Minutes of Regional Council Meeting

1. Welcome/Prayer/Apologies/Notices

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the last meeting of 2015, and Councillor Hewitt offered the prayer.

There were no apologies.

The Chairman introduced Ian MacDonald and Jae Sutherland, HB Civil Defence, who spoke about the National Maori Language award that HB Civil Defence won for the production of the Raumoko’s Walk publication, developed as an Maori language education resource for pre-school children.

Councillor Graham gave notice that he would be leaving at 1.15pm and Councillor Barker advised that he will leave at 12pm.

2. Conflict of Interest Declarations

Councillor Dick declared an interest in Item 7 of the 25 November 2015 minutes (Item 3 Confirmation of Minutes) – sale and purchase agreement, explaining that he had been unaware of the interest at the time of the debate.

Councillor Graham sought correction of his Declaration of Interests, Item 20, being to remove ownership of property at 232 St Georges Road Hastings.

There were no conflict of interest declarations.

15.

HB Tourism Quarterly Report

Mr George Hickton introduced the report, providing an overview of activities in the Tourism sector in New Zealand, before Annie Dundas provided highlights from the HB Tourism update, including:

· visitor spending up 25%, and visitor nights up 5%

· Qrious – Spark product – data used to track and report numbers of visitors to Hawke’s Bay and how long they stay

· PR/Media and Trade (international travel agents) activities

· Looking forward to the biggest summer tourism season ever, the launch of single visitor website, Maori Tourism development, the Big Easy (25 & 26 March) and HB marathon (14 May)

RC19/15

Resolution

1. That Council receives and notes the “Hawke’s Bay Tourism Quarterly” report.

Hewitt/Graham

CARRIED

3. Confirmation of Minutes of the Regional Council Meeting Held on 25 November 2015

Councillor Dick declared an interest in this item and therefore did not take part in the discussions, nor voted.

RC20/15

Resolution

Minutes of the Regional Council Meeting held on Wednesday, 25 November 2015, a copy having been circulated prior to the meeting, were taken as read and confirmed as a true and correct record.

Scott/Pipe

CARRIED

4. Matters Arising from Minutes of the Regional Council Meeting Held on 25 November 2015

There were no matters arising from the minutes.

Follow-up Items from Previous Regional Council Meetings

In relation to the status of the follow-up items, Mrs Lambert advised that staff believe HDC provisions are sufficient to defend the Nature Preservation Zone appeals and so HBRC has not, at this stage, become a s274 party to the appeals.

RC21/15

Resolution

1. That Council receives the report “Follow-up Items from Previous Regional Council meetings”.

Beaven/Barker

CARRIED

Call for any Minor Items not on the Agenda

Recommendation

That Council accepts the following minor items not on the Agenda, for discussion as Item 22:

1. Boundary Change (Cr Belford)

2. Royalties on water use for bottling (Cr Beaven)

3. Royal Society (Cr Scott)

4 Dairy Awards (Cr Scott)

5 Cape to City (Cr Scott)

Affixing of Common Seal

1. The Common Seal of the Council has been affixed to the following documents and signed by the Chairman or Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive or a Group Manager.

Seal No.

Date

1.1

Leasehold Land Sales

1.1.1 Lot 71

DP 13096

CT E3/516

- Transfer

1.1.2 Lot 66

DP 10912

CT D4/921

- Agreement for Sale and Purchase

- Transfer

1.1.3 Lot 2

DP 14960

CT G4/476

- Agreement for Sale and Purchase

- Transfer

1.1.4 Lot 68

DP 14450

CT G2/725

- Agreement for Sale and Purchase

1.1.5 Lot 41

DP 14224

CT F4/1488

- Agreement for Sale and Purchase

3865

3866

3869

3867

3874

3868

3870

23 November 2015

1 December 2015

26 November 2015

8 December 2015

1 December 2015

1.2

Staff Warrants

1.2.1 P Hodgkinson

E Smith

(Delegations under Resource Management Act 1991; Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act 1941; Land Drainage Act 1908 and Civil Defence Act 1983 (s.60-64); Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 (s.86-91) and Local Government Act 2002 (s.174)

3871

3872

1 December 2015

1.3

Earthworks Contract

Taipo Stream at Park Island Realignment and Enhancement

Contract No: 13-08-4747c

3873

1 December 2015

Mr Drury explained the process involved in the ‘putting right’ of the ownership of the land sold by Council at Marewa as per the 25 November Affixing of Common Seal item.

