Kaiapoi drops extra council meeting

Press, 14 November 1984, Page 18

Kaiapoi drops extra council meeting

Only one council meeting a month will now be held by the Kaiapoi Borough Council.

Full council meetings had been held on the second and fourth Monday of each month for a year as an experiment. The council agreed on Monday that two meetings a month were not necessary. The town planning ‘ and library committees met on the first Monday and the works, electricity, and reserves committees met on the third Monday of each month.

The Mayor, Mr Howard Cumberland, suggested committee meetings be held on the first two Mondays and the full council meet on the third Monday, leaving one week with no meeting. Cr Philip Redmond sought further changes to the meetings because of an “imbalance* in the committees. He said the library and town planning committees were "lightweight in content" while the works, electricity, and reserves com-’ mittees were “heavy committees with full agendas”. He suggested that the

electricity committee meeting be held on the same evening as the library and town planning committees to help “redistribute the load”. Cr Redmond also said that some councillors should be given more responsibility. He only served on the two “lightweight” committees while other councillors served on the three “heavyweight” committees. The chairman of the electricity committee, Cr Bert Empson, said his committee should meet with the works and reserves committees. Some council officers held dual roles and should be present for the three “heavyweight” committees. He agreed there was an imbalance but said there was little that could be done about it

The chairman of the reserves committee, Cr Alistair Blackie, said some of the business handled by his committee and the works committee could be transferred to the town planning committee. The new meeting structure will begin in December. Voting A move to make ratepayers ineligible to vote in local body elections if they do not qualify as residents, was not supported by the council.

The provision is part of the Local Body Amendment (No. 2) Bill which will be reintroduced to Parliament. Cr Redmond said the move would probably not affect many Kaiapoi ratepayers but those with finan-

cial interests in the borough should be able to vote.

Mr Cumberland agreed that people with an interest in an area should be able to vote in that area. The council will write to the Municipal Association to express its disapproval. Art display An arts display will be held as part of the street garden competition in February. Cr Heck McAllister told the council the display would be held in conjunction with the North Canterbury Arts Council in the Kaiapoi Community Centre. The competition would close on February 9 and the display held on February 15, 16 and 17.

Cr McAllister hoped sponsors for the competition

could be found to finance a trophy. Certificates would be presented to competition winners during the arts display.

He also hoped other activities, such as a river carnival, would be held at the same time to “make Kaiapoi the place it used to be.”