Council - Part I - 21 September 2021

Palmerston North City Council

Minutes of the Council Meeting Public, held in the Conference & Function Centre, 354 Main Street, Palmerston North on 21 September 2021, commencing at 9.00am

Members Present:	Grant Smith (The Mayor) (in the Chair) and Councillors Brent Barrett, Susan Baty, Rachel Bowen, Zulfiqar Butt, Renee Dingwall, Lew Findlay QSM, Patrick Handcock ONZM, Leonie Hapeta, Lorna Johnson, Billy Meehan, Orphée Mickalad, Karen Naylor, Bruno Petrenas and Aleisha Rutherford.
Apologies:	Councillor Vaughan Dennison

Councillor Vaughan Dennison entered the meeting at 9.59am  during consideration of clause 116-21. 

111-21	Apologies
	Moved Grant Smith, seconded Aleisha Rutherford. RESOLVED 1.That Council receive the apologies.
	Clause 111-21 above was carried 15 votes to 0.

112-21	Representation Review 2021 - Hearing of Submissions Council considered submissions on the Representation Review together with supporting oral statements including additional tabled material. The following persons appeared before Council and made oral statements in support of their submissions and replied to questions from elected members. Mr Miko Kirschbaum (submission 72) spoke to his submission and made no additional comments.  He tabled additional material and presented a powerpoint on his submission. Ms Jean Hera (submission 33) representing Te Ha Hine-ahu-one PN Women’s Health Collective spoke to their submission and made the following additional comments: · Believe having geographic wards, each  represented by the same number of councillors would provide a better balance and would be fairer -  as every voter would get the same number of votes. · Geographical wards would better support low-income communities as they could connect  more easily with their local representatives. · Community Boards haven’t worked well in the past but we need a mechanism to ensure the voices of those less likely to be heard are heard, and the voices of the more powerful  could be managed. · Supports having 2 Māori ward councillors as it would enable better representation and would allow a more supportive working environment to be created. Mr Gavin Lees (submission 64) spoke to his submission and made the following additional comments: · Believes an ‘at large’ system consisting of  two Maori ward councillors, two General ward councillors and 11 councillors elected at large would be a more equitable system. This would allow everyone to vote for the same number of councillors. · Having a Māori ward lends itself to having geographical wards, to improve voter equity. Ms Julia Manssen (submission 69) spoke to her submission and made the following additional comments: · Believes council is over represented with 15 councillors, the current ratio of 1 councillor for every 5,000 residents is too high. Would prefer to have 8 councillors. · Believes that without wards – there is no proper structure in place to make sure that councillors are accountable to residents. Without wards, councillors don’t know who they are representing or where their responsibilities lie and when they are required to fulfil their duties. · Would like to see community boards installed as they enable the people’s voice, but councillors need to be committed to regularly attending board meetings.
	Moved Grant Smith, seconded Aleisha Rutherford. RESOLVED That Council 1.   Hear submissions from presenters who indicated their wish to be heard in support of their submission. 2.   Note the Procedure for Hearing of Submissions, as described in the procedure sheet.
	Clause 112-21 above was carried 15 votes to 0.

113-21	Representation Review 2021 - Summary of submissions and consultation Memorandum, presented by Hannah White, Democracy & Governance Manager. The Democracy & Governance Manager made the following updates to the report: · Submitter 73 has withdrawn their submission which brings the total submissions to 80. · Submitter 65 had wished to change their submission to support the proposal for 15 councillors. The table of submitters’ responses will be amended to reflect these changes in the deliberation report due to Council on 6 October 2021.
	Moved Grant Smith, seconded Aleisha Rutherford. RESOLVED That the memorandum ‘Representation Review 2021- Summary of submissions and consultation’ presented to Council on 21 September 2021 be received.
	Clause 113-21 above was carried 15 votes to 0.

114-21	Confirmation of Minutes
	Moved Grant Smith, seconded Aleisha Rutherford. RESOLVED That the minutes of the ordinary meeting of 1 September 2021 - public and confidential  be confirmed as a true and correct record.
	Clause 114-21 above was carried 14 votes to 0, with 1 abstention.

115-21	Council Work Schedule - September
	Moved Grant Smith, seconded Aleisha Rutherford. RESOLVED That the Council receive its Work Schedule dated September 2021
	Clause 115-21 above was carried 15 votes to 0.

Recommendations from Committee Meeting

116-21	Planning & Strategy Committee Part I Public - 8 September 2021 Consideration was given to Planning & Strategy Committee recommendations as appended to these minutes. Councillor Vaughan Dennison joined the meeting at 9:59am.
	Moved Aleisha Rutherford, seconded Patrick Handcock ONZM. RESOLVED 1.   That the Council approve the draft Palmerston North Stormwater Bylaw 2022 Consultation Document (as attached as attachment one in the report titled “Draft Stormwater Bylaw – approval for consultation” presented to the Planning & Strategy Committee on 8 September 2021) for public consultation. 2.   That the Chief Executive be authorised to approve minor amendments to the consultation document prior to publication.
	Clause 116-21 above was carried 16 votes to 0.

The public part of the meeting finished at 10.00am

Confirmed 6 October 2021

Mayor