Agenda of Council Meeting - 19 February 2019

Emergency Service Provider	Funding Purpose	Annual Allocation (in each of three years, GST exclusive)	Funding Uptake as at 31 Jan 2019
Northland Emergency Services Trust	Operational costs for the air rescue and ambulance services	$525,000	$262,500
Emergency Service Provider	Funding Purpose	Annual Allocation (in each of three years, GST exclusive)	Funding Uptake as at 31 Jan 2019
Surf Life Saving Northern Region	Professional guards at popular beaches outside volunteer paid hours	$201,000	$201,000
St John Northern Region	Partially-fund replacement of Northland ambulances	$90,000	$90,000
Coastguard Northern Region	Operating, support and training costs for Northland units	$84,000	$42,000

Emergency Service Provider

Funding Purpose

Annual Allocation (in each of three years, GST exclusive)

Funding Uptake as at 31 Jan 2019

Northland Emergency Services Trust

Operational costs for the air rescue and ambulance services

$525,000

$262,500

Emergency Service Provider

Funding Purpose

Annual Allocation (in each of three years, GST exclusive)

Funding Uptake as at 31 Jan 2019

Surf Life Saving Northern Region

Professional guards at popular beaches outside volunteer paid hours

$201,000

St John
Northern Region

Partially-fund replacement of Northland ambulances

$90,000

Coastguard
Northern Region

Operating, support and training costs for Northland units

$84,000

$42,000

Organisation	Activity/action	Status	Additional expenditure costs
ALL	· Promotion at the annual emergency services open day · Article included in new council newsletter To Tatou in both the electronic and print version · Updated content on council website · Social media advertising on Facebook and Instagram · Pull up banners promoting all emergency services funding recipients	Complete Complete Complete Complete In progress	n/a n/a n/a n/a $1600
NEST	· Radio advertising during NEST annual appeal and 30-year celebration · Print advert in Northern Advocate · Advertorial in Northern Advocate NEST 30-year celebration edition · Pullup banner at NEST office (temporarily on loan need to supply permanent solution) · Signage on hanger · Branding on new helicopters	Complete Complete Complete Complete On hold On hold	$4000 $400 n/a n/a $2000 TBC
Surf Lifesaving Northern Region	· 3.9m blade flying flags at each Northland beach with paid lifeguards · Print advert in January edition of Savvy magazine · Information included in national media release · Branding on uniform · Permanent signage at lifeguard facilities	Complete Complete Complete Unavailable Need to progress	$2600 $270 n/a Approx. $1500
CoastGuard Northern Region	· Promoted Old4New lifejacket campaign on social media · Promotion of Coastguard messages during safe boating campaign · Permanent signage at Coastguard facilities · Promotion around volunteer week	Complete Ongoing Need to progress May	n/a n/a Approx. $1500 n/a
St Johns Ambulance Northern Region	· Unveiling and ceremony of new ambulance · Branding on new ambulance · Signage at buildings (note this will be minimal and internal only)	TBC TBC On hold	n/a n/a Approx. $500
The promotion and activities still to be completed will cost approx. Note: This includes money to find a better solution to display flying flags on beaches for next summer’s patrol as current solution not viable.	$7500-8000

Organisation

Activity/action

Status

Additional expenditure costs

ALL

· Promotion at the annual emergency services open day

· Article included in new council newsletter To Tatou in both the electronic and print version

· Updated content on council website

· Social media advertising on Facebook and Instagram

· Pull up banners promoting all emergency services funding recipients

Complete

In progress

n/a

$1600

NEST

· Radio advertising during NEST annual appeal and 30-year celebration

· Print advert in Northern Advocate

· Advertorial in Northern Advocate NEST 30-year celebration edition

· Pullup banner at NEST office (temporarily on loan need to supply permanent solution)

