A Note from the Chairman

First, a huge thank you to my team of committee members and helpers who managed to put together a very successful AGM (our very first one) in the Whitianga Town Hall. I would like to personally thank those committee members who have stood down this year and welcome Bess Kingi and Jeremy Andrews as our new members of the committee. We are thrilled to have you both onboard.

AN APOLOGY
Even though our relatively new association is small (and growing) we have been exceptionally busy and have tried to keep our members up to date with what’s happening in the community.

Our secretary Kerryn Wakelin has been the glue holding the admin side of the group together, and my sincere thanks go to Kerryn. Your Chairman has unfortunately been very busy with the kiwifruit season and I apologise if there have been lapses in communication and attending to correspondence.

The season is almost over and I will be focused on finding out what our members want from us, how you want to be involved and what issues you would like us to research and report back on.

We have some new initiatives planned which will try to ensure that our group is a dynamic, democratic and exciting one to be a part of.

Our committee has had numerous discussions about the way in which we want to work and interact with our members, with council and with the community. Key themes are:

POSITIVE, CONSTRUCTIVE, INNOVATIVE, SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE, INCLUSIVE.

There have been some deliberate changes in the way we communicate and in particular our engagement in some community social media discussions.

Occasionally the comments and posts that can be found on social media have invited extreme reactions against council staff and elected representatives. As a Resident and Ratepayers Association, we reserve the right to hold council and politicians to account for their actions and decisions, however, personal attacks are not okay and we won’t be a part of those discussions.

This policy applies to our communications as well as the way we conduct our meetings. It means that councillors and council staff are always welcome and will always be treated with the same courtesy and respect that we expect from each other. If we offer criticism of council policy and actions it will be based on research and facts, and we welcome genuine discussion about how we can contribute as a community towards better results.

We are equally excited about the upcoming opportunities to work with council on new projects which will benefit our entire community.