Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

 

 

Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

8.4         Waiari Update and Implications for Future Development Contributions

File Number:           A11109467

Author:                    Richard Conning, Team Leader: Waters Projects

Kim Masters, Development Contributions Advisor

Authoriser:              Christine Jones, General Manager: Strategy & Growth

 

Purpose of the Report

1.      To provide information relating to the potential effect on development contributions as a result of the Waiari Water Supply Scheme delivery.

Recommendations That the Projects, Services and Operations Committee: (a)     Receive the Waiari Update and Implications for Future Development Contributions (b)     Approve for inclusion in the 2020/21 Draft Development Contribution Policy, disclosure that there will be a future significant increase in the development contribution charge as a consequence of the Waiari Water Treatment Plan investment.

 

Executive Summary

2.      The Waiari Water Supply Project (WWSP) has been part of Council’s long-term planning for two decades.

3.      Comprehensive assessments of all practicable options for increasing water supply to meet the needs of a growing city were undertaken in 2001 and again in 2008.  Both processes concluded that the Waiari Stream was the best available future water source.  Following the second of these processes, and following significant stakeholder engagement, Council sought and obtained a suite of resource consents to enable the project to proceed.

4.      Implementation of the Waiari project was deferred as a result of the reduction in demand that resulted from the introduction of universal water metering and, more latterly, the effects of the global financial crisis.

5.      In response to increased population growth, and therefore increased demand for water, the project was re-commenced in 2015/16.  Significant work has been undertaken to update assessments made in 2008 to reflect the current strategic environment.  This includes changes to the national regulatory environment for water supply. 

6.      The updated work concludes that the Waiari Stream remains the best available future water source for the city.   This is consistent with Council’s decision made in 2008 which has been reflected in the 2009/19, 2012/22, 2015/25 and 2018/28 Long-Term Plans. 

7.      In the 2018/28 Long-Term Plan the Waiari Project budget is $144M, however current financial forecasting for the Waiari Project has placed the base outturn cost at $146M.

8.      Table 1 below highlights how these changes have manifested i.e. from what was previously considered as a P95 estimate at $144M to a base estimate of $146M.

9.      To understand Council’s potential risk exposure in relation to the WWSP costs a risk analysis and modelling exercise was undertaken.

10.    The WWSP cost management consultant (Cuesko) have utilised specialist software to model the impact of both risk and uncertainty to forecast the P50 (the value at which it is considered there is a 50% chance the project cost will fall below) and the P95 (the value at which it is considered there is a 95% chance the project cost will fall below).

11.    The base outturn cost is $146M, the P50 has been assessed as $178M and the P95 has been assessed as $197M.

12.    The GM Infrastructure and GM Corporate Services are jointly leading a project to determine the approach to budgeting of capital projects in the LTP including the consideration of multi-project contingencies.  This will be reported back to Council as part of the LTP process and the outcome will determine the contingency level to be budgeted for the Waiari programme in the LTP.

13.    The final contracts (water treatment plant, budget $29.6M and industrial automation, budget $600K) are expected to be awarded by June 2020. Table 2 below compares the value of contracts that have been awarded inclusive of variations incurred to date and the estimated value of those yet to be awarded.

14.    It should be noted that in terms of Item 1, Professional Fees and Item 4, Other Fees, a P50/P95 simulation has not been carried out.  For reference Other Fees relate to TCC’s internal overheads, land purchase, legal services and cultural liaison/monitoring, which are all required to facilitate the successful outcome of the WWSP. 

15.    Cuesko has based the current Base Out-Turn Cost to complete upon the current forecast completion date.  As such both Professional Fees and TCC’s internal costs, which should be relatively uniform have been forecast for this duration.

16.    Only when there is a change to the physical works, whether by way of programme extension, or scope change, is there then likely to be a material impact on the cost of these two elements.  Accordingly, where a risk has been identified as part of the P50 forecast and after due consideration it is deemed likely to have a direct impact on either of these cost elements then a provision has been made to account for such cost increases should they eventuate.  If and when they do eventuate these costs will then be drawn down from the P50 contingency.

17.    The P95 Risk Funding estimate does require further analysis.  It has been widely acknowledged that there should be opportunities to mitigate cost going forward, placing the cost management function as critical component in achieving this aim.  

18.    The project team will be assessing opportunities through intense scrutiny of the procurement process for the remainder of the physical works to reduce the cost of the overall project and to actively manage risks, which may give rise to increased costs if not dealt with contemporaneously.  This is an ongoing process which will not be completed prior to the 2020/21 Draft DC Policy being issued for public consultation.

19.    At a cost of $146m this project will increase the Citywide Development Contribution (CDC) by approximately $5,000. At the higher end of the cost scale of $197m this project will increase the CDC charge by approximately $9,000. 

20.    The current Citywide development contribution levy for all services is currently $8,500, the costs for the Waiari project will potentially cause this fee to double.  The impact of potentially doubling the CDC’s will essentially increase the cost of building within Tauranga, and there is a risk of an adverse reaction from the building community and wider public, unless a well planned and executed communication plan is delivered.

21.    The outcome is a likely significant increase in citywide development contributions.

22.    TCC has had a consistent message from the development and building community that their business models are multi-year, so early signalling of significant shifts in development contribution charges are important.  In recognition of this we noted the future increase within the 2020 Development Contributions Policy (DCP) and will do so again in the 2021 DCP.   Staff are also working on an engagement package to ensure that this information is directly provided to the building community and key stakeholders likely to be impacted by the increase. 

Background

Brief project history

23.    Since the mid-1950s, Tauranga has relied on the two water treatment plants at Joyce Road (abstracting water from the Tautau Stream) and Oropi Road (abstracting from the Waiorohi Stream) to supply its water. 

24.    In the mid-1990s Council recognised the future need for additional water collection, treatment and distribution capacity to meet the needs of a growing city.  Initial work at that time identified the Waiari Stream, south-west of Te Puke, as an option to improve water supply in the east of the city.  A version of the Waiari Water Supply Project has been included in Council’s long-term planning documents since at least the 1998 long-term financial strategy^[1].

25.    In 2001, Council undertook a detailed review of water source options, including assessing groundwater options and 11 river or stream options.  This review identified the Waiari as the preferred option.

26.    In 2008, Council engaged CH2M Beca to undertake a further review of water supply options.  This engagement included the preparation of a comprehensive quadruple bottom line assessment (“QBLA”) of options.  Again, that process identified the Waiari as the preferred option.

27.    As a result, in 2010 Council (together with Western Bay of Plenty District Council) obtained the necessary water-take consents to enable the Waiari Water Supply Project to proceed. 

28.    Due to the ongoing change in customer water use behaviour as a result of the introduction of universal water metering and, more recently, due to the global financial crisis, the implementation of the Waiari Water Supply Project has been gradually deferred.

Project re-commenced

29.    In 2015/16, in response to the increasing demand for water across the city and also recognising that the water-take consents must be given effect to within 10 years of being granted, the project was formally re-initiated. 

30.    Council commissioned an initial piece of work to reassess the balance between future demand and future supply.  This review included up-to-date usage information and revised population projections and considered the practical current supply capacity at each of the Oropi Road and Joyce Road treatment plants.  The relationship between projected demand and available supply is shown in the diagram below.

31.    The review^[2] concluded that additional water supply would be needed by 2021.  This confirmed that some form of intervention was required to increase supply. 

32.    The next step was to confirm what that form of intervention should be.

 

Review of Water Source Strategy

33.    In late 2016, Council commissioned a comprehensive review and update of the QBLA assessment conducted in 2008. 

34.    This review and update was designed to test:

·    whether the changing strategic context from 2008 to 2016 had any impact on Council’s proposed approach to future water supply; and, consequently,

·    whether the Waiari was still the right option to meet Council’s future water supply needs.

35.    The changing strategic context included elements such as:

·    updated population projections, using the December 2016 National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis (NIDEA) data;

·    the outcome of the water Demand Forecast and the Supply Demand Balance report;

·    the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management and the consequent Proposed Plan Change 9 (Region-wide Water Quantity) to the Regional Water and Land Plan; and

·    updated cost estimates for the principal options. 

36.    The Water Source Strategy Review 2017 undertook a detailed assessment of the three options considered in 2008 and a fourth option identified more recently (being 3a).  These options were:

Option 1         Develop Waiari for immediate and future growth

Option 2          Develop Waiari for immediate growth and Oropi Road for future growth

Option 3          Develop Oropi to 54ML^[3] per day for immediate growth and Waiari for future growth

Option 3a        Develop Oropi to 39ML per day for immediate growth and Waiari for future growth

37.    Note that regarding Oropi Road, development to 54ML per day recognises the current consented maximum water-take which in 2008 was considered feasible and realistic.  That consent expires in 2026.  Development to 39ML per day reflects a more realistic expectation of future consented water-take as a result of the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management and the regional council’s Proposed Plan Change 9. 

 

Conclusion of Water Source Strategy Review 2017

38.    The Water Source Strategy Review 2017 concludes that Option 1, developing a water supply from the Waiari Stream, is the preferred option.  

39.    This conclusion reflects that the Waiari:

·    offers the most favourable outcome of the quadruple bottom line assessment;

·    offers the lowest overall risk profile;

·    has the least environmental impact;

·    has the highest social benefit regarding ensuring continuity of city-wide supply;

·    places no additional stress on the existing water-takes from the Waiarohi and Tautau streams; and

·    provides additional diversity of supply, and therefore resilience, by introducing a third and distinct water supply catchment.

 

40.    In addition, the Waiari:

·    is physically closer to the residential and commercial growth in the east of the city;

·    offers operational flexibility by creating an alternative water supply into the coastal strip;

·    offers increased scope for the ongoing management of water treatment membranes by creating a third site; and

·    utilizes a strategic asset (the Waiari water-take consent) which would lapse if not given effect to soon.

41.    The Waiari (Option 1) does not have the lowest assessed net present value (“NPV”) of the options.  The lowest NPV relates to Option 3a, being short-term development of the Oropi Road water treatment plant followed by the mid-term development of the Waiari. 

42.    Despite this, the QBLA ranks Option 1 higher because the environmental impact of developing the Waiari project is less than further stressing the Waiorohi Stream, and because of the increased resilience and operational flexibility that a third source in the east of the city provides.    

Funding and development contributions

43.    The construction of the Waiari Water Supply Project is required as a direct result of growth of the City and consequently will be funded via Development Contributions levied on growth developments across the City.

44.    The project will for provide for growth from the 2022 period on and so collection of DCs will start in the 2022 financial year. The costs will be levied on all new households constructed over that period as well as non-residential developments.

45.    The total cost payable per household will depend on the final cost of the project.

46.    At the lower end of the cost estimate of $146 million – the WWSP will increase the CDC by approximately $5,000 per household.

47.    At the upper end of the cost estimate the project could increase the Citywide DC by potentially $9,000 per household, noting that this is payable on issue of building consent.

48.    To put this into context, the costs of combined building consent and CDC fees (payable on building consent) today for a new residential dwelling are approximately $18,000 (including the CDC’s of $8,500).  If all other costs remain the same, then the equivalent total cost in 2022 incorporating the potential Waiari costs will be in vicinity of $23,000 to $27,000.

49.    Please note that these projected citywide increases are subject to confirmation of costs for the Waiari project, and there are additional Council project costs that will affect the total citywide development contributions.

50.    The Waiari project has always been listed in the Development Contributions Policy as a Citywide Development Contribution funded project. As the scale and costs of the project have increased significantly it is becoming more important that we communicate this information to the building community and stakeholders to allow them to prepare for the cost increase. Early communication with the sector is important, however it is vital to ensure that the information provided is based on the most up to date and accurate information available.

51.    Staff are currently working on an engagement strategy to ensure that all potential stakeholders are alerted to this information and made aware of the upcoming change. The operative 2019/20 Development Contributions Policy signalled expected changes to future development contribution policies (Section 1: Fees, maps and definitions 1.3.2)

52.    This projected cost increase in the Waiari project and the impact on citywide development contributions was included in the policy to prepare the development sector for upcoming increases. 

Strategic/statutory context

53.    The development of additional water supply capacity has a strong link to the provision of a Sound City Foundation and the Quality of Life for all residents, business, and visitors to the city.  The development of future urban areas in order to meet demand and the National Policy Statement on Urban Development depends on a secure future water supply.

Consultation / Engagement

54.    The anticipated increase in citywide development contribution fees due to the Waiari project was outlined in the 2019/20 Development Contributions Policy. However, due to increased project costs, staff feel that we need to increase the scale of engagement and ensure that this information is flagged directly to the building community likely to be impacted.  Staff plan to outline in more detail the expected increase within the 2020/21 Development Contributions Policy, as well as fully inform and engage with the development community and wider public.

55.    Signalling an increase in the DC charge now will allow time for the development community to prepare for this increase and factor costs into financial packages.  The exact impact on the CDC will not be known until the project is completed so at this stage staff are proposing that consultation documents signal this as an increase in the order of $5,000 to $9,000 per household.  This information can be updated as further costs are finalised.

56.    Council has not yet begun engaging with the sector on this information as there is a need to ensure that Council is providing the most up to date and accurate financial information available.

Significance

57.    Under the Significance and Engagement Policy 2014, the matter of future water supply is of high significance as it affects all residents, businesses and visitors to the city and involves a financial commitment in excess of $146 million.  

58.    Community engagement on the principle of an additional water supply has been underway since the 1990s.  Detailed engagement on the Waiari Water Supply Project was undertaken before and during the resource consenting process in 2008 through 2010.

 

Attachments

Nil

Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

8.5         Petition - Street light changes

File Number:           A11163347

Author:                    James Wickham, Team Leader: TTOC

Authoriser:              Nic Johansson, General Manager: Infrastructure

 

Purpose of the Report

1.      The purpose of this report is to provide information to assist Council in their response and decision-making regarding street light changes requested from residents in Papamoa.

Recommendations That the Projects, Services and Operations Committee: (a)     Following receipt of the petition (dated 11 November 2019) from Papamoa residents, approves the preferred option that was unanimously agreed upon by local residents at a meeting on 23 January 2020 to replace the lighting with decorative LED luminaires. (Option 3).  (b)     Requests staff to report back to the Projects, Services and Operations Committee on the implications of a change in approach to existing Council strategy of standardising street light columns and luminaires.

 

Executive Summary

2.      A petition was received from residents of Papamoa (refer Attachment 1) on 11 November 2019.  The petition requested that Council immediately halt work being carried out on the lighting in Oriental Parade and adjoining streets.  The residents wanted to retain the existing light bell shape and requested the LED light optics be inserted into the existing street light shade. 

