Minutes of Ordinary Meeting of Council - Thursday, 23 November 2023

Ordinary Meeting of Council - 23 November 2023 - Open Minutes

Order of Business

Karakia

The meeting opened with the Council karakia.

Apologies

Council resolution

Brosnan / Councillor Taylor

That the apologies from Councillors Crown and Simpson be accepted.

Carried

Conflicts of interest

· Councillor Tareha declared a conflict of interest in Item 4 – State Highway 51 Napier to Hastings Safety Improvements Beach Domain/Foreshore Reserve Land Required.

Public forum

Biodiversity Hawke’s Bay

Debbie Monahan, General Manager, Biodiversity Hawke’s Bay and Bruce Wills, Chair, Strategy Stewardship Group displayed a PowerPoint presentation (Doc Id 1717022) providing a brief overview of Biodiversity Hawke’s Bay, which was established to work with the community to deliver on the objectives of the Hawke’s Bay Biodiversity Strategy 2015-2050. Biodiversity Hawke’s Bay were endeavouring to secure funding from:

· Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, as the core funder for operational costs, and

· Hawke’s Bay Territorial Authorities and other sources for ongoing financial support to enable them to focus on obtaining philanthropic and other specific project funding.

ACTION: Direct officers to investigate potential funding sources available within Council and communicate the application process for these to Biodiversity Hawke’s Bay.

Announcements by the Mayor

Les Hewitt – Mayor Wise on behalf of Council thanked and acknowledged Les Hewitt for his long standing voluntary service to the community of Hawke’s Bay.

Mr Hewitt had recently resigned from the Positive Ageing Trust and previously worked with Trade Unions and the disabled community.

Mr Hewitt was a strong advocate for the restoration of the Napier War Memorial Centre for many years and Mayor Wise thanked him for his staunch views on that project and engaging with Council in a positive way.

Announcements by the management

Item Withdrawn The Chief Executive advised that Item 3 - Hawke’s Bay Museum Research and Archive Centre Naming would be withdrawn from the Agenda today.

It was proposed that discussion be undertaken with Hastings District Council and Ngā Mānukanuka o te Iwi (Māori Committee) regarding the name change to Raukura, and a report will be brought to either the 14 December 2023 or 1 February 2024 Council meeting.

Confirmation of minutes

Council resolution

Councillors Mawson / Chrystal

a) That the Draft Minutes of the Extraordinary meeting held on 5 October 2023 be confirmed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

b) That the Draft Minutes of the Ordinary meeting held on 12 October 2023 be confirmed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

c) That the Draft Minutes of the Ordinary meeting held on 8 November 2023 be confirmed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

Carried

Attachments

1 Biodiversity Hawke's Bay presentation (Doc Id 1717022)

Agenda Items

1. Capital Programme Delivery

Type of Report:	Information
Legal Reference:	N/A
Document ID:	1708430
Reporting Officer/s & Unit:	Jamie Goodsir, Acting Director Programme Delivery

1.1 Purpose of Report

To provide Council with information on the FY23/24 Capital Programme and initiatives underway to improve Capital Programme Delivery.

At the meeting

The Team Leader Transportation, Mr Malley presented the report, which was approximately two weeks behind as the report was initially planned for the 9 November 2023 Sustainable Napier Committee meeting that was subsequently cancelled.

In response to questions from the Committee it was clarified:

· Options available in regard to the surplus land in the Emerald Hills realignment of roading were leaving the land as road reserve with Council maintaining it in perpetuity or selling the land to the adjoining land owner, if they wished to buy the land.

· It was noted that elected members would be kept updated either formally or informally of progress in regard to this surplus land.

· The Team Leader Parks Reserves and Sportsgrounds, Mr Tickner advised that the detailed design for Phase 2 of Anderson Park had been undertaken for a number of elements. In the upcoming weeks tenders will be invited for some of the smaller elements, such as additional accessways, concreting footpaths, as well as BBQ and picnic areas, to increase the capacity for families to utilise that area.

