28 November 2019
In the past financial year (1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019), South Wairarapa District Council has experienced change, delivered against planned projects, and overcome some challenges. This is a summary of the Council’s Annual Report, released today, which includes financial statements, a review of significant events and updates on key council projects.
Highlights of the year included the Waihinga Centre opening on 10 December 2018, which marked the culmination of a six-year project, a joint partnership with the Waihinga Charitable Trust, to save Martinborough’s old Town Hall and build a modern multi-purpose community hub. In addition, community engagement began on the district-wide spatial planning project, and the wastewater to land projects also progressed – irrigation began in June 2019 for Greytown and community engagement and technical assessments continued for Featherston.
During the year Council was put to the test when routine sampling detected E. coli in Martinborough’s water supply network. This led to two separate boil water notices, on 1 February and 9 April 2019. Fortunately, there were no reports of illness thought to be associated with these events. On 20 February 2019, after the town’s first boil water notice was issued, Council made the decision to prioritise and fast-track the installation of a manganese removal plant (initially planned for 2021), to allow for chlorination of the Martinborough water supply.
Following community consultation, in April 2019 Council voted to become a joint owner of Wellington Water Limited. This decision meant that Wellington Water took over management of SWDC’s water, wastewater and stormwater networks. This shareholding (effective from 1 October 2019) provides access to the expertise of additional specialists and strengthen the resilience of the District’s three waters.
Also during the year, the Council adopted the Wairarapa-wide strategies for both regional economic development and for positive ageing. The former has assisted the region receiving nearly $2 million from the Government’s Provincial Growth Fund.
Chief Executive of five years Paul Crimp stood down in March 2019 and was replaced by Harry Wilson in June 2019.
Chief Executive Harry Wilson says Council is in a stable financial position.
“Continuing the trend of recent years, this year’s annual report shows we remain in a stable financial position,” says Mr Wilson.
The full annual report also includes results against a range of non-financial indicator targets. The results overall are very similar to the results from the previous year. The Council has achieved or substantially achieved a high proportion of these targets.
New mayor Alex Beijen is looking forward to driving positive change for the District.
“The Council, staff and I are looking forward to delivering on the projects agreed in the 2018/28 Long Term Plan and, in doing so, working with our communities to continue making South Wairarapa a great place to live.
“In addition, we will ensure essential infrastructure requirements are addressed and provisioned for correctly in our future Annual and Long Term Plans,” says Mr Beijen.
The Annual Report, including a summary document, is available here.
ENDS
Media contact
Amy Wharram
027 252 2863