Background

3.      As part of a nationwide initiative supported by central government, LED lights are being introduced across the city as they are recognized as being energy-efficient, produce less carbon emissions than standard street lights, require less maintenance, and offer overall better light quality. By early 2020 we will have replaced approximately 7000 street lights in residential areas with LED lights.

4.      Council has an approved strategy of standardising street light columns and luminaires, as a result of a decision at the Council meeting held 8 September 2011. At this Council meeting, it was resolved that ‘decorative streetlights are not renewed on a like for like basis and standard Oclytes are installed and powder coated where they are replacing deteriorated lights’ [M11/63.9].  The IDC was updated in 2016 to reflect this.  The current policy is that any decorative fixture that is replaced under maintenance or renewal will be replaced with a standard lighting fixture.  This policy provides the guideline for replacement of decorative luminaires with a standard LED luminaire. 

5.      Council staff investigated the viability of retrofitting current decorative luminaires with standard LED inserts, but for a number of reasons it is too problematic and very costly. Overall, we have approximately 3,300 decorative lights on the network, with an estimated 200 different designs.

6.      There have been several near misses with mounting failures on decorative luminaires in recent years.

7.      Many of these decorative fittings are failing and can't be altered to accommodate standard LED inserts. Street lighting is around 25% of council's electricity costs, therefore ensuring we deliver best overall value to council and our community is a priority. The LED upgrade project is contributing approximately 90% to council's targeted electricity reductions by June 2020, detailed within council’s Energy Management Plan.

8.      All residential areas will be receiving standard LED luminaires. Areas such as Mount Mainstreet and the city centre are the exception, with non-standard LED street lights to be installed as part of placemaking initiatives. 

9.      Following receipt of the petition late last year opposing the street lighting changes to Oriental Parade, Oreiti Crescent, Bucklands Crescent, Ohope Place and Waimarama Close, Council staff met with impacted residents on 23 January 2020 to discuss the possibilities and options.  These options are outlined in further detailed in the Options Analysis below.

10.    At the time the petition was received, funding from Waka Kotahi NZTA was not available for decorative LED luminaires.  However, in December 2019, the proposed decorative LED luminaires were approved by Waka Kotahi NZTA and are now eligible for 85% Funding Assistance Rate (FAR).

Options analysis

Option 1: Do nothing (retain existing lights)

Advantages

Disadvantages

Street environment remains the same No additional capital cost to council Residents’ concerns have been listened to

Maintenance costs increase Council unable to source like for like parts over time as parts for older style lamps are no longer manufactured Limits council’s ability to be more efficient in the management of street lights across the city Council would not benefit from reduced energy and maintenance costs provided by LED luminaires Council would not receive benefits provided by real time monitoring and control of the LED luminaires. Response times to street light faults would not improve Dimming profiles would not be able to be set remotely

Budget – Capex: $0

Budget – Opex:  $250k (over 20 years for the 46 lights within the petition area)

Key risks: High. 

·    Increased maintenance costs as the assets age and it becomes increasingly difficult to source parts.

·    This option could set a precedent for other areas of the city should other communities wish to retain their decorative lanterns or have them reinstated.

·    Unknown quality and condition of the existing decorative luminaires on the network may continue to pose a risk to the public. There have been several near misses with mounting failures on decorative luminaires in recent years.

Recommended? No

 

Option 2: Retrofit existing luminaires with LED components

Advantages	Disadvantages
Residents’ concerns have been listened to Street environment remains the same Council would benefit from improved energy efficiency and reduced maintenance costs provided by LED luminaires Contributes to approximately 90% of council’s targeted energy reductions within its Energy Management Plan Key contributor to council’s eligibility for EECA subsidies	Installation costs higher due to more contractor time involved Higher ongoing maintenance costs Bespoke design would not comply with Waka Kotahi NZTA specification Would not be eligible for the 85% FAR from Waka Kotahi NZTA

Budget – Capex: $55k

Budget – Opex:  $195k (over 20 years for the 46 lights within the petition area)

Key risks: High.

·    Increased maintenance costs as the existing assets age and it becomes increasingly difficult to source parts.

·    This option could set a precedent for other areas of the city should other communities wish to retain their decorative lanterns or have them reinstated.

·    Unknown quality and condition of the existing decorative luminaire on the network may continue to pose a risk to the public.

Recommended? No

 

Option 3: Replace the street lighting fixtures with decorative LED luminaires

Advantages

Disadvantages

Residents’ concerns have been listened to Council would benefit from improved energy efficiency and reduced maintenance costs provided by LED luminaires Contributes to approximately 90% of council’s targeted energy reductions within its Energy Management Plan Key contributor to council’s eligibility for EECA subsidies Council would receive benefits provided by real time monitoring and control of the LED luminaires Response times to street light faults would improve Pockets of the community will be satisfied with a different look in their neighbourhood The proposed decorative LED luminaires are approved by Waka Kotahi NZTA in December 2019 and are now eligible for the 85% FAR.

Decorative LED luminaires are available on the market at a premium over a standard LED Options for decorative LED luminaires are limited

Budget – Capex: $70k

Budget – Opex: $30k (over 20 years for the 46 lights within the petition area)

Key risks: Medium

·    This option could set a precedent for other areas of the city should other communities wish to have decorative LED luminaires installed.

·    Increased costs as a result of installing and maintaining non-standard luminaires.

Recommended? Yes

 

Option 4: Continue with current programme of installation of standard LED luminaires

Advantages

Disadvantages

Council would benefit from improved energy efficiency and reduced maintenance costs provided by LED luminaires Contributes to approximately 90% of council’s targeted energy reductions within its Energy Management Plan Key contributor to council’s eligibility for EECA subsidies Council would receive benefits from real time monitoring and control of LED luminaires Improved fault resolution times Dimming profiles would be able to be set remotely All associated works would be eligible for the 85% FAR LED lighting reduces skyglow

Design is not aesthetically appealing to some of the residents Perception that LED lighting creates a less safe environment at night

Budget – Capex: $45k

Budget – Opex:  $30k (over 20 years for the 46 lights within the petition area)

Key risks: Low

·    A small number of residents have raised concerns about the aesthetics of the standard LED luminaires.  This may mean that council receives further complaints.

Recommended? No

 

Option 5: Maintain existing decorative luminaire and add a standard LED luminaire

(This option was proposed by some of the petitioners)

Advantages

Disadvantages

Council would benefit from improved energy efficiency provided by LED luminaires Contributes to approximately 90% of council’s targeted energy reductions within its Energy Management Plan Key contributor to council’s eligibility for EECA subsidies Council would receive benefits from real time monitoring and control of LED luminaires Improved fault resolution times Dimming profiles would be able to be set remotely All associated works would be eligible for the 85% FAR LED lighting reduces skyglow

Maintenance of the decorative housing would be in addition to the cost of maintaining the functional luminaire Design is not aesthetically appealing to some of the residents Perception that LED lighting creates a less safe environment at night

Budget – Capex: $45k

Budget – Opex:  $195k (over 20 years for the 46 lights within the petition area)

Key risks: Medium

·    Unknown quality and condition of the existing decorative luminaires on the network may continue to pose a risk to the public. There have been several near misses with mounting failures on decorative luminaires in recent years.

·    A small number of residents have raised concerns about the aesthetic look of the standard LED luminaires.  This may mean that council receives further complaints.

Recommended? No

Financial considerations

11.    Following TCC submitting a business case, Waka Kotahi NZTA is now offering an 85% FAR for LED luminaire replacements until July 2021.  The energy savings provided by the LED upgrade programme is a key contributor to council’s eligibility for Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority subsidies if agreed energy savings are achieved. 

12.    With Opex for options 3 and 4 being effectively the same, the premium for replacing standard luminaires with the communities preferred option is approximately $30,000.  With the 85% FAR the cost to ratepayers is approximately $4,000 for the 46 lights in the petition area.  

13.    To date we have been adhering to council strategy in dealing with these assets and upholding that the increased cost of maintaining decorative streetlights should not be at general ratepayers/Waka Kotahi NZTA’s expense.  Deviation from Option 4 will set a precedent and may require a review of our approach to street columns and luminaires.

Consultation / Engagement

14.    In March 2019 work commenced on the conversion of residential street lights across the city to LED luminaires. Information about why we are changing to LED street lights and how this project fits with the nationwide roll out of energy efficient LED lights was communicated widely via various media channels including; local papers, council’s web page, social media.

15.    Progress on the suburb by suburb rollout programme is regularly updated via council’s website, media releases and reports to Council.

16.    The petitioners and residents of the area included in the petition held a meeting on 23 January 2020 that was attended by approximately 50 people. The above options were presented and discussed before a preferred option was voted on.  The vote was unanimously in favour of option 3.

Significance

Under the Significance and Engagement Policy 2014, this matter is of low significance.

Attachments

1.      Petition - Street Lighting - Papamoa - 13/11/2019 - A11036296 ⇩   

Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

8.6         General Manager's Report - People & Engagement

File Number:           A11110599

Author:                    Susan Jamieson, General Manager: People & Engagement

Authoriser:              Susan Jamieson, General Manager: People & Engagement

 

Purpose of the Report

1.      This report updates the Council on relevant issues and performance in the People & Engagement Group.

Recommendations That the Projects, Services and Operations Committee: (a)     Receive the General Manager: People & Engagement’s report for the period ending 31 January 2020.

 

Executive Summary – PEOPLE & ENGAGEMENT

2.      Recruitment of key roles within People & Engagement conclude in February including Team Leader roles for both the Communications and Engagement teams, reporting to our newly appointed Communications & Engagement Manager, Avon Adams.

3.      Recruitment continues for two Independent Chairs; the Independent Chair of the Rangapu Mana Whenua group (RMW) and the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee (FARC). A Tangata whenua representative is also being sought for FARC.

4.      The newly formed Engagement team are focused on identifying current and future projects requiring engagement planning and clarifying internal service level agreements within the organisation.

HUMAN RESOURCES

5.      HR strategy development – the HR team has created a people strategy that will inform the team’s approach to supporting and developing people at Tauranga City Council (TCC) over the next three years. We are currently working through the timelines/roadmap for activities and expect this will be completed by February 2020.  

6.      HR policy review (ongoing) – In December, Executive approved, in principle, to make changes to the Council’s leave policy, including the Wellness Leave Guidelines. The proposed policy seeks to provide clarity for employees and leaders about entitlement to paid leave, and to improve the foundation for consistent, equitable and transparent management of leave. The HR team is preparing an implementation plan which will include an all staff consultation process.

7.      Collective bargaining – negotiations for the Salaried Collective Employment Agreement continue. The bargaining teams attended mediation in November 2019 and progress was made towards a resolution. A further date for mediation has been agreed for early April 2020 to continue discussions. 

8.      Remuneration improvements/working group – we are talking to General Manager’s about potential improvements to our remuneration system for 1 July 2020 annual review, as well as developing a longer-term road map for remuneration (2 – 3-year view). We will be seeking more input from our employees and the PSA as part of this process.

HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELLNESS

9.      Asbestos management - the Health, Safety and Wellbeing team have been conducting workshops with relevant teams to introduce them to a suite of asbestos management processes and the completed register of all TCC assets that contain asbestos. These processes form part of TCC’s asbestos management plan which meets statutory obligations and are designed to protect the health of our people and those affected by our operations.

10.    Priority risk project – TCC operational risk owners are currently validating their lists of priority risks. These are risks that can result in a fatality or irreversible ill-health. The next milestone in the project is to establish a plan to systematically risk assess new priority risks and review existing. The result of this work will be a clear understanding of where our priority risks are and how they are being managed. This work will feed into the Executive and Councillor health and safety due diligence actions and performance reporting.

COMMUNICATIONS

11.    Media dashboard (December only) – there was a decline in the total number of media articles in December (294 articles, down 11% on previous month), primarily due to the shutdown period over Christmas. Even so, 63% of articles published were favourable (66% same time last year), with topics such as the Mauao base track reopening, free Wi-Fi at the Mount and AIMs Games economic success contributing to the overall favourability. Unfavourable articles remained below 10%, with the sale of the Bella Vista development being the key detractor.

12.    Media releases and media responses (December only) – proactive and response-based coverage resulted in a 68% of articles published in December (up from 60% same time last year).

(a)     Media releases – we issued 26 media releases on 21 topics/projects

(b)     Media enquiries – we received 28 media enquiries on 25 different topics

13.    Communications and engagement manager appointment – we welcomed Avon Adams on Tuesday, 27 January. Avon is an extremely experienced communications and engagement professional, having worked for numerous corporate and public sector companies including Vodafone, TVNZ, Department of Conservation and Ministry for the Environment.

14.    Internal communications – several projects have been supported internally, including the strategic finance project (SAP) Te Waka Taumata o Tauranga, LGOIMA audit and cyber training.

IWI AND HAPU RELATIONSHIPS

15.    Whakaari White Island response -Tauranga tribes are closely connected to Whakaari and the tribes of the Eastern BOP and consequently, local iwi and hapu played a significant role in responding to this tragic event. Cultural proceedings included a karakia (prayer vigil) held at the port, led by Ngai Te Rangi leaders Reon Tuanau, Josh Te Kani and Aukaha Kakau on behalf of Tauranga Moana. There was strong support by Councillors and staff of TCC alongside other sectors of the community. The response was a great example of the value Tangata Whenua can add to a situation by following cultural practices and tikanga. Sincere thanks to all who attended or extended their thoughts.

16.    Mauao Base Track – or more significantly, the resetting of the relationship with the Mauao Trust. This started with a “chief to chief” meeting involving the new mayor, the CEO and the relevant GM. With the support of Takawaenga, a genuine and frank discussion focused on what is in the best interest of Mauao. This was a crucial step to unlocking the conversation, permissions and agreements on how to proceed. Since that meeting and as the project has progressed, we have worked hard to realign any management decisions back to Poutiriao through current Chair Dean Flavell. This has gone well, and we expect will be reinforced as Poutiriao starts to meet with its new membership in 2020. The key going forward will be to maintain an appropriate level of governance contact to support the work with the Mauao Implementation Plan well advanced and ready to move on several initiatives. As such it is likely the Mauao Trust will invite Council to meet with them a couple of times a year to share aspirations, strategies and priorities but mostly to share understanding. This is a fantastic opportunity for Council/Tangata Whenua relationships.

17.    Re-mandating of hapu and iwi representatives post elections: this is a normal process following each election although it’s worth noting that it can take a bit of time as we align 17 different entities and their processes. Hapu and iwi tend to watch the election and the outcome and discuss their responses to the results before discussing who they might mandate and how they might like to proceed. We expect all mandates to be confirmed before the end of February 2020.

18.    Independent Chair of Rangapu Mana Whenua (RMW): long-standing chair Puhirake Ihaka has advised he will be standing aside this year as independent chair after 10 years in the role. The selection process is underway, with a call for expressions of interest. Shortlisted candidates will be presented to the RMW in February for voting and selection. The new chair should be confirmed by the end of February 2020.