· Napier City Council (NCC) is about to tender for part of the project that involves increasing the amount of accessible play equipment for children, with construction potentially commencing end of January 2024.

· In regards to the café project, it is envisaged demolition of the current building and construction of the new café would not commence until after the peak summer holiday season. This would be subject to the tender process and availability of contractors.

· Currently there is an existing toilet block with an accessible toilet in Anderson Park which has been subject to vandalisation in the past to the hoist and bed. Officers are working with Community Services on how to ensure that the right people are getting access to the facility.

· Installation of security cameras will be part of the café project to help monitor the area.

· The Onslow Steps project has encountered a number of technical and legal access issues, as it is a very narrow corridor that Council legally owns. Work is dependent on neighbouring landowners allowing access for the work to be undertaken, and officers are currently working through these issues. A meeting with the residents to discuss issues will be scheduled next week.

Council resolution

Councillors Price / Greig

That Council

a. Receive the report titled “Capital Programme Delivery” dated 23 November 2023.

ACTION: Officers to keep elected members updated on the accessibility of the toilets in Anderson Park and anti-social behaviour.

Carried

2. Hawke's Bay Airport Limited Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2023

Type of Report:	Legal
Legal Reference:	Local Government Act 2002
Document ID:	1710478
Reporting Officer/s & Unit:	Talia Foster, Financial Controller Caroline Thomson, Chief Financial Officer

2.1 Purpose of Report

To present to Council the Hawke’s Bay Airport Limited Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2023.

At the meeting

Mayor Wise welcomed representatives from the Hawke’s Bay Airport, Rob Stafford, Chief Executive, and Rochelle Ham, Chief Financial Officer to the meeting.

The Airport representatives displayed a PowerPoint presentation providing an overview of the airport’s key highlights and financial performance with a net profit after tax of $2.8m compared to a budgeted profit of $258,000. Passenger numbers for the year were 640,000, compared to the target of 520,000. The airport will celebrate its 60^th anniversary in 2024.

The airport has attained their Airport Carbon Accreditation 4plus, the only airport in Australasia to have achieved this. The airport had been awarded the Sustainability Initiative of the Year Award from the New Zealand Airport Association for the ASB sustainability-linked loan.

In response to questions the following was clarified:

· The load capacity for Air New Zealand is very close to pre-covid flight volumes. Auckland is approximately 3% down, but will catch up by the end of this financial year. Wellington is the same and Christchurch is where the route growth is, with 400 additional flights planned.

· There is good interest in the business park however, the major problem appears to be that it is perceived to be conceptual. The master plan has been redone and that provides information where activities would be at the airport.

· One of the initiatives the airport has been working on is the export of freight out of Hawke’s Bay rather than pushing it to Auckland and which will require a lot of extra storage space.

· Ticketless parking has moderately been successful however, with only one boom gate at the exit of the free 15 minute park there have been issues where people have gone over time and have had to reverse back out with cars behind them.

Council resolution

Mayor Wise / Councillor Mawson

That Council:

a. Receive the Hawke's Bay Airport Limited Annual Report and Auditors Report (Doc Id 1713561) for the year ended 30 June 2023.

Carried

Attachments

1 HB Airport presentation (Doc Id 1717059)

3. Hawke's Bay Museum Research and Archive Centre Naming

Type of Report:	Operational and Procedural
Legal Reference:	N/A
Document ID:	1715167
Reporting Officer/s & Unit:	Laura Vodanovich, MTG Director

As previously noted at the commencement of the meeting Item 3 was withdrawn.

4. State Highway 51 Napier to Hastings Safety Improvements Beach Domain/Foreshore Reserve Land Required.

Type of Report:	Legal and Operational
Legal Reference:	Public Works Act 1981, Reserves Act 1977, Resource Management Act 1991
Document ID:	1713547
Reporting Officer/s & Unit:	Bryan Faulknor, Manager Property Jason Tickner, Team Leader Parks, Reserves and Sportsgrounds

Councillor Tareha declared a conflict of interest in Item 4 and did not participate in the discussion or decision making of this item.

