Council News February 2021

15 February 2021

February / March 2021 meetings

15 February 2021

Meeting	Date	Time
Economic Development Committee	Tuesday, 16 February	3.00 pm
Council	Thursday, 25 February	1.00 pm
Planning and Regulatory Committee	Tuesday, 2 March	3.00 pm
Community Development Committee	Monday, 8 March	5.30 pm
West Coast Wilderness Trail Subcommittee	Thursday, 18 March	3.00 pm
Council	Thursday, 25 March	1.00 pm

What’s on at the Library

15 February 2021

The Library has a range of fantastic events special and regular events. Check out our Facebook page and website for details of all our events and activities. Bookings can be made by contacting the library on library@westlib.co.nz or calling 03 755 6208.

Special Events	Date	Time
Textile Trading – Summer edition Trade your pre-loved, good quality, clean clothing items, shoes, fabric and wool for new pre-loved items.	Friday 19 February and Saturday 20 February	2.00pm – 6.00pm
Regular Events
Tea and Tales Dementia friendly book group Registration required	Mondays	10.30 am
Wriggle and Rhyme Storytime Wriggle and Rhyme promotes active movement for babies and toddlers.	Tuesdays 16 February, 23 February, 2 March, 9 March, 16 March, 23 March, 30 March, 6 April, 13 April	10.30am – 11.00 am
Our Places – O Tātau Wāhi Lunchtime history bites	Tuesdays 16 February, 23 February, 2 March, 9 March, 16 March, 23 March, 30 March, 6 April and 13 April	12.15 pm – 12.45 pm
STEAM Club STEAM Club is a six-week programme for children 8 years and upwards. Registration required	Tuesdays 16 February, 23 February, 2 March, 9 March, 16 March, 23 March,	3.30 pm – 4.30 pm
Monthly Wellbeing Conversation Group Explore and share the many different ways to become and stay well, in body and mind.	Wednesdays 3 March, 7 April, 5 May and 2 June	11.00 am – 12.00 pm
Justice of the Peace	Thursdays	11.00 am – 1.00 pm
Children’s Book Club	Thursdays 25 February, 11 March, 25 March, 8 April	3.30 pm – 4.30 pm
Play with Words Adult writing group meeting monthly. Registration required.	Friday, 26 February	10.00 am – 12.00 pm
Café Books	Saturdays	10.30 am

For more information about the upcoming events, check out our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/LibraryHokitika/events/?ref=page_internal

MTFJ Careers Day

15 February 2021

The inaugural Mayors Taskforce For Jobs Westland Careers Day is being held on 18 February 2021, from 9am – 5pm at 41 Weld Street, Hokitika. It is open to students, jobseekers and their families.

Mayor Bruce Smith would like to extend a personal invitation to anyone interested to attend the day.

Snap Send Solve

15 February 2021

If you are out and about and see anything that Council needs to fix, you can now use the Snap Send Solve app to contact us.

It’s very easy to use. Just download the Snap Send Solve app from the Google Play Store (Android) or App Store (Apple), register your email address and you are ready to go.

The app is very simple to use:

When you see an issue and open the app it uses GPS to find your location.
Confirm where you are.
Select the issue from the dropdown menu.
Take a picture if you want to.
Fill in the details on the form and press ‘submit’.

The app then sends an email to Council’s customer service centre and the team input the information into a service request.

We show you how easy it is below:

https://youtu.be/5V_ESuOy9ag

Parking at Sunset Point

15 February 2021

You might have noticed that parking at the newly redeveloped Sunset Point is a bit different from the typical car park. Safety is an integral part of the design, as the area can be quite busy with pedestrians and vehicle traffic. Drivers should reverse park on both sides, with the front of the car facing away from the footpath.

This type of parking encourages pedestrian safety, with people going directly to the footpath instead of out into the road. It also makes it easier for anyone driving in and out of the car park as driver visibility is improved.

Making this a safe and enjoyable area for everyone is very important to the Council, so if you go to Sunset Point to enjoy the view, make sure you back into your parking space. If the weather is fine, instead of staying in the car, take a picnic or buy some fish and chips and get out and enjoy the whole area. If you’re lucky enough to get a sea-side park, reverse in, pop open the boot or tailgate and you’ve got an instant seat to view the sunset.

Photo: © Westland District Council

Payments to Council

15 February 2021

Banks in New Zealand will soon be refusing cheque payments. Council wants to help Westland residents to make any payments quickly and easily.

We accept credit and debit card payments through our website.
You can set up a direct debit to Council by completing the form and returning it to us.
You can make your payments at our customer service counter in Hokitika.
Make a payment through your bank’s online banking system.
Pay at any Westpac branch in New Zealand.

Our friendly librarians and Customer Service staff are happy to assist you to use our website to make a payment.