19.    Tangata Whenua Representative for Finance Audit & Risk Committee: applications close 17 February 2020 and an appointee is expected to be confirmed by the end of February 2020.

CUSTOMER SERVICES

20.    Response times - 85% of contact centre enquiries were managed at first point of contact by the team without referral and 91% of calls were picked up within the required service level timeframe (1 minute 20 seconds).

21.    Business continuity – we commenced discussions with key stakeholders around the level of service required during business continuity events affecting the external community. Once these discussions are complete and any new or changing priorities understood, the team will consider how best to integrate the change. 

22.    Christmas LIM’s - the period leading up to Christmas is a busy period for LIMs and property files as customers rush to obtain their files before the break and the deadline set by non-working day limitations (Non-working day timeframe for LIM reports is 20 December to 10 January inclusive). LIM application numbers are showing an 18% (1742) increase on the same period last year, year to date. 92% of LIMs were issued on time against their expected 10-day service target. 780 LIMs have been issued earlier than the level of service on offer to customers across all application types (3 & 10 Day). An additional staff member commenced work in December to assist with the growth seen in LIMs.

23.    Service Centre enquiries have declined overall by 16% (2,150) for the year. Receipting numbers are also showing a similar drop in foot traffic transactions by 12% (1957).

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

24.    Recruitment for the permanent Team Leader: Engagement role will conclude in February, completing the formation of this new team.

25.    Key Priorities – a ‘shortlist of more than 50 projects requiring engagement support over the next 12-24 months has been developed for cross-checking and prioritisation with the responsible Council groups. The workstream this defines will then be allocated across the available resources, which may still involve some external input. Engagement advisors have been developing levels of service documentation and working with the Communications team to clarify responsibilities and establish protocols for delivering seamless services to the organisation. This work will assist the roll-out of engagement services to the wider organisation, which will be undertaken progressively over the coming weeks. Engagement staff are also meeting with key internal partners to gather information on community stakeholders and their respective needs and areas of interest.

26.    Engagement plans – the team have been working to develop engagement plans and/or support activities for a wide range of projects and activities, including the Te Papa Spatial Plan and City Plan Changes; Cameron Road multi-modal project; Cycle Action Plan (including the Ngatai Road – Better Connections project); Arataki transportation initiatives; Elizabeth Street upgrade; 2020/21 Annual Plan; Water Conservation; and ongoing water and transport projects.

27.    Online engagement - The process of evaluating software options for an online engagement platform is also progressing well and this key engagement portal is expected to be operational within the next three months.

28.    Council workshop – Councillors will be briefed on engagement priorities, timeframes and likely delivery costs at a workshop on 23 March. This will also seek to clarify the roles Councillors wish to play in community engagement activities and define a process for providing briefing information and receiving input to assist engagement planning.

DEMOCRACY SERVICES

29.    Independent Chairperson appointed to the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee – applications for this position closed on 17 January 2020. The appointment panel will be meeting to interview and recommend a preferred person to Council and it is anticipated that an appointment will be made by the end of February 2020.

30.    Ombudsman audit – we are one of four councils chosen by the Chief Ombudsman to have our Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA) policies and practices audited. This is part of the Ombudsman’s Office ongoing programme of work proactively focusing on local government. The Ombudsman’s public survey and staff survey was available from 2 December 2019 to 24 January 2020 and the Mayor and Councillors survey has been available from 21 January 2020. Staff from the Chief Ombudsman’s Office will be on site for a week beginning 17 February 2020 to conduct interviews with selected staff. A training session for the Mayor and Councillors with a person from the Ombudsman’s Office is planned for 3 March 2020. This will cover local government official information and the public information requirements of elected members.  The Chief Ombudsman’s final report will be tabled in Parliament in June 2020.

31.    Induction and training – the incoming Council has been undertaking a series of briefings, tours, induction sessions and internal and external training. This induction and training programme will continue in 2020 and will include sessions on standing orders and code of conduct, health and safety, cultural awareness, media training and presentations by the office of the Auditor-General and the Ombudsman’s office.

 

Attachments

Nil

Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

8.7         General Manager's Report - Strategy & Growth

File Number:           A11110263

Author:                    Christine Jones, General Manager: Strategy & Growth

Authoriser:              Christine Jones, General Manager: Strategy & Growth

 

Purpose of the Report

1.      This report updates the Council on relevant issues and performance in the Strategy & Growth Group for the period ending 31 January 2020.

Recommendations That the Projects, Services and Operations Committee: (a)     Receive the General Manager: Strategy & Growth’s Report for the period ending 31 January 2020.

 

Executive Summary – STRATEGY & GROWTH GROUP

2.      Much of the Strategy and Growth work programme results in reports directly to the Urban Form and Transport Development Committee or the Policy Committee.  This Projects and Services Committee Report covers material that either is not being reported to one of the other two committees or is an interim update on matters that will be ultimately considered by one of those committees.

DOMAIN ROAD

3.      The Domain Road Single Stage Business Case (SSBC) was developed to investigate and recommend access and safety improvements to 1.9km of Domain Road in Papamoa East.  Council staff worked on this business case collaboratively with NZTA staff for approximately 9 months before NZTA announced funding categories in the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) were oversubscribed.  This triggered the need for NZTA to re-prioritise nationally all projects that had been included in the NLTF co-funding.

NZTA advised that it was unlikely that this prioritisation would change therefore work on the business case ceased.  Elected members were informed of the transport project funding risks at 26 March 2019 Projects, Services & Operations Committee meeting resulting in a unanimous resolution to approve continuation of this project independent of NZTA co-funding. The physical works construction on Domain Road progressed.

In October 2019, NZTA subsequently advised Council staff that the Domain Road SSBC had been re-considered and was now “likely” to receive funding. Council staff then finalised the SSBC which required reviewing work to date and a funding submission to the NZTA Delegations Committee Thursday 12 December 2019 for approval.

In December 2019, TCC received funding approval for $5m (51% Funding Assistance Rate) from the NZTA Chief Financial Officer for the business case and the physical works elements that have not yet been constructed.

TE TUMU HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE FUND

4.      The Housing Infrastructure Fund is a $1 billion fund that provided 10-year interest-free loans to high-growth Councils. The funds were provided for core infrastructure to support housing development and increase housing supply.

In July 2018, Tauranga City Council submitted a Detailed Business Case to the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) to support the development of the Te Tumu growth area along the Eastern corridor of Tauranga. The Te Tumu HIF application was approved by MBIE (administers of the HIF fund), accompanied by NZTA approval of the eligible transport funding share from the NLTF.

In September 2018, NZTA confirmed the eligible funding share from the NLTF. NZTA agreed to a total NLTF contribution of $30.46 million for the transport components totalling $62.4 million, representing the application of a standard Funding Assistance Rate (FAR of 51%) against all eligible components.

Throughout this process, Council advised NZTA that cost estimates provided were provisional due to the challenge of bringing infrastructure development forward and the time required to progress design and costings.  There was an understanding that a request for variation would be considered by The Agency post-HIF approval.

In September 2019, Council submitted a funding variation request to NZTA. The funding variation sought both a different approach to funding some items and additional funding associated with cost increases.   FAR subsidy was sought on the transport components of Stormwater Pond G (approximately 28% of the cost), additional 51% FAR subsidy sought for the additional two laning of either Te Okuroa Drive or The Boulevard (whichever is constructed initially) to accommodate public transport. The funding variation also accurately reflects the updated design and engineers’ cost estimates of the original HIF application with additional funding of $9,095,000 sought.

The Te Tumu projects included in the funding variation memo request:

·    Papamoa East Interchange;

·    Te Okuroa Drive – from Main Road to Te Tumu boundary;

·    Te Okuroa Drive/Main Road Intersection; and;

·    Wairakei Land Purchase and Construction of Pond G.

Council have received a positive response to the funding variation request from NZTA and staff are currently responding to further information requests from NZTA, however no additional monies from the original bid have yet been approved.

TE TUMU PEI DISCUSSIONS REGARDING TOLLING

5.      TCC undertook discussions with NZTA regarding the potential inclusion of the Papamoa East Interchange (PEI) in the current Tauranga Eastern Link Order in Council (TEL Order).  This would then allow tolling revenue to be utilised to pay down the PEI.  Staff are seeking to determine whether tolling is a potential funding option for the significant capital expenditure of PEI which will likely be spent during the next LTP period.

NZTA advised their legal advice received was that the PEI was unable be included in the definition of the current order but offered to support TCC to investigate the option of applying a Council toll, with Council leading the process, complying with the LTMA regarding criteria and process.

Council legal advisors are of the view that the TEL Order could be amended to include PEI related costs.  NZTA and TCC have agreed that our respective legal advisors will meet to discuss the matter.

Divestment of former bella vista properties

6.      In December 2019, Council advertised for registrations of interest (ROI) from developers for the former Bella Vista properties on Lakes Boulevard and Aneta Way. The deadline for submitting ROI is 30 January 2020. Interested parties are asked to provide information on capability, capacity and credibility and purchase price indications. The intention is to sell all 22 properties to one developer, with a condition requiring a permanent retaining wall to be built before the properties effected by the wall are on-sold. Temporary retaining walls are in place.

7.      The last of the Lakes Boulevard houses was removed in December. The vacant sites have been tidied and grass is to be cultivated by way of hydroseeding to alleviate dust and to control sediment run-off. Timing of the reinstatement of the footpath along Lakes Boulevard is dependent on the removal of the existing sediment ponds, which will be determined shortly.

Attachments

Nil

Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

8.8         General Manager's Report - Infrastructure

File Number:           A11142773

Author:                    Nic Johansson, General Manager: Infrastructure

Authoriser:              Nic Johansson, General Manager: Infrastructure

 

Purpose of the Report

1.      This report updates the Council on relevant issues and performance in the Infrastructure Group for the December 2019 to January 2020 period.

Recommendations That the Projects, Services and Operations Committee: (a)     Receives General Manager’s Report - Infrastructure

 

Executive Summary

2.      This report covers material that either is not being reported to one of the other committees or is an interim update on matters that may ultimately be considered by one of the other committees.

Waiari water supply scheme

1.      This project delivers Tauranga’s third water treatment scheme.  The water abstraction volume is shared by Tauranga City Council (TCC) and Western Bay of Plenty District Council (WBOPDC) 75% / 25%.  Stage 1 brings on stream the first 15,000 cubic metres per day (of the consented 60,000 cubic metres per day). 

2.      There is a considerable amount of construction work to be completed to deliver the project.  Work has been divided into six main contracts.  Five have been awarded to-date, with one further one due for tendering in mid-February, as per the table below:

 

1	Intake works	Approx. 55% built - HEB
2	Reservoir to reservoir trunk-main	Approx. 58% built - HEB
3	Number One Road trunk-main	Commenced October 2019 - Smythe
4	Farm section trunk-main	Commenced December 2019 - HEB
5	Filtration Membrane Contract	Design complete
6	Treatment plant works	Tender to be released mid-February

 

3.      The farm section and treatment plant contracts are at greatest risk of time delay due to challenging ground conditions and the significant quantum of works required to complete the Treatment Plant.  The project team is approaching this issue on two fronts:

(a)     Firstly, through exploring the opportunities and viability of acceleration to shorten construction timeframes.

(b)     Secondly, through contingency planning and investigation of options to manage the supply of potable water to the community through the summer of 21/22.

4.      We are in the process of reviewing the total project budget to inform the Annual Plan and Long-Term Plan processes. A risk-based assessment of the project has recently been completed.  It will inform the budget to be put forward through the financial planning processes. The outcome of this review is the subject of a standalone report to this committee which addresses the impact on development contributions when collection for the scheme commences and what actions are being taken to verify and minimise costs.

5.      The final physical works contract (water treatment plant) is expected to be awarded by June 2020; the final value will not be available to inform budget adjustments in the annual plan, hence the requirement to make adjustments via the 21/31 long term plan process. A risk funding allowance will be included in the budget adjustments. 

6.      Extensive engagement continues with land owners, business and the community in relation to the project. Council is working very closely with our tangata whenua partners and WBOPDC and we aim to ensure stakeholders and the community are engaged and well informed.

7.      Risks and opportunities are continually being assessed, mitigated and resolved as the project progresses.  The assessment of risks informs Council’s contingency planning and budget forecasting processes.  Temporary Traffic Management (and the community’s response to this) features prominently in the project risk matrix.

cameron road / maleme street intersection

8.      Staff are reviewing options to improve safety and connectivity for pedestrians and cyclists at the Cameron Road/Maleme Street intersection.  We seek to find the most appropriate long-term solution but have introduced some interim measures before commencement of the new school term, including:

(a)     Removing the left-turn slip lane

(b)     Extending the cycle lane through the intersection, and

(c)     Installing some flexible safety posts.

9.      Further work underway involves redesigning the lane configuration of Maleme Street, the size of the existing pedestrian refuge and kerb realignments. 

10.    Longer-term options being investigated for this intersection include:

(a)     Traffic lights

(b)     Stand-alone light-controlled pedestrian crossing to the north of Maleme Street, across Cameron Road

(c)     Traffic modelling to determine the impact on the wider transport network in this area

(d)     Reconfiguration of the Western Bay of Plenty District Council entry/exit on to Cameron Road

15^th ave corridor improvements

11.    The works are progressing well, are within budget, while there are minor delays to the programmed completion date.  To minimise any impact on local businesses and residents, we are investigating the possibility of extended hours, until the project completion which is expected to be by mid 2020.

12.    Work is now underway on the Burrows Street intersection traffic signals.  We are working to complete the road widening and shared path works by early March, which leaves the closure of Turret Road and the commissioning of the traffic signals.

13.    Ongoing communication and engagement around the project is being undertaken by Higgins stakeholder staff, as well as through TCC E-News updates.

concord AVE / FARM STREET / links ave INTERSECTION

14.    The primary focus of these works is to improve the safety of cyclists and pedestrians crossing the road at the staggered intersection of Concord Ave, Links Ave and Farm Street.  Traffic calming measures were also installed to reduce road users’ speed in the area.  The substantive works were completed in early February, prior to school returning. 

15.    The footpaths around the intersection were widened and converted into shared paths, and cycle/pedestrian crossings were installed across Concord Ave (both ends of the intersection), Links Ave and Farms Street.

16.    Due to the yet to be decided location of the permanent Arataki bus facility, two temporary mountable roundabouts have been installed.

17.    Works commenced on 8 January as scheduled.  During the construction period, the Arataki community and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council (BoPRC) were consulted to ensure access was maintained to impacted properties and so bus services could operate without any issues.

