plan are required prior to the release of Government funding. The Council will have the right to choose whether or not they wish to continue to participate in the reform programme beyond the term of the Memorandum.
Social & Policy
This Memorandum of Understanding (Memorandum) sets out the principles and objectives that the Parties agree will underpin their ongoing relationship to support the improvement in three waters service delivery for communities with the aim of realising significant public health, environmental, economic, and other benefits over the medium to long term. It describes, in general terms, the key features of the proposed reform programme and the Government funding arrangements that will support investment in three waters infrastructure as part of the COVID 19 economic recovery.
Risk
The Council will have the right to choose whether or not they wish to continue to participate in the reform programme beyond the term of the Memorandum.
1.6 Options
The options available to Council are as follows:
a. Sign the Memorandum of Understanding that will underpin the ongoing relationship to support the improvement to three waters service delivery, with the provision of funding upfront (a share of Hawkes Bays $50m with actual amount to be distributed to Napier City Council yet to be confirmed)
b. Not sign the Memorandum of Understanding
1.7 Development of Preferred Option
Sign the Memorandum of Understanding that will underpin the ongoing relationship to support the improvement to three waters service delivery, with the provision of funding upfront (a share of $50m with actual amount for Napier City Council to be confirmed)
a 3 Waters Reform Programme - A3 ⇩
b 3W Reform FAQ's ⇩
c Slide Pack July and August ⇩
d 3 Waters Reform Memorandum of Understanding ⇩
PUBLIC EXCLUDED ITEMS
That the public be excluded from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting, namely:
CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES
Public Excluded Minutes of the Sustainable Napier Committee meeting held on Thursday, 13 February 2020
The general subject of each matter considered while the public was excluded, the reasons for passing the resolution in relation to each matter, and the specific grounds under Section 48(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution were as follows:
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General subject of each matter to be considered.
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Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter.
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Ground(s) under section 48(1) to the passing of this resolution.
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1. Chief Executive Contract |
7(2)(a) Protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of a deceased person 7(2)(g) Maintain legal professional privilege |
48(1)A That
the public conduct of the whole or the relevant part of the proceedings of
the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for
which good reason for withholding would exist: |
