Ōpōtiki Mayor, David Moore, gave a quick summary of the ordinary council meeting on Tuesday [7 February 2023] and was grateful to all those who took the opportunity to speak and publicly raise their concerns with councillors.
“For the first time this triennium, we had a pretty full public forum with three individuals coming to share their thoughts, views and concerns with us. We really appreciate the time they took to do so and they added valuable insights to our decisions, some of which we will be making in the coming months.
“Particular thanks to Shona Hammond Boyes who spoke passionately on behalf of the young people of the district and gave us a firmly worded directive to consider them in all our decisions. She gifted us this painting as a reminder that we have a brief moment in time and many special places that need protecting. We will certainly miss Shona and we have been fortunate to have her serving the community here for the last 20 years.
“I was told we had around a dozen people following the meeting live online which is great because it means people are engaged and informed on what we are doing.
“I encourage people to get in touch with us – we love to hear your views and if you can let our governance team know you are coming, they can make sure there is room on the agenda for you,” Mayor Moore said.
Some of the other papers on the agenda generated discussion, particularly the report from the Ōpōtiki Marine Advisory Group*. The report provided an update on various aspects of the development of the aquaculture industry in Ōpōtiki. In particular, the launch and blessing of the new boat operating at the mussel farm, the strong demand and good exchange rate for mussel exports, and the future plans for OMAG itself.
“There are a couple of things in that report that council will need to address at our next meeting in March. We need to consider the future of OMAG and what it might look like once the harbour is finished and how the Group might change.
“We also urgently need to consider what the delays in construction of OMAI [the commercial marina to be built on the true left bank of the Waioeka river] means for getting mussel boats into Ōpōtiki. At the March meeting, we will consider what options are available to us and next possible steps for the interim period until OMAI can be the commercial mussel wharf,” Mayor Moore said.
Other papers on the agenda included a well-received summary of the activities of the Ōpōtiki Workforce team, updates to Standing Orders and a very informative presentation from the Coastcare coordinator. The meeting recording is available on the Council’s Youtube channel and on the website.
