
Minutes of a meeting of Council held in the Council Chambers, 15
Forth Street, Invercargill on Wednesday, 7 October 2015 at 1pm.
present
Mayor
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Mayor Gary Tong
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Deputy Mayor
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Paul Duffy
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Councillors
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Lyall Bailey
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Stuart Baird
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Brian Dillon
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Rodney Dobson
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John Douglas
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Bruce Ford
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George Harpur
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Julie Keast
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Ebel Kremer
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Gavin Macpherson
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Neil Paterson
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IN ATTENDANCE
Chief Executive Steve
Ruru, Group Manager Services and Assets Ian
Marshall, Group Manager Environment and Community Bruce Halligan, Chief Financial Officer Anne
Robson, Chief Information Officer Damon
Campbell, Committee Advisor Fiona Dunlop, Area Officer Alyson Hamilton and
Communications Officer Alana Dixon.
Council
07 October
2015
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1 Apologies
There were no
apologies.
2 Leave
of absence
There were no
requests for leave of absence.
3 Conflict
of Interest
There were no
conflicts of interest declared.
4 Public Forum
There was no public
forum.
5 Extraordinary/Urgent
Items
There were no
Extraordinary/Urgent items.
6 Confirmation
of Council Minutes
Resolution
Moved Cr
Douglas, seconded Cr Baird and resolved:
That the Council
confirms the minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2015 as a true and
correct record of that meeting.
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Reports -
Policy and Strategy
7.1
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Adoption of the Annual
Report 2014/2015
Record No: R/15/9/16940
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1 Planning and
Reporting Analyst Shannon Oliver and Finance Manager Sheree Marrah were in
attendance for this item.
Miss
Oliver advised that the purpose of the report is to acquire Council’s adoption
of the Annual Report as required under the Local Government Act 2002.
2 Council
noted that the Annual Report is a means for Council to account and report to
the community on its performance of the preceding financial year. The report
is on outcomes, performance measures, both financial and non-financial and also
provides the actual results against budgeted results. This Annual
Report reports against the Annual Plan 2014/2015 (which is based on the third
year of the Council’s Long Term Plan 2012-2022).
3 Council
also noted that staff have compiled the Annual Report for the financial year
ended 30 June 2015 and it has been reviewed by members of the Executive
Leadership Team.
4 Officers
advised that Audit New Zealand staff were onsite at Council from 7 - 18
September 2015 and had completed the majority of their review of the Annual
Report and the summary document during that time.
Council
noted that in previous years, both an Annual Report and an Annual Report
summary document have been produced. The Annual Report and the Annual
Report summary document will be available at Council offices. Both the
summary document and full Annual Report would also be available on the
Council website.
Ian
Lothian Audit New Zealand Audit Director addressed the meeting and advised
that he was issuing an “unmodified” audit opinion. Mr
Lothian thanked the Chief Executive and officers for their assistance during
the audit visits.
Mayor
Tong thanked Mr Lothian for the audit opinion and acknowledged the hard work
of Southland District Council staff to achieve the “unmodified”
audit opinion.
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Resolution
Moved Deputy Mayor Duffy, seconded
Cr Bailey and resolved:
That the Council:
a) Receives
the report titled “Adoption of the Annual Report 2014/2015” dated
29 September 2015.
b) Determines
that this matter or decision be recognised as significant in
terms of Section 76 of the Local Government Act 2002.
c) Determines
that it has complied with the decision-making provisions of the Local
Government Act 2002 to the extent necessary in relation to this decision; and
in accordance with Section 79 of the Act determines that it does not require
further information, further assessment of options or further analysis of
costs and benefits or advantages and disadvantages prior to making a decision
on this matter.
d) Adopts
the Annual Report 2014/2015 and Annual Report Summary Document 2014/2015.
e) Delegates
authority to the Chief Executive to approve minor amendments to the Annual
Report 2014/2015 and Annual Report Summary Document 2014/2015 documents subsequent
to this meeting.
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7.2
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Engagement Letter -
Audit of Debenture Trust Deed
Record No: R/15/9/17031
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Finance Manager Sheree Marrah
was in attendance for this item.
Mrs Marrah advised that the purpose
of the report was to provide an overview and seek approval for the Audit New
Zealand engagement letter for the audit of Council’s debenture trust
deed.
2 Audit
New Zealand requires Council to confirm the terms of its engagement for the
audit of the Debenture Trust Deed. As part of this confirmation, Audit
New Zealand has provided Council with an audit engagement letter.
4 This
letter is required to be signed by the Mayor and returned to Audit New
Zealand to confirm Council’s acceptance of the audit engagement.
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Resolution
Moved Cr Dobson, seconded Cr Baird and
resolved:
That the Council:
a) Receives
the report titled “Engagement Letter - Audit of Debenture Trust
Deed” dated 29 September 2015.
b) Determines
that this matter or decision be recognised as not significant
in terms of Section 76 of the Local Government Act 2002.
c) Determines
that it has complied with the decision-making provisions of the Local
Government Act 2002 to the extent necessary in relation to this decision; and
in accordance with Section 79 of the Act determines that it does not require
further information, further assessment of options or further analysis of
costs and benefits or advantages and disadvantages prior to making a decision
on this matter.
d) Authorises
the Mayor to sign the audit engagement letter for the debenture trust deed on
Council’s behalf.
