Council meeting wrap
Options for Mamaku community hall will be brought to the Council before final decisions on its future are made.
That was the assurance provided at today’s Council meeting. This followed the hall's closure in December due to structural concerns, asbestos and mould with a subsequent recommendation, following invasive testing, concluding that it was beyond repair.
Mayor Tania Tapsell acknowledged that the information relating to Mamaku hall was only recently known and she looked forward to further engagement and sharing of information with the community going forward.
Ensuring all of its infrastructure and assets were safe and reliable was a priority for the Council, given their value to the community and the need to ensure they continued to bring value to residents, she said.
Corporate Services General Manager Thomas Collé told today’s meeting the Reporoa and Mamaku halls were closed in December for health and safety reasons. Council was liable for the health and safety of people using the halls and they were currently not considered safe for public use, he said.
Invasive testing had been undertaken at Mamaku, remedial work was required on the Reporoa hall which was being worked through and some minor works were required at Rerewhakaaitu. Work to understand the condition of all of the district’s community halls is ongoing.
Invasive testing at the Mamaku hall found significant concerns relating to its structural integrity, water damage likely caused over a period of years and asbestos, the presence of which was already known. The view of the expert who had undertaken the invasive testing was that it could not be fixed and he had recommended demolition.
Mr Collé said staff had yet to work through next steps and would report back to Council on options, and costings for these, to seek direction on how elected members wanted to proceed.
It was likely that remedial work on the Reporoa hall would exceed the current available budget for community halls, he noted.
While there had been some investment in community halls, it was fair to say there had historically not been sufficient budget to fully renew these assets, he said. There were different arrangements with the different halls, some were in a better state than others and the work staff were undertaking at the moment would help to get a better understanding of each building.
Today’s meeting was livestreamed and you can go directly to this part of the meeting recording via THIS LINK
Other updates provided at today’s Council meeting
Financial update for the seven months to the end of January 2024: Go directly to this part of the meeting recording via THIS LINK and go to p10 of the meeting agenda to read the full report and view the presentation slides relating to this update HERE.
Corporate Services progress report: Go directly to this part of the meeting recording via THIS LINK and go to p16 of the meeting agenda to read the full report progress report for this group.
Corporate Planning and Governance progress report: Go directly to this part of the meeting recording via THIS LINK and go to p24 of the meeting agenda to read the full report progress report for this group.
Te Arawa Partnerships progress report: Go directly to this part of the meeting recording via THIS LINK and go to p33 of the meeting agenda to read the full report progress report for this group.