RC22/15

Resolutions

That Council:

1. Agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in Council’s adopted Significance and Engagement Policy, and that Council can exercise its discretion 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.

2. Confirms the action to affix the Common Seal.

Scott/Beaven

CARRIED

Report and Recommendations from the Environment and Services Committee Meeting Held 9 December 2015

Cr Rex Graham introduced the item, outlining discussions at the meeting resulting in the recommendations to Council, including Mr Wilson’s seeking of clarity about where responsibility lies in relation to preventing damage to properties resulting from flooding caused by the build-up of gravel.

Mr Adye explained the rationale for the proposals to establish the Waitangi Estuary Enhancement Committee and to seek sponsorship funding.

There was discussion around Council’s representative on the Waitangi Estuary Enhancement Committee and the relative strengths of the two nominated councillors.

RC23/15

Resolutions

That Council:

1. Agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in Council’s adopted Significance and Engagement Policy, and that Council can exercise its discretion and make decisions on these issues without conferring directly with the community.

Proposed Waitangi Estuary Enhancement

2. Agrees in principal to commit $311,000 in the 2016-17 financial year toward the Waitangi Estuary Enhancement project from the Regional Open Spaces Reserves Borrowing facility, subject to funding being sourced from other donors in accordance with the funding strategy, and deferral of other open space enhancement projects including $220,000 for the northern walkway and associated works at Pekapeka from 2017-18.

3. Notes that once complete, there will be an increased funding commitment required for ongoing maintenance and depreciation of the Waitangi Estuary facilities.

Reports Received

4. Notes that the following reports were provided to the Environment and Services Committee meeting.

4.1. Derek Williams Lake Tutira Presentation

4.2. Recreational Water Quality 2014-15 Season Summary

4.3. CHBDC Wastewater Compliance Update

4.4. Gravel Management Review Timetable

4.5. Robert Wilson, Upper Tukituki Scheme Gravel Issues Presentation

4.6. 2014-15 Biosecurity Annual Report - Pest Animals and Plants

4.7. Land Management 2014-15 Annual Operational Report

4.8. Client Services January-July 2016 Operational Plan

4.9. Science January-July 2016 Operational Plan

4.10. Resource Use and Consents January-July 2016 Operational Plan

Graham/Pipe

CARRIED

Proposed Waitangi Estuary Enhancement

5. Endorses the establishment of the Waitangi Estuary Enhancement Committee and appoints Councillor Rex Graham as Council’s representative on that body.

Belford/Barker

CARRIED

Consents Delegations Manual Update

Mr Malcolm Miller introduced the item, outlining the legislative changes requiring the updates to the Consents Delegation Manual in relation to the 130 day processing timeframes and submitter required attendance at pre-hearing meetings.

There was discussion relating to correction of the acronyms for job titles and rights of the public to appeal notification/non notification decisions.

RC24/15

Resolutions

That Council:

2. Approves the following amendments to the Consents Delegation manual

Section	Change	Reason
88(3) and 88(3A)	To reflect a minor wording amendment to the Act.	Consistency with the RMA
91C(2)	To enable the decision to return an application or continue processing after suspension of 130 days.	The RMA limits the time that an application can be on hold at the applicant’s request. A decision on how it is to be processed has to be made at this point.
97(4)	To adopt an earlier closing date for submissions when all possible submissions have been received.	Allows an application to be proceeded with sooner than might otherwise occur.
99(1) to (3)	To clarify that when arranging a prehearing meeting, officers may exercise discretion to require people to attend.	This ensures that a pre-hearing meeting is not arranged and then parties fail to attend. There is discretion to decline to process a consent or to consider a submission if people do not attend a prehearing meeting when they have been required to do so. Delegation to exercise this discretion already exists under s99(8).
357C(1)	To allow a longer time to make an objection against costs if appropriate.	This provision was introduced in 2009 but was overlooked as a matter which could be delegated.

Scott/Barker

CARRIED

The meeting adjourned at 10.35am and reconvened at 10.50am

10.

Review of Section 36 Charges

Mr Iain Maxwell introduced the item, explaining that this is the result of further consultation carried out following on from the Long Term Plan process.

Mr Mark Heaney provided an overview of the background of the recovery of water related science costs under RMA section 36, the process of assessing the costs, and the survey process of consent holders recently undertaken before outlining the consequences of changing from zone based charging to regional based charging.

Discussions traversed the public-private split of 65-35, with the majority of these charges paid by the general rate, and communication with consent holders and relaying information about the charges and what they are for.