For more information about making payments, please contact Council on 0800 474 834.

Photo by rupixen.com on Unsplash

Your library – it’s about more than books!

School Holiday Fun at the Library

15 February 2021

While it is true that our book collections are at the core of a library, library services are all about nurturing the people in our communities.

School holidays have been very busy for our Children and Youth Librarian as she ran activities and our annual Summer Reading Challenge. This year, children completed a BINGO challenge, to get them reading in fun, different ways or trying new books they wouldn’t normally choose to read. Over 70 children from Westland completed the Summer Reading Challenge and all were gifted a book. To celebrate the completion of the Challenge, children attended a special afternoon tea and stories from international storyteller, Andy Wright.

With the start of term, our regular children’s after-school activities and pre-school Wriggle and Rhyme sessions have resumed. If you want to find out more and to book a place in an activity, contact Krystel.Woodcock@westlib.co.nz.

Photo: © Westland District Library – Andy Wright entertaining Summer Reading Challenge participants

Local Arts Projects – Creative Communities

15 February 2021

Applications for the first round of 2021 funding from Creative Communities opens on Friday 12 February 2021.

Round 1 of the Creative Communities funds local arts projects that take place between 16 April 2021 and 16 April 2022. Funding is provided by Creative New Zealand, and managed by the Council.

For a project to be eligible it must:

Take place within the city or district where the application is made.
Be completed within 12 months of funding being approved.
Benefit local communities.
Not have started or finished before CCS funding is approved.
Not have already been funded through Creative New Zealand’s other arts funding programmes.

Find out more on our website or at Creative New Zealand.

Photo by Jose G. Ortega Castro on Unsplash

Local Arts Projects – Creative Communities

Halls and War Memorials Renovations

15 February 2021

After our successful funding applications for $1.1 million to the PGF for Halls and War Memorials, work is underway and halls and memorials around the district are being renovated and refurbished to give them new life.

Current work on Halls includes:

Kumara Hall – Electrical work and insulation completed and spouting replaced.
Grey Power Building – Windows replaced and roof made weather-tight.
Kokotahi Hall – Back wall reclad. Project Manager working with engineers on plans to reclad, insulate and brace the East wall.
Waitaha Hall – Building cleaned and prepared for repiling. Rotten timber has been replaced. The main cladding is Elery’s iron in a custom size, which is on order.
Bruce Bay Hall – Plans to change the entrance and piling plan complete.
Haast Hall – Community request for it to be fit-for-purpose as a Civil Defence shelter. Work to be done to earthquake strengthen the hall for this use.
Okuru Hall – Piling plan completed

War Memorials:

Cass Square Cenotaph – Liddells contractors are cleaning the memorial using a cleaning procedure provided by the Museum for statue and headstone cleaning which helps to prevent damage being caused to the stone.
Harihari War Memorial Gates – cleaning has begun on these using the Hokitika Museum procedure.

Projects at the Library

Embracing our culture and heritage

15 February 2021

National Libraries Partnership funded librarians, Ruahine Coakley and Mike Dickison are making their mark on library services and increasing community involvement in our culture and heritage.

Working with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae, Community Engagement Librarian – Rauhine Coakley has established a new Community Library – Marae Matauranga, at the Arahura Marae, helping to make library resources more accessible to our local tangata whenua. The library will be open every Tuesday 2-3.15 (when the office is open).

Following the success of our ‘Gate to Plate’ event, explaining the ceremonies conducted during a powhiri, Rauhine has developed a new programme – O Tātau Wāhi lunchtime history bites. These begin on Tuesday 16 February from 12.15 pm – 12.45pm. Enrich your knowledge of local Māori history, legends, stories and place names. Bring your kai and the library will provide tea and coffee while you learn more about your places, one bite at a time.

Digital Discovery Librarian, Mike Dickison, has begun digitising out-of-print, out-of-copyright books from our West Coast history collection and making them available online. Volunteers have been proofreading and formatting the books at the Wikisource website, starting with a 1921 pamphlet Hokitika, N.Z.: the Birth of the Borough, which gives an account of where Hokitika’s street names come from. The book can now be downloaded as a PDF. Mike is hoping to make it available on Libby, our e-book platform, soon.

We have also created a database in Wikidata of all the different translations of The Luminaries; the library currently has it in 12 languages (the most in any library in New Zealand) and would like to have a full set. Mike has begun a regular meetup of people interested in becoming volunteer Wikipedia editors to help with projects like Hokitika street names and the history of the Driftwood and Sand Festival. The meetings are open to anyone with an interest in local and natural history, art and culture who would like to get involved, no experience required! Hold the date: New Zealand’s first WikiConference, to be held in Hokitika on March 20–21.