4.1 Purpose of Report

To provide authorisation for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency to acquire Foreshore Reserve land, commence construction activities, temporarily occupy further land, and give approval pursuant to the Resource Management Act to alter Designation D76 as it relates to NCC Reserve Land.

The authorisations relate to the construction of the new SH51 Awatoto roundabout and approaches.

At the meeting

The Manager Property, Mr Faulknor, spoke to the report seeking approval for various authorisations required under the Reserves Act 1977, Public Works Act 1981 and the Resource Management Act 1991, relating to land legalisation issues for the construction of a new single lane roundabout at the intersection of State Highway 51 (between Napier and Hastings) and Awatoto Road.

In response to questions the following was clarified:

· Mr Tickner advised that the reason for the roundabout being pushed relatively far into the reserve was because the KiwiRail line had to have enough standing bay space to get a truck on the other side and this pushes the roundabout into the reserve.

· The design does not impact on the Rotary Cycle Pathway. If the cycleway was impacted through detailed design Council would require them to build around it. The plans show that the designation and proposed development will not impact the pathway.

· In regard to the safety of cyclists and pedestrians there would be substantial landscaping undertaken along the interface of the roundabout and the existing reserve on both sides providing good separation. Also as part of the design Waka Kotahi have undertaken safety audits; one of the key aspects of improvement for pedestrian and cyclists is to have a formalised crossing to enable Te Awa residents to safely access the cycleway on the Marine Parade.

· This asset will be owned by Waka Kotahi through NCC divesting this Reserve to them.

· Council will not be compensated as the reserve land is Crown derived land, vested in NCC so has no market value. Reserve land cannot be sold. If the Reserve status was revoked the land would revert back to the Crown.

· Mr Tickner confirmed that he would provide a copy of the detailed design, which incorporated the new designated crossing point for pedestrians and cyclists on the Napier side of the roundabout, for discussion at the Active Transport Committee meeting.

Council resolution

Deputy Mayor Brosnan / Councillor Price

That Council:

a. Provides consent, pursuant to Part VIII of the Public Works Act 1981, as registered owner, administrator and local authority, to the Minister for Land Information:

To the land in the Schedule below being declared road pursuant to Section 114 of the Public Works Act 1981 and vested in the Crown.

SCHEDULE OF LAND TO BE DECLARED ROAD (Required land)

AREA	DESCRIPTION -Hawkes’s Bay Land District – Napier City
629m² (Subject to survey)	Section 122 Block VIII Heretaunga SD being part of the land in Record of Title HBK4/590 (coloured green and labelled “B” on the attached Land Requirement Plan SIP-S-0410-02-7001/A, and
7,102m² (Subject to survey)	Part Section 5 Block VIII Heretaunga SD being part of the land in Record of Title HBK4/98 (coloured green on the attached Land Requirement Plan SIP-S-0410-02-7001/A)

b. Note that consent to the above is also required from the Minister of Conservation.

c. Authorise, in accordance with Section 105B of the Reserves Act 1977 as Administering Body, Waka Kotahi to use (for construction works and the storage of equipment and material) both the Required Land (as coloured in green on the Land Requirement Plan Doc Id 1713919) and the Temporary Occupation Land (as coloured in pink) plus additionally the Carpark Land (shown outlined in yellow on the Beach Domain Carpark Plan Doc Id 1713918).

d. Note that the authorisation pursuant to Section 105B of the Reserves Act is sought to enable immediate commencement of the Works, as the Works will commence before the Required Land is declared Road.

e. Grant approval, under section 95E and Section 181(3)(b) of the Resource Management Act 1991, to the application by Waka Kotahi to alter Designation D76 in the Napier City District Plan as it relates to Napier City Council Reserve Land for the construction works in relation to the proposed Awatoto roundabout and approaches. Noting that this constitutes Affected Party Approval and also Landowner Approval.

f. Delegate to Council Officers authority to sign documentation required to action the above consents and approvals.