RC25/15

Resolutions

That Council:

1. Agrees that the decisions to be made are not significant under the criteria contained in Council’s adopted Significance and Engagement Policy, 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.

2. That staff are encouraged to continue a productive dialogue with stakeholders and make any minor changes to S36 charging that will improve perception, performance and prompt payment of S36 charges.

Beaven/Barker

CARRIED

11.

Scope for Deloitte RWSS Business Case Peer Review

Mr Paul Drury introduced the item, which seeks confirmation of the scope for the RWSS business case peer review to be carried out by Deloitte.

Discussions traversed what Deloitte has stated is out of scope for the review, the purpose of the peer review, and ‘revisiting’ the socio-economic benefit and landuse analyses that Deloitte has determined as being outside the scope of the review through working with HBRIC and/or HBRC staff.

RC26/15

Resolutions

That Council:

2. Receives the letter from Deloitte dated 8 December 2015 and approves the proposed scope of the further peer review of the business case covering the RWSS as set out in that letter; being:

2.1 Review latest version of the financial model and base case financial projections to:

2.1.1 understand calculation and allocation of financial returns by investor category

2.1.2 identify key assumptions

2.1.3 confirm water take-up breakeven point

2.1.4 undertake sensitivity analysis to demonstrate the impact of cash flows and investor returns of different water take-up assumptions beyond base case

2.2 Validation of key assumptions:

2.2.1 trace capital assumptions to latest version of the D&C contract

2.2.2 trace investor assumptions to investor term sheets and ownership model/investment structure

2.2.3 trace senior debt finance (if any) assumptions to bank term sheets

2.2.4 test basis for water uptake assumptions

Dick/Scott

CARRIED

12.

Update on the Greater Heretaunga (TANK) Stakeholder Group

Mrs Liz Lambert introduced the item, outlining the key issues that have arisen through the TANK stakeholder engagement process and options for rectifying those that Council can influence or control.

Councillor Barker was excused at 11.56am

Discussions traversed Council, councillor and council staff roles in the collaborative process, the science input to the plan change process, iwi/hapu engagement within the wider stakeholder engagement process and RMA legislative reforms that may impact on the process but are outside Council’s control.

Feedback from councillors included discussion around leadership or more active participation in the process by Council, DoC participation in the process being influenced/impacted by capacity issues, the proposed Ngaruroro River Water Conservation Order and how the Minister might deal with that, as well as how Council wants to ‘lead’ the process to achieve the outcomes it needs to achieve.

Further discussions traversed iwi engagement and the role of the Senior Maori Policy Advisor, the role and responsibilities of elected representatives in these collaborative processes in order to achieve outcomes through achieving consensus, options for enabling the group to be more focussed and the proposal to appoint a person to the role of a Chair for the group.

It was suggested that the group and Plan Change should have a master plan outlining the key decisions and/or milestones and timelines for achieving those.

The meeting adjourned at 12.32pm and reconvened at 1.00pm

Further discussions traversed:

· strong support for the collaborative process and the need for a Chairman to lead the group

· suggestion that policy explanations/information sessions by staff be offered to all members of the stakeholder group

· Regional Planning Committee role in decision making on RMA Plan Change processes, and involvement on the TANK stakeholder group

· Changes to RMA in relation to the role/rights of collaborative stakeholder groups

· TANK staff project team coordinates the various work streams of the wider plan change process including science investigations, stakeholder engagement, TANK stakeholder meeting facilitation, wider community consultation, and policy development

Councillor Rex Graham was excused at 1.15pm

Continued discussion and debate covered:

· Merits and risks in relation to the appointment of a Councillor as Chairman/Coordinator for the Group

· Meetings of the Group need to consider well defined outcomes

· Support for preparation of a ‘draft’ plan change so that participants have something specific to comment on and/or consider

· It was suggested that Mr Ide, Mr Maxwell and Mr Mohi meet with Mangaharuru-Tangitu and Ahuriri representatives to sound them out about the process and Council’s suggestions of how to improve the TANK process prior to the RPC meeting

RC27/15

Resolutions

That Council:

2. Receives and notes the “Update on the Greater Heretaunga (TANK) Stakeholder Group” report.

3. Instructs the Group Manager Strategic Development to review the TANK Group process in light of the feedback provided at today’s meeting, and provide a paper outlining his recommendations on the future operation of the TANK Stakeholder Group to the Regional Planning Committee.