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7.3
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Stewart Island/Rakiura
Visitor Levy
Record No: R/15/9/16581
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Policy Analyst Tamara Dytor
was in attendance for this item.
Miss Dytor advised that the report
provided an update on the Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy. The report
also recommended an amendment to the Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy
Policy to allow for representation of all approved operators on the Stewart
Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy Committee.
Council noted that the report
discussed requests from the Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy Committee for
all approved operators to be represented on the Committee and for operational
costs to be funded from an alternative source.
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Resolution
Moved Cr Paterson, seconded Cr
Dillon and resolved:
That the Council:
a) Receives
the report titled “Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy” dated
24 September 2015.
b) Determines
that this matter or decision be recognised as not significant
in terms of Section 76 of the Local Government Act 2002.
c) Determines
that it has complied with the decision-making provisions of the Local
Government Act 2002 to the extent necessary in relation to this decision; and
in accordance with Section 79 of the Act determines that it does not require
further information, further assessment of options or further analysis of
costs and benefits or advantages and disadvantages prior to making a decision
on this matter.
d) Amends
the Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy Policy to represent all approved
operators on the Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy Committee.
e) Continues
to fund operational costs for the Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy from
levy revenue.
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Reports
- Operational Matters
8.1
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Request from the Crown
to resume unformed legal roads intersecting the Edendale School property
Record No: R/15/9/17009
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1 Strategic
Property Manager Kevin McNaught was in attendance for this item.
Mr McNaught advised that the purpose
of the report was to consider a request from registered valuer Darroch Limited
on behalf of the Crown to resume the unformed roads intersecting the Edendale
Primary School.
Council noted that the Crown
has the right to resume certain unformed legal roads in the district upon
notification to Southland District Council. A request had been
received, officers are seeking Council approval for the request to be
resolved.
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Resolution
Moved Deputy Mayor Duffy, seconded
Cr Keast and resolved:
That the Council:
a) Receives
the report titled “Request from the Crown to resume unformed legal
roads intersecting the Edendale School property” dated 29 September
2015.
b) Determines
that this matter or decision be recognised as not significant in terms of
Section 76 of the Local Government Act 2002.
c) Determines
that it has complied with the decision-making provisions of the Local
Government Act 2002 to the extent necessary in relation to this decision; and
in accordance with Section 79 of the Act determines that it does not require
further information, further assessment of options or further analysis of
costs and benefits or advantages and disadvantages prior to making a decision
on this matter.
d) Resolve
to consent to the Crown resuming those unformed roads intersecting the
Edendale Primary School defined as Sections 1 and 2, SO 483322.
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Public Excluded
Exclusion of the Public: Local Government Official Information and
Meetings Act 1987
Resolution
Moved Cr Dillon, seconded Cr Keast and resolved:
That Council exclude the public from the following part(s) of the
proceedings of this meeting.
C10.1 Milford Sound Development Authority Debt and Dividend Policy
The
general subject of each matter to be considered while the public is excluded,
the reason for passing this resolution in relation to each matter, and the
specific grounds under section 48(1) of the Local Government Official
Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution are as
follows:
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General subject of each
matter to be considered
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Reason for passing this
resolution in relation to each matter
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Ground(s) under section
48(1) for the passing of this resolution
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Milford Sound Development
Authority Debt and Dividend Policy
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s7(2)(b)(ii) - The
withholding of the information is necessary to protect information where the
making available of the information would be likely unreasonably to prejudice
the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is the subject of
the information.
s7(2)(h) - The
withholding of the information is necessary to enable the local authority to
carry out, without prejudice or disadvantage, commercial activities.
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That the public conduct
of the whole or the relevant part of the proceedings of the meeting would be
likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for
withholding exists.
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That the Chief
Executive, Group Manager Services and Assets, Group Manager Environment and Community, Chief Financial Officer,
Chief Information Officer, Committee Advisor,
Area Officer and Communications Officer be
permitted to remain at this meeting, after the public has been excluded,
because of their knowledge of the items C10.1 Milford
Sound Development Authority Debt and Dividend Policy. This knowledge, which will be of assistance in relation to the
matters to be discussed, is relevant to those matters because of their
knowledge on the issues discussed and meeting procedure.
The public were
excluded at 1.30pm.
Resolutions in
relation to the confidential items are recorded in the confidential section of
these minutes and are not publicly available unless released here.
The meeting returned to open session at
1.33pm.
The meeting concluded at 1.33pm. CONFIRMED
AS A TRUE AND CORRECT RECORD AT A MEETING OF THE Council HELD ON WEDNESDAY 7 OCTOBER 2015.
DATE:...................................................................
CHAIRPERSON:...................................................