18.    There are still some minor works associated with lighting that are yet to be completed - as such, a temporary speed limit of 30km/h will be in place until this aspect is complete.  In addition, a new shared pedestrian/cycle path on Links Ave is to be installed, which will connect with the existing path on the bus lane side of the road. 

19.    The final cost of the project is likely to exceed the engineers’ estimate of $500k but remains within the approved budget.

20.    As for any transport project, a post-construction safety audit will be undertaken once all works are complete.

TRANSPORT TECHNICAL REVIEWS

21.    Following a number of technical reviews of key transport projects in 2019, we have a new approach to assess the robustness of transport projects from a safety and purpose perspective.  This approach has been used successfully elsewhere in New Zealand and is known as Safety Assessment and Network Functionality (SANF). 

22.    The SANF is complementary to the traditional Safety Audit process and enhances this by including the requirement to take account of other considerations, such as the impact on network performance for all road user groups.

23.    The transport challenges that face a growing city require us to consider in-depth the competing demands and complexities of a busy urban network.  The benefit of the SANF process means a broader view is taken to ensure the project is fit for purpose. 

24.    The SANF considers, among other things, the following key elements:

(a)     Integration with future land use and growth

(b)     Integration with the public transport system

(c)     Effects on network capacity of both the existing road network and future transport projects

(d)     Integration with urban design and amenity values for the area

(e)     Pedestrian desire lines, total mobility and public safety

(f)      Operation and maintenance activities

(g)     Local community issues including school activities

(h)     Integration with intersection operation and safety

(i)      All elements of the current Safety Audit process are included

25.    The SANF process formalises the consideration and documentation of these effects as part of a project’s lifecycle.

tara road

26.    The Tara Road widening project has been a significant piece of work and is now complete subject to some further work required under Resource Management Act (RMA) conditions.

27.    The project was approved by way of a Notice of Requirement under the RMA, with conditions imposed regarding noise levels, including:

(a)     The requirement for installation of a noise wall along some sections of the road to mitigate noise to local residences

(b)     A maximum noise limit imposed, with noise assessments carried out periodically. 

In the event the limit is exceeded, then mitigations might comprise a reduction in the speed limit, quieter surfacing treatment for the road or additional noise walls.

28.    As Tara Road was built on swamp land, there is ongoing ground settlement occurring, particularly around the Tauranga Eastern Link (TEL) Domain Road roundabout.  This is being monitored, so repairs can be arranged should damage to road shape or drainage occur.

29.    We are also looking at ways to improve safety at the Tara Road / Parton Road intersection, following reviews by TCC and concerns raised by residents.  This is a well-used road by both private and commercial vehicles and located in close proximity to amenities such as bus stops, schools, childcare and medical facilities, a retirement village and other residences.  Any safety interventions should seek to improve conditions for all road users, while not compromising through-flow or creating congestion in the network. 

30.    We are exploring options and these will be reported back to a future PSOC. 

31.    There is also a citywide speed limit review, which will encompass this area, as the speed of traffic here is also a concern.

road sealing policy review

32.    At the Projects, Services and Operations Committee (PSOC) meeting (6 August 2019), a petition was received regarding the proposed chip seal resurfacing of Santa Monica Drive, Papamoa.

33.    The Committee received the petition and resolved that we would ‘defer resurfacing of Santa Monica Drive until 2020/21’, directed us to ‘engage with the community with regard to the most appropriate road surface for Santa Monica Drive’ and to ‘present an issues and options paper to Council for the 2020/21 annual plan on road pavement resurfacing level of surface’.

34.    At the same PSOC meeting, another petition was received regarding the resealing of Oriental Parade, Oreti Crescent and Bucklands Crescent in Papamoa.  The petitioners requested that Council reconsider its resurfacing policy and requested that an independent engineer carried out an inspection of the works.

35.    An independent inspection has been undertaken of the works, and a report has been prepared.  We are now analysing the conclusions and recommendations.

36.    We are also preparing a report to compare the merits of asphaltic concrete surface and stone chip surfacing that will inform any recommendations to Council as part of the 20/21 Annual Plan process.

37.    Any decision resulting from the Annual Plan process will, in turn, be reflected in the Council’s resurfacing policy.

HEWLETTS ROAD AREA – SHORT TERM INVESTIGATION

38.    The purpose of this project, led by NZTA, is to identify potential quick-win solutions to improve traffic efficiency on Hewletts Road and the surrounding road network.

39.    Coordination of this project is being undertaken by the Urban Form and Transport Initiative (UFTI) project team on behalf of the UFTI partnership.  Overall, the draft report identifies limited opportunities to improve Hewletts Road in the short-term. However, opportunities do include:

(a)     Improving signal phasing (e.g. Hewletts Road / Waimarie Street intersection)

(b)     Lane utilisation by adjusting lane markings to accommodate additional vehicle stacking at certain locations (e.g. between Tasman Quay to Jean Batten Drive)

(c)     Safety improvements, such as pedestrian and cycle connectivity between Newton Street and Maunganui Road and across the Hewletts Road/Totara Street intersection

(d)     Potential to improve local road connection between Te Marie Street and Newton Street.  This project has been costed at $1.3m, which is above the Transport Agency’s ‘low cost low risk’ Work Category threshold, as such, a business case would be required.

40.    The next steps are to finalise the report and work with NZTA to scope in detail each of the short-term opportunities, so that they can be investigated and designed in detail.  The medium-term and longer-term opportunities will be considered through the Transport System Plan project.

Bus shelter update

41.    On 10 December 2019, a report was presented to Council to provide an update on the provision of new bus shelters across the city.  At that meeting, it was resolved that Council would give notice of the proposed installation of bus shelters in writing to owners and occupiers of land with frontage to the proposed bus shelters, as per the Local Government Act.

42.    Prior to Christmas, 29 property owners were sent letters to advise of the proposal to install a bus shelter adjacent to their property.

43.    The timeframe for lodging formal objections has now passed.  We received one positive response and nine negative responses; the remaining 19 property owners did not respond to the letter.  This response rate was less than what we had anticipated.

44.    To allow for the possibility that property owners were either away or for the notification to have been overlooked, it is our intention to revisit these remaining property owners to determine their support or otherwise.  Once this exercise has been completed, we will report to Council at its meeting on 10 March 2020 in order to seek a decision on proceeding.

Idc comprehensive review

45.    The Infrastructure Development Code (IDC) provides technical information for development of our infrastructure.  This is a living document to allow for an ever-changing environment.

46.    It is a requirement of the IDC [Section GEN-5.2.5] that there is a comprehensive review carried out every 9 years. The 2020 Comprehensive IDC review was launched on 1 July 2019.  Industry stakeholders were invited to share their thoughts on what in the IDC works well and what may not work so well.  The survey closed at the end of August 2019, with 24 responses received.  Results and individual responses to comments were published on the TCC website, issued to the IDC contact list and discussed at the Property Developer’s Forum.

47.    The results of the survey did not include any recommendations for substantial changes to the IDC, therefore, a report will not be submitted to full Council as required under GEN-5.25f.  All recommended changes have been included in the IDC projects list for prioritisation and action.

 

Attachments

Nil

Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

8.9         General Manager's Report - Corporate Services

File Number:           A11142050

Author:                    Nick Swallow, Manager: Legal & Commercial

JD Thomas, Manager: Property Services

Kathryn Sharplin, Manager: Finance

Allan Lightbourne, Chief Digital Officer

Ray Dumble, Manager: Airport

Authoriser:              Paul Davidson, General Manager: Corporate Services

 

Purpose of the Report

1.      This report updates the Council on relevant issues and performance in the Corporate Services department for December 2019.

Recommendations That the Projects, Services and Operations Committee: (a)     Receive the General Manager Corporate Services Report

 

Executive Summary

2.      Corporate Services Group covers the areas of finance, digital, legal and risk, property, airport, marine and procurement.  The areas of finance, legal and risk are reported regularly through the Finance and Audit Committee and are not covered in detail in this report.

Legal & commercial Update

3.      The legal and commercial team is relatively new, with Procurement services and Legal and Risk services combining with the objective being to place several key business advisory services in a single team.  Much of the last half of 2019 saw efforts geared towards bedding in the new team but also trying to better promote the gains that these three areas can bring to Council as a whole.

4.      Because legal and risk both report quarterly to the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee it is better for this report will (insofar as it relates to those teams) to focus more on how those functions are operating:

(a)     Legal: last year saw a concerted effort to increase the team’s overall capacity to provide legal advice, particularly around capacity to provide commercial advice (contracts etc.). This saw a new position created - Team Leader: Legal, along with an additional Corporate Solicitor.  Both these new positions have been filled, and we have been lucky enough to attract some very experienced commercial lawyers into the organisation.  We are also currently recruiting to replace one of the existing roles following an internal promotion outside the Corporate Services group. 

(b)     Risk: this function underwent significant change as a result of the repositioning last year and saw two new positions created – Internal Auditor and Business Continuity Advisor.  Again, we were lucky to attract some highly experienced and capable staff to the organisation.  The new roles report into the Team Leader: Risk, which is itself a new role from the previous Risk Specialist position:

(i)      Internal Auditor: this role is a safeguard function to ensure that Council is aware of progress on measures to reduce risk.  More widely, there is increasing recognition of a need to utilise risk management tools at early stages of projects.

(ii)     Business Continuity Advisor: this position previously sat within the Emergency Management team and was unfilled.  It was moved into Risk services in recognition that business continuity is distinct from things like natural disasters, and critical to ensuring Council functions can operate following a wide variety of possible disruptions.  Late last year the team completed a series of risk assessment and business impact analysis workshops, which are the first step to gaining business understanding which then feeds into wider recovery strategies and business continuity plan development. 

5.      Procurement: As noted above, the Procurement team merged with Legal and Risk.  The team reports to the Team Leader: Procurement position, which was filled late last year with a highly experienced team leader joining from the private sector.  The last quarter of 2019 saw efforts placed on understanding how TCC does procurement with a view to process improvements.  There are two central changes underway:

(a)     With only a single advisor plus a team leader, TCC has a small team compared to local authorities of a similar size.  We are shortly going to commence recruiting for two new roles: a procurement specialist who will work with Council teams at a more strategic level (e.g. to understand market dynamics and trends), and a senior procurement advisor to increase the support to various TCC teams; and

(b)     TCC also operates a “centre led” procurement approach, which means there is a central policy framework and advisory support for various teams to follow.  We are looking to understand if this model is effective and how to improve it. However, it is already clear that additional advisory support will be needed to reflect the considerable growth of the City and corresponding rise in the amount of procurement being undertaken.  The team is working closely with the infrastructure team, including the PMO, around these potential changes.  In addition, a recent change has seen the procurement co-ordinator role move from Infrastructure to Procurement bringing the tender portal under the umbrella of Procurement.

digital services update

6.      Operating Statistics for the reporting period 1 December to 15 January:

         (Previous reporting period was 15 September to 31 October, 6 weeks)

·        the number of service desk tickets 2370 (previous period 3077) 

·        the number of outages/P1 calls 0 (previous period 1) 

·        the number of changes released 25 (previous period 79) 

·        the number of active servers 241 (previous period 276) 

·        the number of active laptops/PCs/Tablets 1061 (previous period 898) 

·        The number of active virtual desktops 452 (previous period 856)

·        The number of active users/accounts 2055 (previous period 2011)

·        the number of cell phones 544 (previous period 534)

·        the number of staff hours on projects 1225 (previous period 2176)

·        the number of cyber-attacks 49,340 (previous period 45,600) (This number is unique attacks by user by type i.e. one address attacking us 1,000 times with one type of attack and then another 1,000 times with another type of attack is counted as ‘2’.)

·        the number of emails processed 5,649,689 (previous quarter 1,776,487)

·        the number of items scanned/profiled 16,417 (previous period 31,753)

Notes: Staff hours on projects lower due to the Christmas Break.

7.      The DWF project has delivered all of the laptops and has a few PCs still to deliver. The numbers will drop a little in the next reporting period as old assets are retired in accordance with our lifecycle process. The number of active virtual desktops is decreasing as these are also being retired as an outcome of the DWF project.

8.      The number of changes released was a lot lower this reporting period as we were in brownout/blackout for most of that timeframe over the Christmas break.

9.      We have now moved our email environment completely to Exchange Online. This gives us much better reporting tools around email, and this accounts for the large increase in the number of emails processed. Our previous method of reporting could only account for externally sent and received emails, where the Exchange Online reporting gives us ALL emails processed including internal email.

10.    Key Digital Metrix

·          NPS in this reporting period 43.2 (previous period 42.4)

·          Transactions completed on-line 3,484 (previous period 3,040)

·          Value of transactions on-line $508,889 (previous period $688,500)

·          the number of property’s/subdivisions processed 14 (previous period 29)

·          the number of new land parcels created –  120 (previous period 97)

·          the number of customer contracts on TCC fibre - 18 (previous period 18)

·          the amount of leased datacentre space - 2 customers, 84 Units (previous period - 2 customer, 84 Units)

11.    Digital Programme (Master Plan) Summary

Along with the Executive team Digital Services maintain a forward programme of work (called the Digital Master Plan), which represents the major streams of work required to:

·          Reduce organizational risk (to address end-of-life systems, poor asset management and historic under investment in IT)

·          Increase productivity (through providing our people and community fit for purpose tools and platforms) 

·          Improve decision making (through providing our people access to information's and insights and opening up this information to the community) 

·          Reduce cyber security risk (through providing appropriate education for our people and strengthening our borders)

·          Community enablement (through increased self-service, digitization of legacy processes, improved channel experiences and access to knowledge) 

12.    This Master Digital Plan represents 80% of our programme of work (not to be confused with business as usual activity), with 20% built up of the small but important changes that bubble up from the organization and community (such as providing dashboards for the transport team to understand the health of our cycle counters across the city and cycle volumes).

 

Completed	WIP	Future
Finance
Strategic finance Planning	Strategic finance Delivery	AR Rating Corp Planning Sourcing & Procurement Property Management
Community, Services & Regulatory
	Channels Roadmap Service request planning Field Services PoC	Consultation portal Simple Service Delivery Full Field Services
Community Engagement, Governance & stakeholder
InfoCouncil		Stakeholder Management Content Distribution & Review. Engagement & consultation tools and processes. Channel Management tool.
Data Insights & Information
Development of BI strategy & roadmap.	Common BI & Reporting Portal Rollout. BI Reporting delivery	BI Reporting delivery
Productivity Tools & Infrastructure
Skype for Business Ph-1 Outlook online  Laptop Delivery		Skype for Business Ph-2 Contact Centre Omni-channel Tool. Office 365 Productivity Tool Records Management Cloud Migration CAB Planning and Execution.
HR
Building Services Competencies		HR Roadmap planning Year End Discussions (Full) Ask Your Team - org survey/engagement. Core HR Insights
Major Services
	Kerbside Product Planning & Design. Waters Technology Assessment	Kerbside Product Delivery Water Contract Partner Solutions
Asset Management
Powerplan Upgrade		Asset Management Review Accella upgrade and Optimisation.