Belford/Beaven

CARRIED

4. Endorses the recommendation of TANK that Councillor Peter Beaven serves as Interim Coordinator of the TANK Stakeholder Group.

Belford/Beaven

For: Belford, Beaven

Against: Dick, Hewitt, Scott, Pipe, Wilson

LOST

Councillor Belford moved an additional motion, being:

5. That staff report back to Council on a way to suitably compensate the Interim Coordinator for that role, until such time that any different course is recommended by the Group Manager Strategic Development and adopted by Council.

Motion 5 lapsed for lack of a seconder.

13.

Waipukurau Forest Lease Agreement

Mr Mike Adye introduced the item, which follows on from Council’s agreement in September to lease the Waipukurau forest block to the Rotary Rivers Pathway Trust.

Discussions traversed:

· the costs of designing and establishing the mountain bike facility then being recovered from Council in clause 19.6 of the agreement, and including a maximum amount or cap

· depreciation of the facility, maintenance costs and there being no extension of the agreement beyond 2030

· Health and Safety requirements and public liability insurance

· Implications of changes to the CHBDC wastewater discharge consents and the 24 month ‘notice’ contained in the Lease agreement

RC28/15

Resolutions

That Council:

2. Ratifies the attached Agreement for the lease of the Waipukurau forest block owned by HBRC to the Rotary Rivers Pathway Trust, subject to inclusion of a $200,000 cap on the amount HBRC will compensate the Trust for in clause 19.6, and authorises the Interim Chief Executive to enter into an Agreement with the Trust in accordance with that Agreement.

Hewitt/Scott

CARRIED

14.

CPM Asphalt Ltd Appeal Delegations

The paper was taken as read.

RC29/15

Resolutions

That Council:

2. Council delegates full authority to the Group Manager Resource Management to negotiate a Consent Order or mediated agreement on behalf of Council, that upholds the substantive decision of the Hearing Panel, to resolve the appeal against the decision to grant CPM Asphalt Ltd consent DP150070A to discharge contaminants into the air including: products from the combustion of diesel; dust and steam from the plant stack; dust from the aggregate bins and yard area; and bitumen odour from premises used for the manufacturing of asphalt.

Scott/Wilson

CARRIED

16.

HBRIC Ltd December 2015 Update

Mr Andrew Newman and Mr Heath Caldwell provided an update on the activities of HBRIC Ltd over the past three weeks since last updating Council, including water uptake figures, the Hearing of the judicial review on 8 December with Forest & Bird having dropped 2 of the 7 claimed grounds for relief, and the institutional investors and financing work streams.

Discussions traversed:

· suggestion that the land use and socio-economic benefit models can be re-run using updated figures and HBRIC Ltd willing to assist

· as part of due diligence, CIIL will run its own water uptake model

· BNZ forecasting model looks at farm profitability and land use scenarios

· The final financial model will be carried out by PWC as part of the process

RC30/15

Resolutions

That Council:

1. Receives the “HBRIC Ltd December 2015 Update” report.

2. Requests that Council staff work with HBRIC Ltd to update the economic analysis model with current information

Hewitt/Beaven

CARRIED

18.

Annual Plan 2016-17 Requirements of the Local Government Act, Proposed Approach and Timelines

Mr Paul Drury outlined the process to be undertaken for the 2015-16 Annual Plan, given that there will be material changes from the Long Term Plan budgets.

The paper includes an outline of some of the ‘material changes’ staff are aware of and will bring to the 17 February workshop for Council’s consideration.

Discussions traversed:

· use of ‘running’ budgets at workshops to demonstrate rates impacts of budget changes for different options

· possible ‘regional rating’ for some activities

RC31/15

Resolution

1. That Council receives the “Annual Plan 2016-17 Requirements of the Local Government Act, Proposed Approach and Timelines” report and notes the relevant Council meeting dates for the Annual Plan 2016-17.

Dick/Beaven

CARRIED

17.

Report from the 8 December 2015 Maori Committee Meeting

Mr Mike Mohi, Chairman of the Maori Committee provided an overview of discussions at the meeting held on 8 December, including Council signage in Maori, changing of representatives for Wairoa and 2 retirements, as well as items heard at this meeting which should also be considered at the Wairoa Taiwhenua meeting on 15 February.

RC32/15

Resolution

1. That Council receives and notes the “Verbal Report from the 8 December 2015 Maori Committee Meeting”.

Scott/Pipe

CARRIED

19.

