November News from Council

13 November 2020

Council and Committees Nov/Dec 2020

13 November 2020

Council and committee meetings are held in the Council Chambers of Westland District Council unless otherwise noted. Meetings can also be viewed through livestream on the Council website and on Council’s Youtube channel following meetings.

Meeting	Date	Time
Extraordinary Meeting to Hear Submissions on the Speed Limit Register review	Monday, 16 November	9.00am
Parks, Reserves and Environment Committee	Wednesday, 18 November	3.00pm
Ordinary Council	Thursday, 26 November	1.00pm
West Coast Wilderness Trail Subcommittee	Thursday, 3 December	3.00pm
Community Development Committee	Monday, 7 December	5.30pm
Ordinary Council	Thursday, 10 December	1.00pm

Upcoming library programmes and events

13 November 2020

Some events have limited spaces. To avoid disappointment, register for events and activities by visiting the library, email library@westlib.co.nz or call 03 755 6208.

Click the links or check out the library’s website and Facebook page for more information.

Special Events	Date	Time
Art at the Library – A celebration of Gill Pontin’s work	Friday, 20 November	10.30am – 11.30am
Christmas Wriggle and Rhyme	Tuesday 15 December	10.30am – 11.00am
Christmas Community Morning Tea All welcome	Tuesday 15 December	10.30am – 11.30am
Christmas Crafts All welcome	Monday 21 December	10.30am – 11.30am 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Regular Events
Café Books	Saturday mornings	10.30am
Tea and Tales Dementia friendly reading group	Monday mornings 23 and 30 November 7, 14 and 21 December	10.30 – 11.30am
Wriggle and Rhyme Active movement for babies and toddlers.	Tuesdays during school term 17 and 24 November 1, 8, and 15 December	10.30am – 11.00am
Wellbeing group Join us on our wellbeing journey with an opportunity to share tips and experiences to help you make positive changes in your life.	Tuesday mornings 17 and 24 November 1, 8, and 15 December	10.30am – 11.30am
STEAM Club STEAM Club is a six-week science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics programme for children 8 years and upwards. Registration required	Tuesday 17 November and 24 November	3.30pm – 4.30pm
Justice of the Peace Service Desk	1^st and 3^rd Thursday of the month	11am – 1pm
Children’s Book Club Fortnightly in term-time. Registration required.	Thursday 26 November and 10 December	3.30pm – 4.30pm
Play with Words Adult writing group meeting monthly. Registration required.	Friday, 27 November	10.00am – 12.00pm

For more information on our regular programmes and events, follow the Westland District Library Facebook page or visit our website www.westlib.co.nz.

Photos: (c) Westland District Library

Speed Limit Register Review

Consultation Hearing

13 November 2020

Council will be meeting on Monday 16 November to hear and receive the verbal and written submissions received through the consultation process. 168 people took the time to make a submission and provide their views for Council to make decisions about the appropriate speed limits for roads throughout the district. The meeting begins at 9am on Monday morning and can be viewed on livestream from Council’s website.

Following the hearing, Council will deliberate on the submissions and staff will make final recommendations for Council approval at the November Council meeting.

A full agenda, including the submissions received, is available here.

Changes to payment types

Making payments to Council

13 November 2020

Council will be unable to accept cheques after 30 April 2021. Westpac recently announced that they are ceasing cheques as a means of payment and this affects how Council receives payments.

Alternative forms of payment will take time for some customers to get used to, and staff can assist customers to understand the options available.

There are many other ways to make payments to Council, including automatic payments, direct debit payments, online bill payments, cash and eftpos.

If using online systems is unfamiliar, the Library is available to help with Digital Skills Classes and one-to-one help with Book a Librarian. Staff are happy to assist people to learn the skills needed to make payments to Council and other organisations. Please contact the library for more information on these classes: phone 03 755 6208.

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

Alternative ways to pay for your account include:

At the counter – cash and eftpos
Automatic payments through online banking
Direct debit payments
Online bill payments
Online and website credit card payments

The video below shows you how to pay an invoice online through our website.

Put lids in the green rubbish bin!

Recycling Lids and Containers

13 November 2020

After recent advice on how to sort plastic lids in recycling Council has seen an improvement in residents’ recycling bins.

However, Council is now aware that the sorting facility is unable to accept any kind of plastic lid or loose tin lid from recycling bins. You should also not crush any bottles, tins and containers flat before putting them in your bin. This is because the optical sorters identify small, flat objects as paper, which puts them into the wrong recycling stream and contaminates all of the recycling.

If the lid is still attached to a tin, tuck it inside and it is fine to put the tin into your recycling bin.

What does this mean for residents?

Only put plastic numbers 1, 2 and 5 in the yellow-lid recycling bin.
Put all lids and any containers smaller than a yoghurt pot or larger than 3 litres in the green rubbish bin.
Keep tin lids attached and pushed inside for recycling, or remove the lid and put it into the green bin.
Do not crush tins or plastics to make sure they go into the right recycling stream.

Photos: © Westland District Council

Rating Valuation Rolls

13 November 2020

Ratepayers should now have received their revised rating valuations, which were sent to ratepayers by Quoteable Value Limited earlier this month.

The revised Rating Values are effective as at 1 September 2020. Objections to the revised valuations must be lodged, in writing or online at www.ratingvalues.co.nz , no later than 11 December 2020.

Further information is available on our website.

Photo by Tom Rumble on Unsplash

Papatūānuku Has a Tummy Ache

Book Launch

13 November 2020

On 31 October Library staff were delighted to have Annette Copping in the library to launch her first picture book ‘Papatūānuku Has A Tummy Ache’, illustrated by Renēe Cadigan. Annette wrote this book to encourage children to look after Papatuanuka (Mother Earth) by reducing the amount of waste going into landfill and making our earth sick. A big thank you to everyone who attended the readings; there were over 100 children and families participating in the storytelling, songs and crafts. A copy of Papatūānuku Has a Tummy Ache is now available to borrow at the library.

Annual Report 2019/2020 Adopted

13 November 2020

Council adopted the Annual Report 2019/2020 at an Extraordinary Council Meeting on 2 November 2020. Find out more and read the report here.

Community Funding opportunity

Covid-19 Community Wellbeing Fund

13 November 2020

A new $40 million lottery fund has been established to focus on community and social initiatives in the wake of COVID-19. The fund opened on 28 October 2020.

Lottery COVID-19 Community Wellbeing Fund provides one-off grants for community or social initiatives that increase the strength and resilience of communities that are responding to the impacts of COVID-19.

This Fund supports hapū, iwi and community organisations that have lost funding or have an increased demand on their services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and community or social initiatives that strengthen community resilience and respond to the impacts of COVID-19. For more information click here or contact Nicola Te Raki: Nicola.TeRaki@dia.govt.nz