 

·          Engagement & Consultation Tools and Processes is brought forward into financial year 20

 

Project	Description	Phase	Status
Strategic Finance	Deliver on vision for Strategic Finance.	Delivery	·    Strategic Finance initiative is the first of a programme of work to remove the risk of our outdated ERP platform (Ozone) whilst supporting the finance team focus on strategic outcomes and supporting the organisation;  ·    Project status currently green and tracking to plan, against a tight timeline.  ·    Spend to date on track against budget.  ·    Completed approx. 80% of development;  ·    Completed approx. 80% test scripts and commenced system testing;  ·    Business engagement and readiness activities ramping up;  ·    Commenced deployment and cutover planning for trial cutovers and ‘Go-Live’ in April timeframe.
Lifecycle	Maintaining our systems and solutions by ensuring they remain up to date, supportable and secure.	Delivery	·    A number of our systems are quickly coming to the end of life, where they will no longer be supported by the vendors and expose TCC to potential security vulnerabilities. This has been heavily driven by the end of support of operating systems by Microsoft along with a history of under-investment in our IT systems.   ·    Digital services have now successfully completed the following system upgrades:  ·    Printing environment  ·    Scanning environment (KOFAX)  ·    Asset Management System (Accela)  ·    City Waters server   ·    Exchange migration to Exchange Online  ·    Business Continuity website moved to Objective Connect  The following are currently in progress:   ·    Traffic management system (SCATS) Upgrade  ·    Intranet ‘Insider’ upgrade
Tools	Give our people the productivity tools they need to be successful.	Delivery	·    Skype for Business phase 2 is kicking off next quarter, which will enable the organisation to fully utilise the telephony and video conferencing capabilities.  ·    Exchange email migration project – where we are moving our mailboxes to an online version of Microsoft Exchange. All mailboxes have been migrated to Exchange Online and we have now been monitoring on the legacy server to check for any remaining connections which need to be changed before switching the server off.  The project has also successfully completed the TCC email archiver system and Digital Services & Property Portal Service Desk solution. Next step is to decommission the legacy server and complete the documentation.  ·    Digital Workplace of the Future Laptop rollout is complete with over 700 laptops across the organisation. The project is now focussing on removing the remaining virtual machines to be able to fully decommission the old environment.    ·    Office 365 discovery work will commence next quarter. Vendor has been engaged to evaluate alternate options. The use of the Office 365 platform presents an opportunity for TCC to migrate from its legacy document management system, potential savings in license fees and an improved user experience. The organisation will be using the other aspects of the O365 suite and this is an opportunity to consolidate.
Governance	Provide the right tools to enable appropriate council governance including facilities, reports, agenda’s and meeting management.	Delivery	·    The first Initiative on this roadmap was the implementation of a tool, Infocouncil, to support democratic services and the organisation manage the end to end process for council and committee meeting content from initial report development through to submission, meeting agendas, minutes and actions.   ·    Infocouncil web went LIVE Jan 2020.  Infocouncil web automates the publishing of agendas and minutes to the TCC website.  The Infocouncil project is expected to close down late Feb 2020
Service, Portal & Channels	Enabling tools to support our community to interact with the council using the channels that suit them.	Discovery	·    Prior to the formal start of this project, Digital Services and People & Engagement with support of a partner (Flare Design, who have previously done the Customer Services review) have started the development of a Channel Strategy/Framework with the wider organization. This work is currently underway  ·    The draft final report is being presented in late January to the Steering Group.  ·    Starting work with the Engagement Team to progress tools to support better community engagement
Regulatory	Provide the right tools and processes to support our regulatory requirements whilst managing the community's expectations,	N/A	·    In line with the master plan, major components in this space will start in 2022.   ·    In the short-term Digital Services are working closely with the regulatory teams around some tools to support efficient delivery of services. Several initiatives are currently under development:  o Improved reporting around resource consents  o Mobile field workforce tools.  The first stage of this functionality will be available shortly  o Evaluating the viability of SAP All of Government cloud solution for regulatory processes
BI and Analytics	Continued maturing of our tools and capability to deliver enhanced reporting and data insights in order to enable data driven decision making across the organisation.	Delivery	·    A focus for the BI stream during this period has been the development of a strategy that will keep the BI activity aligned with the organisation’s outcomes.   ·    Support for the Strategic Finance project has been a key area of focus for the BI stream. Several reports are being developed as value add to vendor deliverables from the project.  ·    To grow and future proof our BI platform, work is underway to leverage cloud technology and extend our BI capability.   ·    A Data Insights roadmap will be socialised with Executive in the next reporting period. The roadmap will look to increase the organisations maturity around the creation and use of data to make good decisions.

 

 

 

Strategic Finance in action – An interactive and collaborative approach to delivering complex projects

 

13.    Other Digital Projects

         In addition to the Major areas of work, Digital services are supporting the organization with a number of smaller initiatives to improve efficiencies and provide enhanced service to our community. These initiatives are being delivered through an iterative delivery methodology which enables stakeholders to realise value early and continue to iterate over time. The following initiatives have been delivered through this mechanism:

a)      Information Security Review: DS have engaged an organisation called International Consulting Group (ICG) to source a contractor for a Security Governance review. The engagement is expected to start in mid to late February and take 4-6 weeks. It will involve leveraging experience in the security industry to hold quality discussions with key stakeholders, gather relevant information and come up with a pragmatic approach and recommendations for TCC.  This is governance/risk/practices aspect of security rather than the operational parts.  The value that this will provide is:

·          Understanding what TCC’s cyber security risk profile currently looks like and what an appropriate future state could look like; 

·          Informing a recommendation/debate with Exec and Council on the appropriate cyber stance for TCC; 

·          Knowing what steps to take to improve our cyber security risk profile; 

·          Being in a better position to understand the appropriate levels of investment required based on the risk profile we select; 

·          Aligning our efforts in this space to an active and informed decision by council.

b)      ALGIM Benchmarking: DS have taken an opportunity to carry out a benchmarking exercise through ALGIM (Association of Local Government Information Management). This will allow us to benchmark against other IT departments within local government and provide us with a repeatable method to continue to measure this.  This will augment the information we get out of NPS and help us to track our progress as a department. The value that this will provide is:

·          Finding out what is really important to the business in order to steer DS in the right direction

·          Identify dissatisfied stakeholders and build tailored improvement plans to meet their needs

·          Identify how IT capacity constraints effect the organisation, providing a strong case for budgetary changes or refocus

·          Identify what good practice looks like and understand where we fit against our peers. Be able to understand the link between IT Satisfaction and IT Maturity

·          Enable us to set a baseline which will focus effort on improving IT maturity where it matters most

·          Focus IT activity on where it is needed most by the business.

·          Measure the satisfaction of our key decision makers annually

The sector benchmarking includes comparison against NZ councils and also international benchmarking statistics which will provide valuable insight. The survey is planned to take place in February, with the report being available in March. 

c)      Cyber Security Training: We launched our new cyber security training platform Phriendly Phishing to staff in January, and we are currently monitoring the progress. The uptake in the first 2 weeks looks very promising. We have run cyber security training for the last 18 months but have moved to a platform that better targets our high-risk area which is Phishing. To start fresh with the new system we ran a benchmarking exercise before Christmas ahead of launching the training. This is a simulation of a phishing attack that is sent to everyone in the organisation. This baseline showed 27% of the recipients opened the email, and 20% clicked on the link in the email.

              

d)      Public Wifi on the beach – Phase 1: We launched our WiFi service at Main Beach and we are now monitoring the stats to test:

·        Through offering a high-quality WiFi service, do we increase the volume of positive social media posts about the city 

·        Can we use the WiFi solution as a proxy to monitor the usage of Main Beach - better real-world data (facts) help us make better planning decisions

·        Can we use the WiFi solution to track the number of people attending events

·        Do community users access (use) the service and value it

Over the last few weeks, we have already started to gain a number of positive indicators around achieving our goals:

·        Social - we have seen 110GB of social media content accessed – with the top services being Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and then Snapchat.

·        Use - we have had an average of 148 people per day use the service from a potential 6797 devices coming into contact with the service each day at a total of 1.19TB of usage over the 6 weeks.

·        45% of people connecting each day have used the service previously.

a 

 

 

Heatmap of Wifi availability at Mt Beach: 

 

e)      PowerPlan Upgrade: TCC use PowerPlan Asset Investment Optimization (AIO) software to generate asset renewal plans which support TCC planning processes (asset management plans, budgeting and LTP). The value of the assets that TCC have in PowerPlan is $1.4 billion with an annual depreciation amount of $30 million.  The 2018/19 renewal budgets forecasted using PowerPlan was $17million. This upgrade has delivered performance and usability improvements:

·        Increase in asset model recalculation performance – reduction from 5 days to 3 days for full recalculation of all assets.

·        Sync assets between Accela Asset Mgmt system and PowerPlan - gains here allow our asset planners to perform sync’s mid-week rather than syncing over weekend, reducing lead-time in getting data to our planners.  

·        User Interface improvements have significantly reduced wait time and increased usability leading to better and wider use of the product. 

f)       Integration – Building on our first integrations built on Microsoft Azure in the last reporting period, we have added more Services to this cloud-based framework to integrate existing systems with the SAP implementation for the Strategic Finance project.  This approach significantly reduces our support effort, relies on off the shelf services and increases our agility and delivery speed.

g)      Insider Platform Upgrade – to ensure we have the latest features and are up to date from a security perspective the content management system platform for Insider has been upgraded.  This included an upgrade to the Knowledgebase module which Customer Services use heavily to provide information and navigate council processes when handling community enquiries. 

h)      Continuation of Net Promoter Score rollout, in this period:

Libraries now have their phone calls included in Net Promoter Score surveying of the community after they’ve called with enquiries.

Trends in NPS for all of TCC:

 

The early trend in January Net Promoter Score feedback is indicating an increase in community satisfaction with the services being measured, after remaining steady from Q1 to Q2.  Number of respondents is continuing to increase as we add more business units.

Results by group below, note the margins of error (grey bars) increase as volumes of surveys are less: 

 

Corporate Services: 

 

 

 

Infrastructure: 

 

Regulatory and Compliance:

 

 

People and Engagement:

 

Community Services (Space and Places have recently started along with Libraries as noted above, but no trends yet).

property operations update

14.    Property:

a)      The seismic compliance of the Spring street and Elizabeth street carparks are being assessed at present

b)      Fishermans wharf renewals planned due to deterioration of the timber deck and piles. Consultation to commence with the mooring holders.

c)       Public toilet cleaning tender has been awarded to Outsource Client Solutions.

d)      A tender to comply with the Governments Healthy homes will be tendered by the end of February.

e)      Elder Housing portfolio demands are increasing as discussions about  divestment continue.

15.    Mount Holiday Park:

a)      It was a busy summer holiday season with almost full occupation 24^th December – 10^th January, and ongoing peak capacity levels expected for the season.

b)      WIFI Installation is complete at the Mount Holiday Park and go live date was 17 December 2019. Feedback has been well received from occupants.

c)       Plans are underway to increase the capacity of the Holiday Park dining /lounge area to meet operational demands on this facility. An Architect is underway with preliminary plans for discussion and meeting with Iwi.

d)      Despite regular Arborist checks, ongoing Health & Safety inspections and mitigation processes, extensive high winds over the holiday season caused a branch from one of three Norfolk Pines on the Mount Holiday Park to fall on 4^th January 2020. Although no one was injured, the branch landed on a caravan awning causing damage and had a high risk of personal injury. The trees were re- inspected by Arborists after the event and a longer term investigation and report is underway to review additional mitigation factors for such an event reoccurring. Refer Photos below.

 

airport update

16.    December was the completion of the busiest quarter ever for the Airport with 133,962 passengers using the Airport up 13% ,the 12 month running total is 512,659 18% up on the previous 12 months and 30% on the 12 month period prior to that.

17.    The increased activity has virtually no effect on Air Traffic volumes as up gauging Aircraft size accommodates the passenger growth.

18.    Car Park and Rental Car infrastructure is under pressure in peak periods. Projects are underway to ease this pressure.

finance update

19.    Focus for the finance team has been implementation of the strategic finance project which has involved design and implementation of the functional requirements for the new SAP system.  This project has been undertaken at pace with a large SAP team working with our finance and digital teams to deliver a new general ledger, financial and project reporting, asset system and purchasing to payment system. 

20.    The team has been highly engaged and the relationship with the SAP and digital services team has been exceptionally positive.  The project is targeting an April go live date.  The change management process has been rolled out into the organisation with a large number of subject matter experts from the business now being included in the project.

21.    The financial advisory staff have been focussed on reviewing and monitoring the current year’s performance and updating financial information for the annual plan including reviews of activity revenue and expenditure and trends to deliver a sound budget and user fee proposals for the annual plan.

22.    Recent months have seen an update of assumptions for the annual plan including revenue and expenditure timing, project costs and leaky building claims. These updates will inform the draft budget presented in February to policy committee.

23.    In preparation for the 2021-31 Long Term Plan the finance team focus includes:

(a)     Analysis of debt growth likely over the next few years to frame the LTP discussions and the limits on borrowing, particularly the debt to revenue ratio.  Borrowing limits will constrain the capital investment opportunities of council, particularly the amount of the desired infrastructure that can be delivered over the next few years.

(b)     Investigation of alternative funding opportunities and their financial implications for TCC and residents of the city.

(c)     Organisation of information and reporting on the capital programme to enable council to better understand investment options and prioritise investment in the light of budgetary limits.

(d)     Review of options for the financial strategy, Revenue and Financing Policy, and rating options.

(e)     Review of business needs and risks and the business implications of economic assumptions, and

(f)      Development of the IBIS Breeze corporate planning system to replace Ozone and link with new SAP system

(g)     work with our digital team to develop the BI reporting capability arising from the inclusion of financial and corporate planning data in the data warehouse.

24.    The revenue team has collected 98.5% of the first rates instalment and are due to deliver the second rates instalment to all ratepayers from 1 February.

 

Attachments

Nil

Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

8.10       General Manager's Report - Regulatory and Compliance

File Number:           A11143276

Author:                    Barbara Dempsey, General Manager: Regulatory & Compliance

Authoriser:              Barbara Dempsey, General Manager: Regulatory & Compliance

 

Purpose of the Report

This report updates the Council on relevant issues and performance in the Regulatory and Compliance department for November to December 2019.

Recommendations That the Projects, Services and Operations Committee: a)   Receive the General Manager: Regulatory and Compliance report for the November to December 2019 period.

