1% - Waikato District Council

84NAVIGATING THE FUTURE | WAIKATO DISTRICT COUNCILWhat’s plannedThe following are the major initiatives in the plan. The full workprogramme (capital and operational spending) is listed on pages55-60 in Volume Two.• Library servicesWaikato District Council has had a contract with HamiltonCity Council to provide reciprocal library services, with anyWaikato district resident having free access to the service.While this has been free to the 6350 active users, it has costus $396,000 annually.We have renegotiated this contract to $300,000, while stillproviding residents unlimited access to Hamilton’s libraryservices.We will now work with Hamilton City Council to developa feasibility study for joint library operations based onwork done by the Greater Waikato Librarians group, whichproposed a consortia model. We will also seek support andapproval from Local Authorities Shared Services. No extrabudget has been allocated to this work, which will be started2012/13.We also want to increase the service level in Te Kauwhatalibrary, which at the moment is staffed by part-time staff. Wewill appoint a full-time library co-ordinator as the start ofa move to a full service centre in Te Kauwhata, planned for2014/15.From October 2013, former Franklin District residents withinthe Waikato will no longer receive free library services fromthe Auckland Council. We have libraries in both Tuakauand Te Kauwhata and residents will still be able to use thelibraries in Auckland at a cost. As agreed during the Franklinto Waikato transition process we have begun talks withAuckland Council around access to library services,especially for those of our residents who live closerto the regional boundary.• Economic developmentLate last year, we hosted an economic summit bringingtogether key business, industry and community leadersto discuss how together, we can ensure our economyand communities will grow and thrive.Out of this summit, we have developed four key strands ofaction to be launched in the coming year – our economicdevelopment road map. We are working closely with ourkey stakeholders to strengthen connections, to find outhow we as a council can be more business-friendly, helpfacilitate opportunities, and to advocate on policies andissues affecting business.We also want our infrastructure to support investmentdecisions, to eliminate bottlenecks and barriers andidentify potential infrastructure investment that willhelp our district grow.As part of this roadmap, Waikato district also needs toencourage people to see it with new eyes, to see ourpotential and take advantage of what we already offer.We have allowed for a new staff member to be responsiblefor making progress on the economic development roadmap. To fund this, we will use the amount currently spentwith Primary Focus, in a different way. The funding will remainin the economic development arena but will be used to fundspecific projects, for which Primary Focus may be contractedto provide.• GrantsAs a result of submissions, operating grants have beenadded across the 10 years of the plan for the WaikatoCoalfields Museum, Raglan Museum and Tuakau Museum,at $50,000, $20,000 and $5,000 respectively. The followingorganisations will receive one-off grants for 2012/13:• The Ngaruawahia Volunteer Fire Brigade $25,000• St John Te Kauwhata $25,000• Ngaruawahia Community House $15,000• Opus Orchestra $2,000• Waikato River Alive $7,000A further $5,000 per year from 2012/13-2015/16 has beenadded to help fund the FIFA under 20’s World Cup. This will betaken from the existing Events Fund rather than adding costs.• Rural Fire Authority– expansion of fire districtThe National Rural Fire Authority is planning to amalgamateall the rural fire authorities across the district into one tocover the whole Waikato region, as part of its objectiveto improve the effectiveness of the rural fire sector.At the moment, each district council has its own rural fireauthority which responds to rural vegetation fires outsideour main towns and manages fire risk. This includes workingwith landowners and other stakeholders to manage firerisks; providing information to the public about fire hazardconditions, and declaring restricted or prohibited fire seasonswhen lighting fires in the open is controlled by permit,or banned.This proposal provides an opportunity to pool equipmentand resources and improve and streamline management.We have been working with the other councils in the region,the Department of Conservation, forest owners, as wellas the rural fire authority and other stakeholders, on thisproposal for one regional fire authority.We believe the cost for this amalgamation will be limited,and there will be greater benefits long-term. This is also inline with our move towards shared services across councils.