Minutes of Economic Development Committee

Palmerston North City Council

Minutes of the Economic Development Committee Meeting Part I Public, held in the Council Chamber, First Floor, Civic Administration Building, 32 The Square, Palmerston North on 13 May 2019, commencing at 9.05am

Members

Present:

Councillor Adrian Broad (in the Chair), The Mayor (Grant Smith) and Councillors Brent Barrett, Rachel Bowen, Gabrielle Bundy-Cooke, Vaughan Dennison, Lew Findlay QSM, Leonie Hapeta, Duncan McCann and Tangi Utikere.

Non Members:

Councillors Susan Baty, Jim Jefferies, Lorna Johnson, Karen Naylor and Bruno Petrenas.

12-19

Apologies

Moved Adrian Broad, seconded Leonie Hapeta.

The COMMITTEE RESOLVED

1. That the Committee receive the apologies.

Clause 12-19 above was carried 15 votes to 0, the voting being as follows:

For:

The Mayor (Grant Smith) and Councillors Brent Barrett, Susan Baty, Rachel Bowen, Adrian Broad, Gabrielle Bundy-Cooke, Vaughan Dennison, Lew Findlay QSM, Leonie Hapeta, Jim Jefferies, Lorna Johnson, Duncan McCann, Karen Naylor, Bruno Petrenas and Tangi Utikere.

13-19

Late Item

Moved Adrian Broad, seconded Leonie Hapeta.

The COMMITTEE RESOLVED

1. That the memorandum dated 10 May 2019 and titled “Request for Support – Ruapehu District Council LGNZ Remit” be received.

Clause 13-19 above was carried 15 votes to 0, the voting being as follows:

For:

14-19

Presentation - Inspire Net Ltd

Presentation from James Watts, Managing Director Inspire Net Ltd.

Mr James Watts outlined a brief history of how he had started the company back in 1998, seeking to improve services. Inspire Net had been a leader in many ways over the years, connected wireless to schools, fibre around The Square, connected traffic lights and had an overall commitment to the Palmerston North community to make it a good place to live.

The economic benefits were wide ranging and provided connectedness for businesses in the city, educational institutes and many Government organisations including major military bases in New Zealand.

Inspire Net opted for spending money locally wherever they could and putting money back into the community and had worked in with a range of community projects and sought out ways to improve services where they had been previously lacking i.e. connectivity for streaming the Hilux Rural Games and had spent approximately $1 million per year on community groups and sponsorships.

Moved Adrian Broad, seconded Vaughan Dennison.

The COMMITTEE RESOLVED

1. That the Economic Development Committee receive the presentation for information.

Clause 14-19 above was carried 15 votes to 0, the voting being as follows:

For:

15-19

Presentation - Advantage Computers Ltd

Presentation from Brad Pearpoint, Managing Director Advantage Computers Ltd.

Mr Pearpoint spoke to the committee about how Advantage Computers Ltd had initially been a PC manufacturing company providing computers to Governments both centrally and locally. When manufacturing giants had taken over this role, Advantage Computers Ltd had implemented new projects.

The company had transitioned and became an infrastructure supplier, with the rise of cloud based shared services, data centres and an increasing need for cyber security.

The services Advantage Computers Ltd provided had a huge economic benefit to the city of Palmerston North and played a huge role in being an appealing location to relocate to.

Palmerston North had many benefits for these services, due to connectedness and no known fault risks at moment. There were a lot of paths out of city, roading and fibre.

Moved Adrian Broad, seconded Vaughan Dennison.

The COMMITTEE RESOLVED

1. That the Economic Development Committee receive the presentation for information.

Clause 15-19 above was carried 15 votes to 0, the voting being as follows:

For:

16-19

Presentation - Real Estate Institute

Presentation from Andy Stewart, Spokesperson for the Real Estate Institute.

Mr Andy Stewart spoke about the real estate opportunities and benefits of the Manawatu/Whanganui region.

The market had been and still was buoyant and highly competitive. It had been a sellers’ market and had been seeing an increase in values in Palmerston North. The recent REINZ report in March had identified the area as the second highest growth rate in country behind southland comparing March 2019 to March 2018 statistics.

Median house prices had been the highest recorded. Unfortunately the increase in prices affected first home buyers. However, the Palmerston North city still had affordable homes compared to other metropolitan cities.

Mr Stewart canvassed that the real estate industry in Palmerston North was still well alive and that in terms of economic benefits, it is what this city had to offer that will continue to attract more people.

Moved Leonie Hapeta, seconded Rachel Bowen.

The COMMITTEE RESOLVED

1. That the Economic Development Committee receive the presentation for information.

Clause 16-19 above was carried 15 votes to 0, the voting being as follows:

For:

17-19

Confirmation of Minutes

Moved Adrian Broad, seconded Lorna Johnson.

The COMMITTEE RESOLVED

1. That the minutes of the Economic Development Committee meeting of 8 April 2019 Part I Public be confirmed as a true and correct record.

Clause 17-19 above was carried 15 votes to 0, the voting being as follows:

For:

18-19

Committee Work Schedule

Moved Adrian Broad, seconded Leonie Hapeta.

The COMMITTEE RESOLVED

1. That the Economic Development Committee receive its Work Schedule dated May 2019.

Clause 18-19 above was carried 15 votes to 0, the voting being as follows:

For:

19-19

Request for support - Ruapehu District Council LGNZ remit

Memorandum, dated 10 May 2019 presented by the Strategy & Policy Manager, Julie Macdonald.

Moved Leonie Hapeta, seconded Jim Jefferies.

The COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS

1. That the Council support the following remit at the LGNZ AGM in July 2019: “That LGNZ actively support the Tourism Industry Aotearoa Local Government Funding Model to Support Regional Tourism Growth.”

Clause 19-19 above was carried 13 votes to 2, the voting being as follows:

For:

The Mayor (Grant Smith) and Councillors Susan Baty, Adrian Broad, Gabrielle Bundy-Cooke, Vaughan Dennison, Lew Findlay QSM, Leonie Hapeta, Jim Jefferies, Lorna Johnson, Duncan McCann, Karen Naylor, Bruno Petrenas and Tangi Utikere.

Against:

Councillors Brent Barrett and Rachel Bowen.

The meeting finished at 10.25am

Confirmed 10 June 2019

Chairperson