 

Executive Summary

This report provides information on the performance of the Regulatory and Compliance Group in relation to the key activities of the Group.

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND Monitoring

Resource Consents

For the current reporting period, the Environmental Planning Team received 107 applications. The majority of these were land use activities (63) with the remainder being subdivision consents (44). This represents an overall decrease in the number of consents received over the previous reporting period:

The number of resource consents granted in November increased slightly from the previous reporting period but dipped to almost half in December. This reflects the lower number of applications received in the reporting period:

For the current reporting period, 66% of applications were granted within the statutory timeframe. Recruitment is currently underway to fill the remaining vacancies within the team. A full complement of staff and improvements to current systems and processes will improve this outcome.

Inspections and incidents

The Environmental Monitoring Team have responded to 61 phone calls and emails reporting incidents during this period. No infringement notices were issued for November and December 2019.

HEALTH AND LICENSING

Liquor Licensing

The graphs below show the number of applications received by the Alcohol Licensing team and the number of alcohol licences determined by the District Licensing Committee (DLC).

Special licences are split into classes 1, 2 and 3. The difference between the classes is the number of people attending the event.

The figures above are for both new and renewal. The greatest volume of applications received is for managers certificates. Every licensed premises are required to have a certified manager present at times when alcohol is being sold.

 
A number of applications for large special events were received during this period. The applicants organising these large events, Bay Dreams, One Love and concerts at various venues in the City, are interviewed by the Licensing Inspector and Police to discuss how the sale of alcohol will be managed. These meetings provide the opportunity to raise any concerns and for the applicant to address such, providing a platform for events to be well managed and result in less alcohol related harm.

A hearing was held to consider an application for a new Off Licence for the Merivale Liquor Centre. A number of objections were received and raised concerns about alcohol related harm in the community. The Off Licence was granted with a number of conditions and the premises will be monitored closely by both Police and the Liquor Licensing Inspector.

Environmental Health

The graphs below show the verifications of Food Control Plans and National Programmes and the resulting corrective actions.

A number of new verifications have been undertaken as a result of both new premises being established and change of ownership (a new owner has to apply for a new Food Control Plan or National Programme). These verifications are given priority as the timeframes required by Ministry of Primary Industries must be met.

JAS-ANZ is scheduled to undertake an assessment of Councils QMS (Quality Management Systems) for Food Verification Services in March. The auditors will spend two days reviewing documentation and assessing verifiers in the field.

Noise

The graphs below show the number of noise complaints and the actions taken by Council's Noise Control Services and the number of investigations relating to noise undertaken by the Noise Specialist in the Environmental Health team.

The last quarter shows a significant increase in the number of complaints received regarding noise and this is typical of the summer period with more people enjoying their outdoor living areas and having doors and windows open and an increase in visitor numbers.

Large events at which music was performed were well managed and monitored resulting in very few complaints relating to the noise levels created.

ANIMAL SERVICES

Another successful Mud Dog Run event was held at TECH Park in November, this event is a combined initiative with Western Bay and Tauranga City Council and attracts dog owners from all over the Bay of Plenty.

November also saw the successful conclusion to a prosecution, where a dog attacked a pedestrian and hospitalised her with significant bites to both legs. The owner of the dog was disqualified as an owner for 5 years and ordered to pay restitution to the victim. A destruction order was made for the attacking dog, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier Labrador Retriever Cross.

The end of 2019 we had four dogs up for adoption and we were struggling to find new homes as we approached Christmas. However, in the final week, thanks to some great work from the team, all four were adopted, pictured below.

 

 

There was a number of attacks on cats over a two-day period in the Matua area immediately prior to Christmas. A total of five cats were reported killed, saliva samples were taken from three cats so we could complete a DNA comparison with three suspect dogs. The owner of the fifth cat clearly identified the dogs involved. DNA results have now been reviewed and a prosecution will commence against one dog owner from the area. 4 infringement fines will be issued, and two people have been disqualified from owning a dog for 3 years and 5 years respectively.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Shade Sail at the Pound

Thanks to an internal fundraiser supported by the Tauranga City Council Social Club, the Animal Services team were able to purchase a shaded area for dogs to exercise under and get out in the fresh air.

The following graphs depict trends in general complaints. There is often an increase in barking and roaming complaints at this time of the year as more people get out and about and enjoy outdoor living.

During the 5-year period shown in these graphs, dog numbers have increased in the City from 12024 to 13733, 400 in the last 12 months.

The next two graphs depict reported acts of aggression over the same period as the previous two graphs. “rushed at” are situation when a dog has shown aggression to a person or animal while they are in a public place but there has been no physical contact e.g. a dog running toward someone barking or growling.

REGULATION MONITORING

Parking

There is an increase in parking complaints in comparison with last year. An 8% increase from November 2018 and 12% increase from December 2018. All current parking officer vacancies have been filed allowing us to respond to complaints efficiently and focus on proactively monitoring areas of low compliance.

Bylaws

Freedom camping enforcement overview

From the period 1 November until 30 April Council contractor, First Security, conduct proactive freedom camping patrols at the following locations 7 nights a week;

Designated freedom camping locations;

Fergusson Park

Kulim Park

Memorial Park

Marine Park 1

Marine Park 2

Whareroa Reserve

Harrisons Cut

Stella Place

Taylors Reserve

 

Prohibited locations;

Marine Parade

The Mall

Pacific Avenue

MacVille Park

Beach Road

Sulphur Point

Papamoa Domain

Papamoa Beach Road

 

From the period 1 May to 31 October the patrols are reduced to 4 nights a week, Thursday to Sunday, as compliance levels improve.

Any complaints received are responded to as soon as possible irrelevant of the time of year. These complaints normally relate to freedom campers in residential areas.

Patrolled sites are regularly reviewed for compliance and patrols can be amended to include new ‘hot spots’ or reduce patrols at compliant sites.

Infringements are issued for several offences but mainly; freedom camping in a non self-contained vehicle, freedom camping outside of a designated area or prohibited area and freedom camping for more than 2 nights at the same location per calendar month.

Common infringement disputes are that the occupant was not in the vehicle at the time of the infringement or they were resting due to driver fatigue. Officers always confirm the vehicle in breach of the bylaw is occupied.

As referenced in DC103 Deliberations on Draft Freedom Camping Bylaw 2019, Council has taken the position not to enforce the bylaw where there are situations of genuine homelessness. A lenient approach has been taken, people are provided information about relevant support services. Staff work closely with the contractor to ensure they are aware of any vehicles linked to genuine homeless persons and if someone receives an infringement and claims to be homeless, bylaw officers will make enquiries to confirm and take this opportunity to engage with unknown homeless to connect them with support agencies.

Complaints received from the public regarding parking and bylaw non-compliance (previous 14 months)

Infringements issued (previous 14 months)

Note: there are a range of different offences, listed below are the main ones.

Of the 1336 parking infringements issued

239 were $200 infringements for expired licence & WOF

323 were $40 infringements for failing to pay for parking

115 were ranging $12-$57 for parking longer than paid for

358 were ranging $12-$57 for parking over the time limit

Of the 125 $200 freedom camping infringements issued:

         45 were for freedom camping in a prohibited area

37 for freedom camping outside the designated area

33 freedom camping in a non-self-contained vehicle

7 freedom camping for more than 2 nights per calendar month in the same location

 

BUILDING SERVICEs

November 2019
% of Building Consent applications processed within 20 days	97%
No. of Building Consents Issued: New Residential:  72 Commercial:        18  Other:                    63 Total:                   153
% of CCCs processed within 20 days	86%
No. of CCCs processed	206
No. of building inspections undertaken per day (on average)	109
No. of inspections undertaken for the month of November	2291
Elapsed days* for the month of November	39

 

December 2019
% of Building Consent applications processed within 20 days	96%
No. of Building Consents Issued: New Residential:  71 Commercial:         22       Other:                    48 Total:                   141
% of CCCs processed within 20 days	94%
No. of CCCs processed	214
No. of building inspections undertaken per day (on average)	98
No. of inspections undertaken for the month of December	1573
Elapsed days* for the month of December	44

 

IANZ Audit

At the time of preparing this report staff were still working with IANZ to clear General Non-Compliances.

 

Building Inspection Wait Times

Note: 1.0 = 2 weeks

 

Building Warrant of Fitness (BWOF) Inspections

The BWOF team continue to audit information provided from Independently Qualified People (IQP). IQPs are approved by the territorial authority as qualified to inspect certain specified systems and ensure that necessary maintenance occurs.

November 2019
Certificates of Public Use (CPUs) issued	16
BWOFs renewed	104
Outstanding BWOF – Notices to Fix	4

 

December 2019
Certificates of Public Use (CPUs) issued	10
BWOFs renewed	69
Outstanding BWOF – Notices to Fix	2

 

Stakeholder Engagement

The Building Services team hosted a stakeholder event in December 2019, where we invited the industry (builders, designers, engineers, group home builders) to come and share with us what has been working well and opportunities where we could improve our services.

We welcomed the feedback and suggestions which will feed into the events calendar we will be running this year. Internally we are working on how we can collaboratively educate across the Building Consent process, to ensure the overall journey of the customer and their understanding on Tauranga City Council expectations for an application is well communicated. The end of year event was a chance for key personnel to engage and the subsequent events calendar will build on those opportunities across the disciplines.

During the year of 2019, a total of 2546 surveys were sent out to Building Services customers and we had 777 responses. We had a total of 279 responses come back negative, but a total of 498 coming back as positive and neutral.

The comments in the negative responses were generally around wait times for inspections, cost and frustrations around Building Services being ‘pedantic’.

The comments in the positive and neutral responses were around excellent communication and our general improvement on responsiveness and service, and some positive comments around our online Building Consents system.

Attachments

Nil

Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

8.11       General Manager's Report - Community Services

File Number:           A11107392

Author:                    Gareth Wallis, General Manager: Community Services

Authoriser:              Gareth Wallis, General Manager: Community Services

 

Purpose of the Report

1.      To provide Council with an update on the projects, progress and developments of Tauranga City Council’s (TCC) Community Services Group (including Baycourt Community & Arts Centre, CCO Relationships & Governance, City Events, Community Development, Emergency Management & Civil Defence, Libraries, Spaces & Places and Urban Spaces).

Recommendations That the Projects, Services and Operations Committee: a)   Receive the General Manager: Community Service’s report. b)   Approve a $10,000 contribution to support free CBD cruise ship shuttle bus services through until the end of the 2020 summer cruise ship season.

 

CBD CRUISE SHIP SHUTTLE BUS

2.      A request has been received from Downtown Tauranga for Council to contribute $10,000 towards a free CBD cruise ship shuttle service between now and the end of the current summer cruise ship season.

3.      Council’s contribution would supplement money contributed by Downtown Tauranga and many CBD businesses, who all want to see a free CBD cruise ship shuttle bus service reinstated as soon as possible.

4.      Details of the City Express Hop On Hop Off trial, conducted on six days between 20 December 2019 and 11 January 2020, was distributed internally to Elected Members’ for their information on Friday 14 February.

5.      This information highlights an estimated 75% reduction in cruise ship passenger visits to the CBD during the trial period, versus what would have usually been expected if a free CBD cruise ship shuttle bus service had been operating.

6.      This should be balanced against the fact that offering a free cruise ship shuttle bus service to one part of the city, the CBD in this case, disadvantages other shopping precincts, and the commercial tourism operators that operate out of the iport at Mount Maunganui.

7.      $150,000 was allocated through a previous Council resolution to fund initiatives that would drive visitation to the CBD. $100,000 of this has been committed to the Downtown Tauranga ACTIVATE initiative and $50,000 was retained to support additional ideas.

8.      It is recommended that $10,000 of this balance of funds is committed to support free CBD cruise ship shuttle bus services through until the end of the 2020 summer cruise ship season. And as is already planned, at that point, a full and comprehensive review of all cruise ship shuttle bus services would be undertaken to inform plans for summer 2020/21.

Executive Summary

9.      Baycourt won two awards at the Entertainment Venues Association of New Zealand (EVANZ) awards, including the ‘Supreme’ award for best venue in the country. The awards recognise excellence across theatres, arenas, conference centres and stadia.

10.    The interview process is underway to appoint new trustees to the boards of two CCO’s, with two vacancies to be filled on the Tauranga Art Gallery Trust Board, and two on the Board of Tourism Bay of Plenty. An independent board review of the Bay Venues Limited Board is also underway with a summary report due to Council in March/April.

11.    The City Events team have enjoyed a busy start to the summer period, including the successful delivery of community New Year’s Eve events across four city sites. 99% of attendees surveyed at the events reported that they were either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the events.

12.    Libraries staff completed a successful Summer Reads Programme with a new inclusive approach to enable children to continue learning once the school year has completed. The Summer Reads programme has no limits on participation numbers and featured activities to do in libraries and at home. 

13.    A refreshed website for the Heritage Collection has gone live, enabling improved and easier access for schools seeking to borrow items from the collection. The new site enables the public, for the first time, to search and view items from the collection online.

BAYCOURT COMMUNITY & ARTS CENTRE

14.    Baycourt was announced as “Small Venue of the Year” (under 1,000 seats) and “Supreme Venue of the Year” at the EVANZ awards held recently in Christchurch. The awards recognise excellence in NZ’s venue management industry across theatre, arenas, conference centres and stadia. The Supreme award was particularly notable as this is awarded to the venue with the highest judges scores across the small, medium and large award categories. This was the first time that the Supreme award has gone to a small venue with previous winners including Spark Arena, Eden Park and the Claudelands Centre in Hamilton. The judge’s comments noted that Baycourt was an “excellent example of great stakeholder engagement, across a diverse programme of both commercial and community utilisation.”

15.    Annual attendance has remained strong during Q2 with a total of 15,278 people attending shows between October and December. Year-to-date ticketed attendance is 31,424, which equates to 45% of the annual attendance target. It should be noted that Q4 attendance is traditionally Baycourt’s busiest period and the future pipeline of bookings is strong.

16.    Baycourt utilisation remains ahead of target with the venue being in use 84% of available days during the reporting period. The high level of utilisation is driving a strong financial performance with revenue ahead of forecast for FY19/20. Baycourt continues to see a high level of demand for bookings from community hirers with 85% of utilisation qualifying for the community subsidy.

17.    Notable public programme events during the reporting period include a sold-out performance by visiting international band Post Modern Jukebox, three performances by the Imperial Russian Ballet, and national tours from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and kids’ science show, ‘Nanogirl’.

18.    Baycourt offered two capacity building workshops in November, partnering with ensemble theatre company Massive Company to offer workshops for teachers focusing on skills for devising theatre, and a fly-system training workshop giving local practitioners the skills to safely operate Baycourt’s flying system.