ACTION: Provide the detailed design of the new single lane roundabout at the intersection of State Highway 51 and Awatoto Road to the Active Transport Committee for their meeting on 4 December 2023.

Carried

5. LGNZ Four-Monthly Report

Type of Report:	Information
Legal Reference:	N/A
Document ID:	1709515
Reporting Officer/s & Unit:	Andrew Springett, Manager Governance

5.1 Purpose of Report

The purpose of this report is to provide for information the report “LGNZ four-monthly report for member Councils” for the period July to October 2023.

At the meeting

The Manager Governance, Mr Springett took the report as read.

The Chief Executive responded to questions as below:

· Unfortunately due to lack of capacity and budget the Mayor’s Taskforce would not be undertaken in the upcoming round and would be re-evaluated for the future.

· CouncilMark is a Local Government New Zealand initiative and it was noted that Council have no intention of undertaking another CouncilMark exercise in the foreseeable future.

Council resolution

Councillors Boag / Chrystal

That Council:

a) Receive the report titled “LGNZ Four-Monthly Report for Member Councils” for the period July to October 2023 (Doc Id 1709512).

Carried

6. Action Points Register as at 7 November 2023

Type of Report:	Operational
Legal Reference:	N/A
Document ID:	1710251
Reporting Officer/s & Unit:	Andrew Springett, Manager Governance

6.1 Purpose of Report

The Action Points Register (Register) records the actions requested of Council officials in Council and Committee meetings. This report provides an extract from the Register as at 7 November 2023, for Council to note. It does not include action points that were requested in public excluded Council or Committee meetings.

At the meeting

The Manager Governance, Mr Springett took the report as read.

Council resolution

Deputy Mayor Brosnan / Councillor Greig

That Council:

a. Note the extract from the Action Points Register as at 7 November 2023.

ACTION Direct officers to follow up on the Asset Management Roadmap requested at the Sustainable Napier Committee meeting held on 21 September 2023.

Carried

7. Amendment to the 2023 Schedule of Standing Committees and Council Meetings

Type of Report:	Procedural
Legal Reference:	Local Government Act 2002
Document ID:	1712273
Reporting Officer/s & Unit:	Andrew Springett, Manager Governance

7.1 Purpose of Report

The purpose of this report is to consider an amendment to the schedule of Standing Committees and Council meetings for 2023, which was adopted on 15 November 2022.

It is proposed that the meeting schedule be amended as outlined in the recommendations of this report.

At the meeting

The Manager Governance, Mr Springett took the report as read.

Council resolution

Councillors Taylor / McGrath

That Council:

a. Adopt the following amendment to the schedule of Standing Committees and Council meetings for 2023:

· Hearings Committee (Dogs)

New date

15 December 2023 – 9.30am

Carried

8. Information - Minutes of HBRC Joint Committee

Type of Report:	Operational
Legal Reference:	Local Government Act 2002
Document ID:	1713379
Reporting Officer/s & Unit:	Andrew Springett, Manager Governance

1.1 Purpose of Report

The purpose of this report is to receive the unconfirmed minutes from the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee.

To view the full agenda relating to these minutes please refer to the Hawke’s Bay District

Council website at https://www.hbrc.govt.nz/our-council/meetings.

At the meeting

The Manager Governance, Mr Springett took the report as read.

Councillor Browne, Chair of the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee advised that the key topic discussed was all the things going on in the adaptation space, of which Climate Change is just one.

The key piece of work that the Committee is working on is how to fund any works that need to be undertaken in managed retreat for the future. This work is looking to be vested with the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council as a Long Term Plan amendment after 2024.

