TE AWAMUTU NEWS | 1
THURSDAY APRIL 10, 2025
SUPPORTING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY SINCE 1978
Since 1978 Bailey Ingham has been a one stop shop for
Bailey Ingham
Experts in providing is farmers and businesses a one stop quality professional advice in all aspects of shop accounting and taxation planning for all your - including GST, FBT, Individual/Employer company, PAYE,
and - Succession planningfarming and family guidance personal - Trust administration and advice
Carolyn Dew, financial needs. Business administration including Companies Offi- ce Manager Office requirements
Kelly Bair Director
Contact the team for a
- Windups including company liquidations FREE NO OBLIGATION INTERVIEW Supporters of local community events
FREE
41 Bank St, Te Awamutu 3800 Carolyn Perre P: 07 870 1888 | E: ta@baileyingham.co.nz
teawamutunews.nz
APRIL 10, 2025
Contact the team for a FREE NO OBLIGATION INTERVIEW to discuss 41 Bank St Te Awamutu 3800 Ph 07 870 1888 Email: ta@
Board chair’s lament By Chris Gardner
The role of councillors on community boards – where they find themselves limited in how they contribute – will be reviewed in Waipā. Councillors must choose between debating issues at community board or council level for fear of being censured by staff who warn them to declare a conflict of interest and be silent. Te Awamutu-Kihikihi Community Board chair Ange Holt called out the practice at last week’s council Strategic Planning and Policy meeting, saying it often rendered councillors Lou Brown and Bruce Thomas ineffective. She also underlined frustrations the board felt in trying to advocate for the community. “What we are experiencing is that both our councillors do not take part at the community board table regarding anything that is going to a council meeting. They then do not speak on our behalf at the council table, otherwise they cannot vote,” Holt said. Councillors Brown and Thomas sit on the community board in Te Awamutu – while Mike Montgomerie and Philip Coles are members of the Cambridge board. Holt called for a meeting with mayor Susan O’Regan,
Ange Holt
chief executive Steph O’Sullivan and council committee chairs to discuss the issue and come up with a way forward. Montgomerie said he was looking forward to the meeting happening “and getting a result”. “This whole conflict of interest things--- I agree, the system from the outside seems… not right”. He questioned the “slight hybrid” model with councillors on boards, a point Susan O’Regan echoed saying, as a councillor who previously sat on board, it was a “very odd place to sit”. Holt said she understood the “why” behind the conflict of interest and how it worked – “but if we practice it to the letter of the law, there are times in a small community when it is like having a noose around your neck”. Jim Goddin JP and Helen Carter Funeral Directors
The community board chair listed her frustrations in an at times emotional delivery, where she said the majority of board’s advocacy had been “dismissed, delayed or just ignored” and revealed she didn’t know of one board member who had signalled they planned to seek re-election in October. She has yet to announce a decision, but a check by The News this week revealed her deputy Kane Titchener doesn’t plan to stand. Jill Taylor will seek another term. The News had not contacted Sally Whitaker at the time of going to press. “When you have been elected to represent the interests of your community, it is a hard pill to swallow to know they believe you have their back, and you don’t deliver. “To continually front up and say ‘sorry, we tried, we failed’, is frustrating, and at times, demoralising. This is our community, and we should have a say in what we want, not to settle for what someone else thinks is best for us. “When you have people who are basically volunteers, they need to get something out of what they are doing, so they are inspired, feel valued, and know they have made a difference.” She cited complaints about Kihikihi’s $8 million Te Ara Rimu cycleway as an
example. “Three different documents referred to the pathway that was going out at Kihikihi as a shared pathway. At no point, until that was starting to be built, did we know that it actually wasn’t a shared pathway,” she said.
Te Awamutu police sergeant Felicity CookJones, left, joked her Cambridge colleague constable Danica Hibdige should be cloned for her work with youth. Hibdige leads Cambridge’s Youth Aid and Blue Light activities and was part of a crew that towed a fire appliance 1500 metres as a team building exercise. Cook-Jones praised Hibdige’s work on the programme at Cambridge High School, calling it “absolutely fantastic.” Blue Edge (Education, Development, Growth and Empowerment) aims to guide young people towards becoming positive leaders in their communities. Over seven weeks 20 participants aged 14 to 18 took part in the programme, culminating in a 12-hour long activity day last Friday. Photo: Mary Anne Gill
Make your home pet-friendly
MONTHS No Interest and
installation
10% to
No Payments**
*
% 5 0 S A L E 30 on selected flooring carpet
OFF
%
Selected Flooring*
OFF Plus first $1000 installation FREE* on & hardfloors Hardfloor*
18-2024 • Vo 20 t
*Offers valid until 31/05/24 on selected ranges and colours while stocks last. Free offers have minimum *Offers are valid until 31/05/25 selected andin selected or whilereserve stocks last.the Carpet andtovinyl are sold in lineal metres. order requirements. Carpet on and vinyl ranges are sold linealcolours metres.We right adjust prices without We reserve the right toand adjust prices without notice if necessary andany we reserve rightinstore to correct errors.for Seefull instore for full details. notice if necessary we reserve the right to correct errors.the See orany online details. ed
by
New Z e a l a n
• rs de
*Offers are valid until 31/05/25 selected ranges and selected169 colours or whileSt, stocks Carpet and vinyl are sold in lineal metres. We reserve the right to adjust 4 Rora Cambridge Rd,onTe Awamutu Rora Telast.Kuiti 169 Street,Te Kuiti 4 Cambridge Road, Teerrors. Awamutu prices without notice if necessary and we reserve the right to correct any See instore for full details. 07 6422 07 878871 3486 or 027 2727 849 07 871 6422 07 878 3486 or 027 2727 849 www.carpetcourt.nz ★
★
★
20 18 - 202 4
★
★★
07 870 2137 262 Ohaupo Road, Te Awamutu rosetown.co.nz
“I really look forward to getting a broader grasp of what your concerns are and perhaps be able to bridge what you perceive as a gap between the community board and council,” O’Regan said. “It’s news to me that it seems to have fallen off a cliff from your perspective."
Doing the Blue Beat
18 FREE underlay &
Celebrating Life - Your Way
“We’re elected members, and our heads roll based on that. We’ve been elected to stick up for the things that we want, or we don’t want. Some of the angst that’s happened out there possibly could have been avoided. O’Regan was surprised to hear how Holt was feeling.
Flooring Stores
Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm. Sat 9.30am-1pm Mon-Fri Sat 9.30am-1pm. We reserve8.30am-5pm. the right to adjust prices without notice if necessary and we reserve the right to correct any errors. See instore or online for full details. www.carpetcourt.nz www.carpetcourt.nz
*Offers valid until 31/05/24 on selected ranges and colours while stocks last. Free offers have minimum order requirements. Carpet and vinyl are sold in lineal metres.
curtains blinds cushions homewares, gifts & décor Phone: 07 870 1991 Email: shop@nicandmeta.co.nz 2 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu www.nicandmeteawamutu.co.nz Ts & Cs Apply