Update on Napier-Gisborne Rail Line

Mrs Liz Lambert introduced the item, updating Council on where the tenders process is at with Kiwi Rail in relation to re-opening the Napier-Gisborne rail line and the alternative proposal put forward by HBRC.

RC33/15

Resolution

1. That Council receives the report titled “Update on Napier-Gisborne Rail Line”

Scott/Beaven

CARRIED

20.

Members' Register of Interests for Confirmation

The report was taken as read, except for one request for the removal of ‘owned properties’ listed for Councillor Hewitt.

RC34/15

Resolution

1. That Council receives the ‘Members’ Register of Interests’ report and advises staff of any amendments required.

Beaven/Scott

CARRIED

21.

Chairman's Report for November-December 2015

The Chairman added commentary to his report in relation to the NZ River Awards, Regional Sector meeting, the Xuzhou City (sister city) delegation, the Primary Producers round table and the Canterbury Mayoral Forum’s process for implementing their regional economic development strategy, as well as the Iwi Leaders Forum focus on freshwater management.

RC35/15

Resolution

1. That Council receives the November-December 2015 Chairman’s report.

Belford/Beaven

CARRIED

22.

Minor Items Not on the Agenda

Item	Topic	Councillor / Staff
1.	Boundary Change Query whether Hastings-Napier boundary change discussions could affect Regional Council constituencies	Cr Belford
2.	Royalties on water use for bottling Cr Beaven requested an update on progress with Council’s 26 August resolution “That Council commences discussions with central Government with regard to introducing legislation enabling the charging of royalties for water exported and sold offshore” He highlighted an article on water bottling charges in Fiji and indicated his support for such a regime here.	Cr Beaven
3.	Royal Society Meeting held last Thursday, featured 3 HBRC scientists as speakers.	Cr Scott
4.	Dairy Awards Presented on Thursday last week, to Dairy Farmers in the region (25%) who have achieved 100% compliance over 5 years or more with their resource consent conditions. This year 80% of dairy farms achieved 100% compliance.	Cr Scott
5.	Cape to City Multi-stakeholder group meeting held last month was well attended and very positive. Bruce Wills spoke of the predator management methods being used as “cutting edge” and other areas of the country being jealous. Fantastic project with strong farmer support.	Cr Scott / Cr Pipe

Before going into Public Excluded, the Chairman thanked Councillors for their hard work throughout the year and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.

23.

Confirmation of Public Excluded Minutes of the Regional Council Meeting Held on 25 November 2015

RC36/15

Resolution

That the Council excludes the public from this section of the meeting being Confirmation of Public Excluded Minutes Agenda Item 23 with the general subject of the item to be considered while the public is excluded; the reasons for passing the resolution and the specific grounds under Section 48 (1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution being:

GENERAL SUBJECT OF THE ITEM TO BE CONSIDERED	REASON FOR PASSING THIS RESOLUTION	GROUNDS UNDER SECTION 48(1) FOR THE PASSING OF THE RESOLUTION
Confirmation of Public Excluded Meeting held on 28 October 2015	7(2)(a) That the public conduct of this agenda item would be likely to result in the disclosure of information where the withholding of the information is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons	The Council is specified, in the First Schedule to this Act, as a body to which the Act applies.
Appointment of Napier Port Directors	7(2)(a) That the public conduct of this agenda item would be likely to result in the disclosure of information where the withholding of the information is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons	The Council is specified, in the First Schedule to this Act, as a body to which the Act applies.

Beaven/Hewitt

CARRIED

24.

Interim Chief Executive Remuneration Review

RC37/15

Resolution

That Council excludes the public from this section of the meeting, being Agenda Item 24 Interim Chief Executive Remuneration Review with the general subject of the item to be considered while the public is excluded; the reasons for passing the resolution and the specific grounds under Section 48 (1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution being:

GENERAL SUBJECT OF THE ITEM TO BE CONSIDERED	REASON FOR PASSING THIS RESOLUTION	GROUNDS UNDER SECTION 48(1) FOR THE PASSING OF THE RESOLUTION
Interim Chief Executive Remuneration Review	7(2)(a) That the public conduct of this agenda item would be likely to result in the disclosure of information where the withholding of the information is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons.	The Council is specified, in the First Schedule to this Act, as a body to which the Act applies.

Beaven/Hewitt

CARRIED

The meeting went into public excluded session at 3.15pm and out of public excluded session at 3:25pm

Closure:

There being no further business the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 3.25pm on Wednesday 16 December 2015.

Signed as a true and correct record.

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