Minutes of Corporate and Strategic Committee

1. Welcome/Apologies/Notices

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.

There were no notices given, nor apologies made.

Secretarial Note: Maori Committee representative, Mr P Prentice not in attendance.

2. Conflict of Interest Declarations

Mrs Lambert advised that Members’ Interests Declarations were re-confirmed via email in relation to land ownership or pecuniary interests in the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme.

There were no conflict of interest declarations.

3. Confirmation of Minutes of Corporate & Strategic Committee Meeting held 16 April 2014

Resolution

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Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday, 16 April 2014, a copy having been circulated prior to the meeting, were taken as read and confirmed as a true and accurate record.

Scott/Graham

CARRIED

4. Matters Arising from Minutes dated 16 April 2014

There were no matters arising from the minutes.

5. Follow-ups from Previous Corporate and Strategic Committee meetings

Mrs Lambert updated the status of the follow-ups from the 16 April Corporate and Strategic committee meeting.
Resolution 20140716.2	1. That the Committee receives the report “Follow-ups from Previous Corporate and Strategic Committee Meetings”. Wilson/Scott CARRIED

6. Call for Any Minor Items Not on the Agenda

That the following be discussed as Item 12:

1. HBRIC Ltd application for 15M m3 of groundwater (Barker)

7. Establishment of HBRIC Ltd Board of Directors - Composition and Recruitment

Mrs Lambert outlined the content of the paper, seeking decisions from Council relating to the establishment of a permanent HBRIC Ltd Board of Directors.

Mrs Lambert outlined the role for the permanent Board, which will be different from the Transition Board in terms of managing investments in a governance role rather than the development of business cases such as that for the RWSS which had more operational focus.

There were queries in relation to timing, the process of appointing directors taking a significant amount of time, and the rationale for having Councillor directors on a Board.

There was discussion surrounding the types of conflict that may occur with future investment decisions and how those could be managed, however there being sound reasons for having Councillor Directors to provide the Council perspective and also for accountability.

Mrs Lambert advised that the HBRIC Ltd constitution provides for a minimum of 3 directors and a maximum of 7. Initial Board included 3 councillor directors, 1 managing director (HBRC CE) and 3 independent directors.

There was discussion about the process to appoint directors, and whether the final mix and appointments would be determined by Council after considering candidates recommended by either the Council Appointments Committee or the Independent Consultancy.

Resolution

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The Corporate and Strategic Committee recommends that Council:

1. Agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in Council’s adopted policy on significance and that Council can exercise its discretion under Sections 79(1)(a) and 82(3) of the Local Government Act 2002 and make decisions on this issue without conferring directly with the community and persons likely to be affected by or to have an interest in the decision due to the nature and significance of the issue to be considered and decided.

2. Retains Councillor Directors on the permanent Board of HBRIC Ltd.

Scott/Graham

CARRIED

3. Resolves that the Board of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Investment Company Ltd comprises a maximum of four (4) Independent Directors and a maximum of three (3) Councillor Directors, with a minimum of three (3) independent directors.

Dick/Scott

CARRIED

4. Instructs staff to engage a consultancy to undertake the identification and assessment of independent and councillor directors of the Board of HBRIC Ltd, and recommend the preferred directors to HBRC.

Scott/Barker

CARRIED

The meeting adjourned at 10.25am and reconvened at 10.45am

8. Board of Inquiry Decision on Tukituki Plan Change 6

Mrs Lambert introduced the item, and Lara Blomfield (Sainsbury Logan and Williams) and Rob van Voorthuysen (Planning Consultant) who represented Council at the Board of Inquiry Plan Change 6 hearings.

Ms Codlin provided an overview of the contents of the paper which covered the main concerns HBRC had with the Draft decision and how those were provided to the BOI through comments on the Draft, how and to which points the Board of Inquiry responded to through its final decision and staff comments on the final decision. Further, Ms Codlin discussed Council’s administration of the Plan provisions and the requirement for Council to make the Plan Change operative at the end of August if there are no appeals.

There was discussion surrounding the DIN and LUC leaching limits and the regulation and monitoring requirements for Council in ensuring that improvements to ecosystem health are achieved.

The Council, in administering the Plan, must be doing all that it can to meet the objectives of the Plan for the Tukituki catchment; including a healthy river ecosystem.

There was further discussion around whether resource consents could be reviewed if limits change, should monitoring show that different limits are required in order to meet the water quality objectives for the catchment, as well as legal and other RMA considerations that would need to be taken into account.