19.    Baycourt’s annual maintenance programme was completed on time and on budget during the January closedown period with the Baycourt technical team undertaking full servicing of all theatrical equipment, including PAT testing of all electrical items. The maintenance programme was successfully used as a training exercise to upskill Baycourt’s new casual technical assistants ahead of a busy year of programming.

 

 

Upcoming

20.    Rehearsals have commenced for the first of Baycourt’s “Made in Tauranga” projects, which will see a group of primary school students from Papamoa Primary School work with International artist Andy Field to create a performance work on the rooftop of the Bongard centre in the CBD. The performance project, “Lookout” will enable the year six students to present their vision for Tauranga’s growth over the next 30, 60 and 90 years.

21.    Baycourt will present the regional premiere of Roger Hall’s new play “Winding Up” in March, the first presentation under the new regional venue consortium model, which sees Baycourt partnering with venues in Hastings, Hamilton and New Plymouth to present professional New Zealand theatre to regional audiences. The Roger Hall production will be staged by the Auckland Theatre Company and the consortium model will mean that Tauranga audiences can experience the production without having to travel to Auckland. The consortium plan to present up to three works per year for a pilot phase, which will run until December 2021.

CCO RELATIONSHIPS & GOVERNANCE

22.    Interviews for the two vacancies on the Tourism Bay of Plenty (TBOP) Board were postponed due to the Whakaari/White Island eruption and rescheduled for 3 February. A report with recommendations for appointment will come to Council on 10 March 2020.

23.    Max Pedersen is currently undertaking a review of the strategic alignment between TCC and its CCOs, which is due to be completed in March.

24.    Council plans to appoint two new trustees to the Tauranga Art Gallery Trust (TAGT) Board with a report coming to the Policy Committee meeting on 11 February to approve the appointment panel and skills/experience sought. A report with recommendations for appointment will come to Council on 21 April.

25.    The six-day trial of the new cruise City Express Shuttle Service operated by Bethlehem Coachlines has gone relatively well, although received less passengers than when previously sold via the iPort. This was due predominantly to passengers having full information to make an informed choice, and a better understanding that the Mount is an additional option within easy walking distance. TBOP will conduct a full season end-of-journey survey with passengers, which will provide data for a more complete service review in mid-2020.

26.    A high-level ‘lessons learned’ review of the Baywave build project is complete and will be presented to Council at PSOC on 18 February 2020. It includes an assessment of the relevant documentary evidence relating to the processes followed, as well as interviews with former team members managing the delivery of the project and will help inform future recreational/aquatic capital projects.

27.      The toddler involved in the near drowning at the Mount Hot Pools has recovered well and Bay Venues Limited (BVL) worked with the family to offer support, whilst also reviewing their operating policies and procedures to see if there are any areas for learning and/or improvement following this incident.

28.      The General Manager: Community Services and BVL CEO met with the complainant about ongoing noise issues at Greerton Hall and have formulated a proactive plan for BVL to mitigate and manage any noise issues going forward.

Upcoming

29.    TCC is undertaking an independent board review of the BVL Board in February, which will include surveying/interviewing the Board and BVL’s senior leadership team. A summary report will come to Council in March/April.

30.    Six-monthly reports detailing financial and non-financial performance are due from TCC’s five council-controlled organisations (CCOs); BVL, TAGT, TBOP, Bay of Plenty Local Authority Shared Services Limited (BOPLASS), and the Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) by 29 February. These will be presented to Council at the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee on 7 April.

31.    Draft Statements of Intent (SOIs) are also due from the CCOs by 1 March. The Local Government Act (2002) requires that TCC (and WBOPDC in the case of TBOP) provide shareholder feedback to the CCOs by 1 May and this will come to Council for approval on 21 April. Final SOIs are due from the CCOs to TCC by 30 June.

32.    BVL will provide a detailed update on the CBD Recreation and Leisure Hub feasibility study (Memorial Park) to Council in February. The business case will fully analyse both 25m and 50m pool options.

CITY EVENTS

Event Facilitation

33.    The number of confirmed bookings in public open spaces and places that have taken place for the first two quarters of FY19/20 are listed below:

FY2018/19	Qtr. 1	Qtr. 2	Qtr. 3	Qtr. 4	Total
Private events and weddings	11	57	80	24	172
Facilitated events	33	109	142	57	341
Total	44	166	222	79	513

 

FY2019/20	Qtr. 1	Qtr. 2	Qtr. 3	Qtr. 4	Total
Private events and weddings	15	47			62
Facilitated events	43	121			164
Filming	2	3			5
Total	60	171			231

34.    Significant events that were facilitated on public open space during the reporting period include the inaugural Tauranga Food and Wine Festival, Weetbix Kids Tryathlon, Orange Day Parade, Trustpower Christmas parade, Papamoa Christmas Parade, Christmas in the Park, TECT National 7’s, Surfbreaker Triathlon, Bluelight U15 Games and Mount Monster.

Event Delivery

35.      In 2016, Council recognised that significant change was required to the management of activities at Mount Maunganui Main Beach on New Year’s Eve, in order to provide a safe environment for residents and visitors to the city. This included a focus on putting safety measures and enhanced city operations in place at the site.

36.      Council worked closely with key stakeholders to re-position its approach, creating a five-year plan to change behaviours and focus on community events across the city, with the aim of returning a community-based event back to Mount Maunganui for New Year’s Eve 2020.

37.      The city’s 2019 NYE celebrations built on the success of previous years with around 10,000 people celebrating at community events in Matua, Papamoa, Greerton and the CBD, with fireworks displays at 9.30pm and midnight from various locations across the city.

38.      Over 99% of those surveyed at the four community events were either satisfied (24.47%) or very satisfied (75.18%) with the delivered events. Staff also received several compliments on the events and the fireworks that could be seen across the city.

39.      City Events staff are managing the debrief process with contractors and stakeholders in Q3 and continuing to work on the planned approach for NYE celebrations in Tauranga. The initial post-event feedback is that 2019 was another successful year.

Event Development

40.    A total of six events occurring between 1 and 31 December 2019 received financial support through Council’s Event Funding Framework as follows:

41.    The annual Surfbreaker Triathlon, managed by triathlon Tauranga attracted 171 athletes, 24 of which were elite competitors including New Zealand Commonwealth Games reps. A BOP Times article published the day after the race, lauded it as a race with “double the action, double the drama and double the pain for the athletes” – Mount Maunganui Surfbreaker triathlon sets new standards.

42.    In December 2019, the Tauranga Arts Festival Trust announced that award-winning, Tauranga-based singer and songwriter Ria Hall will take over from Jo Bond as Festival Director for the 2020-21 Tauranga Arts Festival. Jo will remain on at the Festival as a consultant to assist with the transition, until the completion of the 2021 Festival.

Upcoming

43.    On 23 January 2020, the ICC formally announced Tauranga as one the New Zealand cities selected to co-host the Women’s Cricket World Cup in January/February 2021. Tauranga’s bid has pre-approved support that will be delivered through the Major Event Fund.

44.    City Events staff have been working closely with NZ Police as they prepare for the 2022 Australasian Police & Emergency Services Games – a week-long biennial sporting tournament expected to attract 2,500+ competitors. Rotorua and Tauranga have been informally awarded co-hosting rights and are working collaboratively to showcase the BoP’s premiere sports facilities and experiences. Event organisers will submit a Major Event Fund application by 30 June 2020 for consideration by the Event Funding Panel.

45.    Planning is underway for the 2020 Anzac Day commemorations.

46.    The annual planning process for all event bookings on public open space will commence soon, balancing the conflicts between planned works, cruise ships operations, other events and spreading road closures across the city as much as possible.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Youth

47.    Recruitment for the Youth Advisory Group is now complete with seven new members appointed ahead of the first meeting scheduled for 19 February 2020.

48.    TCC are currently working with Iwi to identify a Tuia Rangatahi representative for 2020. The Tuia programme is an intentional, long-term, inter-generational approach to develop the leadership capacity of young Maori in communities throughout New Zealand. 

49.    Priority One’s Instep Young Leaders Programme will commence on 27 February 2020 with support from TCC staff, WBOPDC, Waikato Uni and Toi Ohomai. The purpose of the forum is to give young student leaders a voice in the future development of the sub-region, to build a relationship between youth and local government, to develop their leadership skills, and to help youth build strong community networks.

50.    The ‘Outvote Boomers’ campaign, led by Council’s Youth Advisory Group, with support from WAVE Creative Agency and Mount Brewing Company, has won an award (‘best Ad that is not an Ad’) at the recent StopPress Media Awards. The campaign reached over 50,000 people aged between 18 to 34, raising awareness of voting amongst young people. 

Safe City

51.    Tauranga Western Bay Safer Communities (TWBSC) are on track to achieve re-accreditation as an International Safe Community for Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty. The reaccreditation application process is administrated by the Safe Community Foundation New Zealand.

52.    The Community Development team provided community NGOs and volunteers working on the frontline with two well-attended professional development opportunities at the end of 2019; Mental Health 101 and De-escalation training.

53.    Positive feedback was received from the national Safe Communities Foundation NZ on the TWBSC Annual Report and Governance Survey: “TWBSC had strong and positive outcomes in the Governance Survey concerning satisfaction with participation, communications with partners, and decision-making processes. TWBSC’s annual reports and case studies are also of a consistently high standard. All involved with TWBSC are to be congratulated on what has been achieved in the reporting period, particularly on the collaborative approaches to issues.”

Welcoming Communities

54.    Through the Welcoming Communities Programme, TCC and WBoPDC have received accreditation as a Committed Welcoming Community. The accreditation recognises our commitment to valuing and welcoming newcomers to our communities and leading in diversity and inclusion.

55.    Staff provided the NZ China Friendship Society support for the Tauranga Chinese New Year Festival held at Historic Village on 25 January 2020. 

56.    Staff provided the Tauranga Sikh Gurudwara support for the annual Nagar Kirtan (also known as the Tauranga Sikh Parade), which was attend by more than 2,500 people. Staff also had a stand at the event to promote the Vital Update – Tauranga survey to those attending, and to share information about the role of Council.

57.    Welcoming Communities is working in partnership with community stakeholders on a number of events in March under the banner of ‘Celebrating Cultural Diversity’, to coincide with New Zealand Race Relations Day on 21 March 2020.

Disability & Age Friendly

58.    The Community Development team is collaborating with Hamilton City Council and the Auckland Design Office to organise a North Island Universal Design Network. This will include a small conference (date TBC) focused on local Council’s utilisation of universal design principles.

59.    The beach access mat will be located at three sites for the 2019/20 summer period; Mount Main Beach, Cutters Cove and Pilot Bay. Signage has recently been added to these sites to assist with identification and navigation. 

60.    The Community Development and Spaces & Places teams have collaborated to install accessible picnic tables at Papamoa Domain, Beachside 136 Marine Parade, Tye Park, Arataki Park, Cameron Road Reserve, Horoipia Reserve and in the new Zespri green space.

61.    The Disability, Positive Ageing and Youth Advisory Groups were invited to an end of year celebration with Mayor Powell. During the event, a number of members were presented certificates as recognition of the six years of service they have given to the respective advisory groups.

62.    Two new members have been recruited to the Disability Advisory Group with a further two to be appointed in the new year. Applications are being sought via a public recruitment round.

63.    The Positive Ageing Advisory Forum is under review with ongoing research around best practice on how to maximise the impact of the group. There is likely to be some changes in membership and approach in the future.

64.    A Positive Ageing Action Plan has been developed to identify key actions that support the implementation of the Age-Friendly City Strategy. 

Community Capacity

65.    The Gate Pa Collective Impact project has four sub-projects underway including the collation of baseline data from central government agencies, development of community vision through an art mural, showcasing strengths of Gate Pa through a photo competition, and a Gate Pa Gala Day in Anzac Park on 23 February 2020 to promote community connection.

66.    Staff are working in partnership with the Acorn Foundation, TECT, BayTrust, DIA, WBoPDC, TPK and SociaLink to facilitate the development of a sub-regional Homelessness Strategy. This will feed into the National Homelessness Strategy being led by MHUD. Consultation workshops commenced in December 2019 and will continue through to March 2020.

67.    Work is continuing on the ‘Vital Update – Tauranga’ research, which looks at the geographic communities in Tauranga, identifying needs, wants and aspirations for their neighbourhoods and the wider city. As of January 2020, a total of 3,754 responses have been received with the aim of achieving 4,500 responses by mid-February 2020. This project is being run in conjunction with the Acorn Foundation, TECT, BayTrust and Key Research Ltd.

Project Tauranga

68.    An internal review of Project Tauranga has been completed and is with the General Manager: Community Services for review and action as appropriate.

69.    Project Tauranga partners TECT, BayTrust, OfficeMax and Cooney Lees Morgan provided support to the ‘Street Prints Mauao’ festival held in January. The street art festival created 20 new murals across the city and included youth mentoring, a community mural and public workshops on illustration and calligraphy.

70.    The Community Development Match Fund medium round was held in November with the following results:

o   Number of applications: 19

o   Number of applications approved: 10

o   Total amount of funding requested: $158,018

o   Funding available: $70,000

o   Funding approved and distributed: $68,463

71.    The following projects were funded in the medium grant round:

Applicant (organisation)	Project	Approved
Mt Maunganui College	Traditional Maori gardens	$2,000
Tauranga Moana Pride	Pride picnic	$5,013
Clothes on Wheels	Clothes on Wheels supporting homeless people	$5,000
Feunu Koula	Tongan Day 2020	$6,800
Halberg Foundation	Trail rider disability access device	$7,250
Mt Maunganui Primary School	Resurfacing outdoor courts	$10,000
NZ China Friendship Society	Tauranga Chinese New Year Festival 2020	$4,000
One Love Charity	Holi Colour Splash	$8,400
Rotary Tauranga Sunrise	'This is Us' – public art project	$10,000
Tauranga Living Without Violence	Programme for children who have experienced domestic violence	$10,000
TOTAL		$68,463

72.    There have been a further four Community Development Match Fund small grants (up to $1,000) approved during the period:

 

Applicant	Project	Approved
Parent to Parent	Family activities programme	$1,000
Merivale Community Inc	A MerryVALE Christmas	$1,000
Journey Restorative Trust	Community Christmas Dinner 2019	$998
Hairini Marae Maori Committee	Community Kai ki Hairini Marae	$1,000
TOTAL		$3,998

Tauranga Heritage Collection

73.    A new look website for ‘Hands on Tauranga’, the Heritage Collection object lending library for Tauranga schools, is now live. The website has been updated with new objects, images and an easy to use booking system: https://www.handsontauranga.co.nz/hot-items/

74.    As the Heritage Collection continues to celebrate 50 years of collecting, for the first time the public will be able to search and view the collection online via a browser that connects to the collection’s content management system – Vernon. As high-quality photographs of collection items are taken, they will be uploaded to the browser for the public to enjoy.