Council resolution

Councillors Browne / Price

That Council:

a. Receive for information the unconfirmed minutes of the following Joint Committee:

· 22 September 2023 - Clifton to Tangoio Coastal Hazards Strategy Joint Committee (Doc Id 1713345)

Carried

9. Adoption of Annual Report 2022/23 and Summary Annual Report 2022/23

Type of Report:	Legal and Operational
Legal Reference:	Local Government Act 2002
Document ID:	1699803
Reporting Officer/s & Unit:	Caroline Thomson, Chief Financial Officer Talia Foster, Financial Controller

9.1 Purpose of Report

To present the Napier City Council Annual Report 2022/23 and Summary Annual Report 2022/23 for adoption by Council.

At the meeting

The following documents were tabled at the meeting and circulated electronically:

· Annual Report 2022/2023 incorporating changes (Doc Id 1719297)

· Annual Report Summary for NCC for the year ended 30 June 2023 (Doc Id 1718606)

· Summary of the changes to the Annual Report since the Audit and Risk Committee - 17 November 2023 (Doc Id 1718605)

The Chief Financial Officer, Ms Thomson spoke to the report which was to present the Annual Report and Summary Annual Report for 2022/23 for adoption, as required under the Local Government Act 2002.

Ms Thomson advised that Council reported a net operating deficit for the 2022/2023 year of $7.7m compared to a budget deficit of $243,000. The operating revenue was ahead by $5.4m and that was mainly due to the Government grants and the timing of financial contribution revenue.

Those favourable variances were partially offset by lower than anticipated revenue from the Parklands section sales, decreased revenue at the tourism facilities due to Cyclone Gabrielle and a decrease in Council’s value of investment properties.

Council’s operating expenditure was $13.4m above budget and that was mainly due to unbudgeted Cyclone costs.

Unfortunately NCC has been unable to meet the statutory adoption deadline of 31 October 2023 due to a delay in receiving asset revaluation data as a result of the Cyclone. This is noted in the Annual Report and the Office of the Auditor-General has been advised of this. However, it is believed that there are approximately 22 other councils that have also not met their adoption date.

The Audit and Risk Committee reviewed the Annual Report at its meeting held on 17 November 2023 and provided some feedback and minor changes to the report. Subsequent to the Audit and Risk Committee meeting there was a last minute change to the accounts and Audit New Zealand have recommended that the asset impairments sitting in other operating expenditure be moved to the revaluation reserve. This favourably impacts the profit and loss by $4.6m.

The Accounting Manager, Ms Foster, advised that a qualified audit opinion had been received on the financial statements and statements of service provision and an unmodified opinion on the funding statements and statements about capital expenditure. There was an emphasis of matter regarding uncertainty over the water services reform programme which is standard across the sector.

The first qualification relates to the carrying values of the three water assets, carried forward from 2022 when NCC was unable to bring its three yearly revaluation forward. The closing values have been accepted by Audit New Zealand.

The second qualification was also carried over from previous years. This is where NCC is unable to provide unverifiable information for the three water response time performance measures.

Ms Foster referred to the tabled document (Doc Id 1718605) and spoke to the summary of changes to the updated version of the Annual Report 2022/2023. The Audit Opinion would be updated and signed following adoption of the Annual Report.

In response to questions the following was clarified:

· Ms Young advised that the change with the asset impairments expense being transferred to the balance sheet was identified late as receipt of the three waters valuation report was received late during the audit. This required looking at the revaluation, speaking to valuers and what NCC had undertaken with the impairment expense. Sometimes valuers exclude consideration of impairment as part of their revaluation and Audit needs to check prior to completing work in that area.

· The Audit and Risk Committee meeting held on 17 November 2023 recommended adoption of the 2022/2023 Annual Report, however, due to time constraints the amended Annual Report has not been viewed by that Committee but would be shared with the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee as soon as possible.