There was further discussion around what means Council could use if monitoring shows that even with farmers meeting the LUC leaching limits, the DIN limits are not achieved and/or the water quality degrades as well as the use of Overseer and other modeling systems available to farmers for their Farm Environment Management Systems.

Resolution

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1. That the Corporate and Strategic Committee receives the report titled “Board of Inquiry Decision on Tukituki Plan Change 6”.

Councillor Belford moved an amendment, seconded by Councillor Graham; being an additional resolution:

The Corporate and Strategic Committee recommends that Council:

2. Agrees to appoint a Working Party to advise on the implementation of PC6, with particular regard to its water quality provisions. The working party is to include representatives of the farming/horticulture sector, the environmental community, and local practitioners and experts on Land use and farming practices in Hawke’s Bay. The working party would foster a shared commitment to achieving the objectives of PC6 and identify approaches to best meet those objectives. The terms of reference and appointees to the Working Party are to be confirmed by council.

Belford/Graham

LOST

Councillor Barker moved an amendment, seconded by Mr Haraki; being additional resolutions:

2. Authorizes the filing of a notice to appear should an appeal be lodged to Plan Change 6

3. Decision to be made by Council at a later meeting to determine whether to withdraw or to proceed with the notice and if so on what basis.

Barker/Haraki

CARRIED

The amendment was CARRIED and therefore became part of the substantive motion.

1. That the Corporate and Strategic Committee receives the report titled “Board of Inquiry Decision on Tukituki Plan Change 6”.

That the Corporate and Strategic Committee recommends that Council:

2. Agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in Council’s adopted policy on significance and that Council can exercise its discretion under Sections 79(1)(a) and 82(3) of the Local Government Act 2002 and make decisions on this issue without conferring directly with the community and persons likely to be affected by or to have an interest in the decision due to the nature and significance of the issue to be considered and decided.

3. Authorizes the filing of a notice to appear should an appeal be lodged to Plan Change 6.

4. Decides, at a later meeting, whether to withdraw or to proceed with the notice to appear and if so on what basis.

Scott/Wilson

CARRIED

The meeting adjourned at 12.30pm and reconvened at 1.00pm

9. National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2014

Ms Codlin provided an overview of the paper, summarizing amendments to the National Policy Statement or Freshwater Management which take effect on 1 August 2014. Further, Ms Codlin outlined the key element of the amendments – the National Objectives Framework – and how those NOF attributes compare to the limits and targets set in the Plan Change 6 decision.

There was discussion around the community values for waterways and how those equated to the NOF attributes and how those would be determined, as well as how Council could go about setting overall regional aspirations.

Resolution

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That the Corporate and Strategic Committee:

1. Receives the “National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2014” report.

2. Notes that in the Council’s Regional Resource Management Plan, Chapter 5.4 (pg97) the aspiration is for all rivers to be suitable for contact recreation.

Dick/Scott

CARRIED

10. Developing Strategic Priorities for the Long Term Plan Development

Ms Codlin provided a list of items or topics for consulting the community on in the lead up to developing the Long Term Plan as determined at the workshops held in May and on 4 July, and sought Councillors’ feedback on whether the list accurately reflected their expectations and suggestions for improvement if not.

As explained in the paper, Ms Codlin reiterated that the list would be developed into a brief, largely on-line consultation document in order to provide opportunities for the community to provide informal comments through various social media.

Resolution

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1. That the Committee receives the “Developing Strategic Priorities for the Long Term Plan Development” report.

Belford/Beaven

CARRIED

11. Public Transport Update

Mrs Redgrave provided an overview of the current state of the region’s Public Transport services. Mrs Redgrave advised that the Public Transport Plan review, including service provision levels, will be commenced shortly and is required to be completed by 30 June 2015.

Resolution

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1. That the Corporate and Strategic Committee receives the July 2014 Public Transport Update report.

Pipe/Beaven

CARRIED

12. Minor Items Not on the Agenda

HBRIC Ltd application for 15M m³ (Cr Barker)

Cr Barker requested 2 reports – 1. From HBRIC Ltd about what its interests are and explain how they do not have a conflict of interest and what their overall objective is, how they will use the water if consent is granted; and 2. From HBRC CE as regulator, given over allocation of Tukituki how this water is available, is the water provided on a first-in basis – what that means for others who may wish to apply for the water.

Proposed rail trip on Friday week (Cr Dick)

The trip has been confirmed to go ahead, however CE’s EA to confirm final numbers.

Closure:

There being no further business the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 2.25pm on Wednesday, 16 July 2014.

Signed as a true and correct record.

DATE: ................................................ CHAIRMAN: ...............................................