75.    The ‘Te Whakaata I te Matapihi – Glimpses’ display, which featured as part of the Tauranga Arts Festival continues to be shown around the city. In February it will be displayed at Tauranga Airport.

76.    It is with great sadness that the Heritage Collection and wider Community Services team acknowledge the passing of local legend Alf Rendell. Alf made a huge contribution to the collection both in terms of his knowledge and expertise, and for the many important donations he made. The Heritage Collection is fortunate to have photographs of Alf taken with some of his donations and in the coming months will be working with several groups in the community to acknowledge his significant contribution.

The Historic Village

77.    A summary of visit statistics for Q2 are listed below:

 

 

	FY 2018/19 Q2	FY 2019/20 Q2
Village entries	69,921	78,002
Tenancy occupancy	95%	100%
Indoor venues
Venue occupancy	25.7%	10.9%
Number of events	77	62
Event attendees	2,208	1,832
Outdoor venues
Venue occupancy	64.3%	11.7%
Number of events	3	12
Event attendees	13,583	11,849

78.    An internal upgrade of Building 70 tenanted by SeniorNet is now complete. Some external renewals including roof and cladding repairs, and a full external repaint is now being undertaken.

79.    The Complex 1 interior upgrade project is now out to tender. Village staff are working through the procurement process and once a contractor has been selected, works will begin immediately.

80.    Some remedial works on Building 18, which is currently tenanted by Vinyl Destination have been completed. The works bring the building up to a standard that can hold food and beverage licencing, which will give the Village another food outlet and a place for visitors to enjoy a beer or wine. The aim is to focus the offering on attracting attendance between 2–10pm, a time period which is not currently catered for by the existing café operation.

81.    The Historic Village has seen substantial growth in enquiries for large outdoor events during the 2019/20 season. Last year four events of this type were held at the Village and this year, 13 have been received to date including:

o  Diwali Festival – 25 October (completed – 1,639 attendance)

o  Fringe Festival – 26 October (completed – 4,124 attendance)

o  Summer Shakespeare – 10–23 January (completed – 1,392 attendance)

o  Chinese New Year – 25 January (completed – 1,700 attendance)

o  Waitangi Day 2020 – 6 February

o  Gincredible – 14–16 February

o  Multicultural Festival – 22 March

o  Jazz Festival – 10 April

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT & CIVIL DEFENCE

82.    Council has been engaging with Bay of Plenty Regional Council (BOPRC) and Emergency Management Bay of Plenty (EMBOP) regarding concerns raised by Whareroa marae and the community about a major hazard facility incident that occurred on 9 December 2019.

83.    The incident has raised concerns from the community regarding major hazard facility emergency planning, community consultation and communication, and incident response. Meetings are to be held with WorkSafe NZ, Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ), major hazard facility owners and the community to facilitate immediate steps to enhance the current situation created by the 9 December 2019 incident.

84.    The incident has also highlighted wider concerns by the community with regard to land-use, and the proximity of industrial facilities to residential areas within Mount Maunganui. Later this year, Council intends to coordinate a major hazard facility emergency management forum as a collaborative method to bring all relevant parties together, to generate relationships and enhance understanding of roles, responsibilities and dependencies.

85.    On 19 January 2020, sirens that are part of a legacy framework were triggered across the Western Bay from Waihi Beach to Te Puke. The sirens attracted widespread media coverage and triggered a partial evacuation at Waihi Beach.

86.    Nine of the sirens belonged to FENZ, with three others belonging to Surf Lifesaving and BayPark Speedway. The sirens were not activated as part of an official tsunami warning. Of note, Western Bay of Plenty, Tauranga inclusive, currently has no formal arrangements for tsunami warning via siren. Council has offered through the BoP CDEM Group, to coordinate our procurement approach with other local authorities that may be seeking to undertake obsolescence management of their siren networks. The siren activation has also highlighted that greater effort is required to inform the public of the ways that they can/will be warned of hazards, particularly tsunami. These efforts will be coordinated with EMBOP over the coming months.

87.    The Voice Over Siren Network Registration of Interest (ROI) process initiated in December 2019 will close at the end of February 2020, followed by shortlisted suppliers conducting collaborative technical design proposals. Updated inundation exposure modelling is expected back from Tonkin + Taylor in February 2020. The next stage is to coordinate a third-party review of Council’s evacuation mitigation strategy through updating evacuation models, using latest census population data to understand population exposure.

88.    Council has continued a ‘fit-for-future’ self-assessment of its emergency management systems, structure and activities. Insight visits are to be coordinated this quarter with Christchurch and Hamilton City Councils. Recruitment activity is to commence for an Organisational Readiness Advisor and possible internal secondment to provide relief whilst Julian Reweti remains seconded to Whakatane District Council supporting their recovery post the 9 December 2019 Whakaari eruption.

89.    Council has initiated a review of the Western Operating Area Emergency Management Agreement with WBoPDC, specifically focusing on arrangements for emergency response management for Tauranga City and Western BOP as one area. Initial meetings with WBoPDC are to occur in February 2020.

90.    Council has agreed in principle to supporting a collaborative research opportunity with Tonkin + Taylor, BOPRC, EMBOP and the University of Auckland for use of virtual reality and agent-based modelling for tsunami evacuation. Primary funding for the research is through EQC. If funded, this research will provide an innovative engagement approach in support of community engagement and education being developed to support the establishment of the voice over siren network.

91.    Council has continued to collect new and update existing hazard data on a rolling basis, to ensure that the whole city is covered and that the data has responded to environmental changes such as sea level rise. Key activities this period include:

(a)     Inner harbour coastal storm surge inundation research was released (August 2019). Letters sent to property owners who were identified as susceptible to inundation risk and property files were updated. A mapping tool was also made available through the Council website to enable individuals to see modelled outcomes for different locations and changes in sea level rise. Community engagement was conducted throughout September 2019.

(b)     Liquefaction hazard mapping and ground investigations were completed; results are expected early 2020.

(c)     Landslide hazard initial pilot study on Te Papa Peninsula has been completed; results are expected early 2020.

(d)     Coastal Erosion mapping and analysis has also been completed; results are expected early 2020.

(e)     Coastal Inundation mapping and analysis is underway, due to be complete May 2021.

(f)      Transportation network emergency criticality analysis commenced November 2019 and is expected to be complete in June 2020.

LIBRARIES

92.    In collaboration with Multicultural Tauranga, Libraries community programming specialists run a fortnightly Newcomer’s Morning Tea & Topics session for those who have arrived recently to our city. Feedback from recent sessions is very positive and gives new residents a great first impression of Council. Upcoming sessions are:

Date	Welcome	Topic
27 February	TCC Emergency Management	Understanding Hazards in Tauranga
12 March	Plunket	Supporting families and young children
26 March	TCC Animal Control	Pet safety

93.    This year, the Summer Reads Programme was modified to better suit busy parents, opting for a more inclusive approach to enable children to continue learning once the school year has completed. The new-look programme has no limits on participation numbers, more flexibility, plus activities to do in libraries and at home. A popular feature was “Tūtohu Whenua”, a treasure hunt/tour of historic landmarks of Tauranga Moana.

94.    Four summer student library assistants and six Friends of the Library volunteers supported library staff to deliver the Summer Reads Programme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

95.    Libraries have released an app, called Tauranga City Libraries, to allow customers greater access and flexibility to manage their own library borrowing, with the promise of payment through the app as a future upgrade.

96.    Recruitment is underway for the position of Mātanga Hōtaka Hapori Māori. This is a specialisation of our existing role of Community Programmes Specialist, to further support Libraries committment to the retention and maintenance of Te Reo Māori, Tikanga Māori and Te Ao Māori, by celebrating them in programmes and activities. 

SPACES & PLACES

Welcome Bay Road to Tye Park Esplanade Reserve encroachments

97.    TCC is working with Welcome Bay residents along Forrester Drive to remove reserve encroachments around Tauranga Harbour and restore public access to the reserve.

98.    As part of restoring access, Council is asking residents to remove any non-structural encroachments such as wooden and wire fences, steps and timber edgings, and Council will remove the remaining non-structural encroachments.

99.    In 2019, Council completed a similar project that removed encroachments along the length of the Mount Maunganui and Papamoa Coastal Reserve. This project saw hundreds of encroachments removed and the dunes returned to their natural state with native coastal plantings. This has restored ecological values to the coastal reserve and provides better erosion protection during storms.

100.  The intent is to restore the reserve with minimal disruption to both seaside residents and the environment. The most likely option is bridging the concrete structures, possibly with sections of wooden boardwalk and at one location, an additional section of seawall. Wooden fences and other smaller encroachments will be removed to provide a predominantly grassed walkway and the walkway will then be maintained by Council. 

101.  The approximate timeframes for the project are as follows:

·    September 2019 and December 2019 – Council structural engineers will assess encroachments on the esplanade reserve.

·    November 2019 – investigation will begin into any resource consent requirements for an additional section of seawall to support a boardwalk, and for sections of boardwalk to span structural concrete encroachments.

·    By early 2020 – residents should remove any non-structural encroachments, such as wooden and wire fences, steps and timber edgings, and retain any materials they wish to keep. Council will remove these remaining non-structural encroachments commencing March 2020.

·    By the end of April 2020 – the esplanade reserve will become accessible to the community.

·    Construction of the seawall and boardwalk will occur between July 2020 and July 2021.

Asset improvements

102.  A wide variety of routine and one-off asset maintenance activities have been completed in the last reporting period, including but not limited to:

·    A comprehensive remaking of all road surfaces in Papamoa Domain

·    The Tye Park car park and boat ramp have been chip sealed

·    Council has a small budget to provide drinking fountains in reserves. The programme has been ongoing for several years and there are now 50 installed in the city’s parks and reserves with new ones recently added to Tye Park, Blake Park (below left) and Tauranga Domain (below right)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·    Accessible picnic tables were installed in Cutters Cove (below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·    Karewa Parade paved surfaces have been remarked

·    As per the Annual Plan, a concrete path has been installed at Bell Common

·    Freedom camping waste/recycling stations have been installed at Motiti Reserve, Tye Park, Rotary Park, Fergusson Park and Memorial Park

·    Vandals set fire to the slide at Faulkner Park, which has since been replaced

Papamoa Surf Lifesaving Club Project

103.  Council staff are working alongside the Papamoa Surf Lifesaving Club to rebuild their facility. The upgraded facility will include space to store their equipment, lifesaving structures such as patrol towers and porta-coms, and accessways to the beach for surf lifesavers and the public. Volunteer and regional guard patrols continue with no major issues reported. Whilst Council contributed to the overall project cost, the club has done a great job of fundraising the balance of funds needed for their new building. 

Alice Johnson Oval/Gordon Spratt

104.  A new grass cricket block is complete and had its first senior game in January. A feasibility study regarding an additional shared sporting hub for the park is nearly complete and the findings will be discussed with all key users early in the New Year. This work is being undertaken following confirmation from a needs analysis that this park required more facilities to cater for the growth now and into the short-term future.

Harbourside Netball/Mount Maunganui Tennis Court refurbishment

105.  This community project, which is being led by Harbourside Netball has had a few issues regarding the line marking of the courts and the quality of the installed surface. Contractors have had meetings on site with stakeholders and there is now a plan in place to rectify all issues, at a time to suit the facility users and at no cost to Council.

URBAN SPACES

106.  The Urban Spaces team (previously known as Public Spaces) will formally come into effect on 10 February, as a result of a recent review of the Spaces and Places division. Recruitment is underway for two positions to ensure the team can deliver the comprehensive Urban Spaces activity programme.

107.  The Urban Spaces team continue to progress planning and design work for several significant projects, including:

a)      Wharf Street upgrade – progressing through tender process for construction in 2020

b)      Kulim Park improvements (as per report to February PSOC meeting)

c)       Design work for Elizabeth Street and streetscape surrounding the Farmers redevelopment (as per report to February PSOC meeting)

108.  Other projects the Urban Spaces team are progressing through planning and design, and updates on these (listed below) will be provided at a future PSOC meeting:

a)      Strand Extension (in partnership with BOPRC)

b)      Te Tomokanga (Mount Maunganui Visitor Information hub)

c)      Memorial Park to City Centre Pathway (business case/options development)

d)      Te Papa o Ngā Manu Porotakataka (final elements and options development for future improvements)

City Centre

109.  The Urban Spaces team work closely with stakeholders in the city centre and support initiatives that add to its vibrancy and attraction.

110.  The ACTIVATE pilot programme has been confirmed to receive $100K of funding through to June 2020 and is generously supported by a further $20K from Priority One. This pilot is to be delivered by Downtown Tauranga and will see activations in the city centre over the next few months. The outcome of the pilot will be reported to Council in the middle of 2020, upon completion of the pilot project.

111.  A report will come to Council on 10 March regarding Our Place, which currently operates from the site of the former civic administration building. Our Place is a strategic activation featuring hospitality and retail pop ups, as well as programmed events. The Licence to Occupy for Our Place ends on July 9 and the report to Council will outline options for ongoing use of this space, prior to the potential redevelopment of a wider Civic Precinct site.

112.  A new batch of installations were produced for the city centre Christmas season, to complement the return of the advent calendar in Red Square, Christmas trees on the waterfront, and Christmas-themed street flags. The city centre Christmas installations are the result of work in partnership between Council, Downtown Tauranga and The Incubator. This year the installations had almost 1,000 contributors to the art works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

113.  Two local Kapa Haka groups from Tauranga Intermediate and Te Kura o Matapihi, as well as a jazz band from Tauranga Boys’ College were commissioned to perform in Red Square over several days to complement the Christmas installations.

114.  The Street Prints Mauao Festival came to town for a third time and produced 20 new installations by domestic and international street artists. A workshop-based installation by artist Askew One was sponsored by Council for the ground level of the Spring Street car park building. Over 150 people aged 2–60 took part in the workshop and the end result depicts several landmarks sacred to Tāngata Whenua in Tauranga.

Attachments

Nil    

Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

9          Discussion of Late Items

Projects, Services and Operations Committee Meeting Agenda

18 February 2020

 

10        Public Excluded Session  

RESOLUTION TO EXCLUDE THE PUBLIC

Recommendations That the public be excluded from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting. The general subject matter of each matter to be considered while the public is excluded, the reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter, and the specific grounds under section 48 of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution are as follows: General subject of each matter to be considered Reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter Ground(s) under section 48 for the passing of this resolution 10.1 - Te Papa and Plan Change Contract Renewal s7(2)(h) - the withholding of the information is necessary to enable Council to carry out, without prejudice or disadvantage, commercial activities s48(1)(a)(i) - the public conduct of 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 under section 6 or section 7