· It was noted that at the Audit and Risk Committee meeting the independent Chair, Bruce Robertson, was very comfortable and happy to adopt the Annual Report.

· Page 57 of Annual Report refers to A3 and A3 bores this will be updated to A2 and A3 bores.

· Ms Young confirmed that the Audit Opinion had not changed and was the same as what was presented at the Audit and Risk Committee meeting. Ms Thomson clarified that the officer’s comment about updating the Opinion was just in relation to the page numbers and a signed version would be included in the final Annual Report.

The Mayor thanked and acknowledged all staff involved in the compilation of the Annual Report which was an organisational wide effort, and highlighted some of the key achievements during the year.

Council resolution

Mayor Wise / Deputy Mayor Brosnan

That Council:

a) Receives the report titled Adoption of Annual Report 2022/23 (Doc Id 1719297) and Summary Annual Report 2022/23 (Doc Id 1718606) dated 23 November 2023

b) Note the 2022/23 Annual Report was considered by the Audit and Risk Committee on 17 November 2023.

c) Note the Auditor’s report (Doc Id 1715021) includes:

i. A qualified audit opinion on the activity group statements relating to incomplete information about response times for the three water services. The Council also received a qualified opinion for the same matter in 2021 and 2022 performance year.

ii. A qualified audit opinion on the financial statements relating to prior year (2022 performance year) comparatives on carrying value of Council’s water, wastewater and stormwater below and above ground assets.

iii. An emphasis of matter paragraph drawing attention to the uncertainty over the Government’s water services reform programme. This is a standard emphasis of matter in all affected councils’ audit reports.

d) Adopt the Annual Report (Doc Id 1719297) and Summary Annual Report (Doc Id 1718606) for Napier City Council for 2022/23 (including the Statement of Compliance and Letter of Representation (Doc Id 1716695) subject to any grammatical and minor changes and any changes due to the requirements of the audit process.

Carried

Attachments

1 Tabled 2022/2023 Annual Report incorporating amendments (Doc Id 1719297)

2 Tabled Annual Report Summary 2022/2023 (Doc Id 1718606)

3 Tabled Changes in Annual Report since Audit and Risk Committee - 17 November 2023 (Doc Id 1718605)

Meeting Date:	Thursday 23 November 2023
Time:	9.30am – 11.15am (Open) 11.25am – 11.40am (Public Excluded)
Venue	Council Chambers Hawke's Bay Regional Council 159 Dalton Street Napier
	Livestreamed via Council’s Facebook page

Present	Chair: Mayor Wise Members: Deputy Mayor Brosnan, Councillors Boag, Browne, Chrystal, Greig, Mawson, McGrath, Price, Tareha and Taylor
In Attendance	Chief Executive (Louise Miller) Deputy Chief Executive/ Executive Director Corporate Services (Jessica Ellerm) Executive Director Community Services (Thunes Cloete) Manager Communications and Marketing (Julia Atkinson) Pou Whakarae (Mōrehu Te Tomo) Team Leader Transportation (Robin Malley) Team Leader Parks Reserves and Sportsgrounds (Jason Tickner) Chief Financial Officer (Caroline Thompson) Financial Controller (Talia Foster) Accounting Manager (Heather Sharp) Manager Governance (Andrew Springett) Manager Property (Bryan Faulknor)
Also in Attendance:	Public Forum: Debbie Monahan, General Manager, Biodiversity Hawke’s Bay and Bruce Wills, Chair, Strategy Stewardship Group Dr Belinda Slater, Community Facilitator, and Louise Gannaway, Administration Manager, Biodiversity Hawke’s Bay Item 2: Rob Stafford, Chief Executive, and Rochelle Ham, Chief Financial Officer, Hawke’s Bay Airport Limited Item 9: Karen Young, Audit New Zealand [via Teams Link]
Administration	Governance Advisors (Carolyn Hunt and Anna Eady)