· Signage on hanger

· Branding on new helicopters

Complete

On hold

$4000

$400

n/a

$2000

TBC

Surf Lifesaving Northern Region

· 3.9m blade flying flags at each Northland beach with paid lifeguards

· Print advert in January edition of Savvy magazine

· Information included in national media release

· Branding on uniform

· Permanent signage at lifeguard facilities

Complete

Unavailable Need to progress

$2600

$270

n/a

Approx. $1500

CoastGuard Northern Region

· Promoted Old4New lifejacket campaign on social media

· Promotion of Coastguard messages during safe boating campaign

· Permanent signage at Coastguard facilities

· Promotion around volunteer week

Complete

Ongoing

Need to progress

May

n/a

Approx. $1500

n/a

St Johns Ambulance Northern Region

· Unveiling and ceremony of new ambulance

· Branding on new ambulance

· Signage at buildings (note this will be minimal and internal only)

TBC

TBC On hold

n/a

Approx. $500

The promotion and activities still to be completed will cost approx.

Note: This includes money to find a better solution to display flying flags on beaches for next summer’s patrol as current solution not viable.

$7500-8000

Emergency Services Fund Recipient	Annual Allocation 2015/18 (GST Exclusive)	Pro-Rata percentage of Reserve Balance	Amount already paid to Fund Recipient	Balance to pay to Fund Recipient	Annual Allocation 2018/21 (GST Exclusive)
NEST	$525,000	(64%)	-	$104,471	$525,000
SLSNR	$120,000	(15%)	$22,500	$1,985	$200,000
ST JOHN	$90,000	(11%)	-	$17,626	$90,000
COASTGUARD	$84,000	(10%)	-	$16,324	$84,000
*Total*	$819,000		$22,500	*$140,736*	$899,000

Emergency Services Fund Recipient

Annual Allocation 2015/18
(GST Exclusive)

Pro-Rata percentage of Reserve Balance

Amount already paid to Fund Recipient

Balance to pay to Fund Recipient

Annual Allocation 2018/21
(GST Exclusive)

NEST

$525,000

(64%)

$104,471

$525,000

SLSNR

$120,000

(15%)

$22,500

$1,985

$200,000

ST JOHN

$90,000

(11%)

$17,626

$90,000

COASTGUARD

$84,000

(10%)

$16,324

$84,000

Total

$819,000

$22,500

$140,736

$899,000

Delegation	Delegated to:	Proposed changes	Reason for change
Overall management of day to day treasury management activities including establishing appropriate structures, procedures and controls.	Chief Executive	Text change: “Overall responsibility for day to day…” Delegated to: General Manager – Corporate Excellence	Clarification. As per Treasury Management Policy.
Borrowing and investment Undertaking new borrowing or re-financing of existing debt in accordance with LTP / AP, requirements of the LGA 2002, approved policies, including Treasury Management Policy, counterparties, approved expenditure limits and any relevant council resolutions. Approve new counterparties & counterparty limits.	Chief Executive	Text change: “…approved policies, including Investment, Liability Management and Treasury Management Policies, counterparties…” Delete text: “Approve new counterparties & counterparty limits.”	As per new policy structure. As per Treasury Management Policy, this now sits with council.
Investments – in accordance with Treasury Management Policy, Statement of Investment Policy & Objectives (SIPO) & relevant sub-committee or working party Terms of Reference.	Chief Executive Group Manager – Corporate Excellence	Text change: “– in accordance with Investment Policy, Treasury Management Policy, Statement of Investment…”	As per new policy structure.
Compliance with legislation Ensuring the Treasury Management Policy and other financial policies included in Part 6 subpart 3 of LGA 2002 comply with existing and new legislation.	Chief Executive Group Manager – Corporate Excellence	Text change: “Ensuring the financial policies included in Part 6 subpart 3 of LGA 2002 comply with existing and new legislation.” Delegated to: General Manager – Corporate Excellence	Exclude reference to Treasury Management Policy as this no longer contains content required by the LGA. As per Treasury Management Policy.
International Swaps & Derivatives Enter into ISDA agreements with NZ Banks as required to fulfill investment objectives within LTP / AP and relevant council policies.	Chief Executive	Remove delegation	Swaps and derivatives have been removed from the financial instruments to be approved, as they are not used.

Delegation

Delegated to:

Proposed changes

Reason for change

Overall management of day to day treasury management activities including establishing appropriate structures, procedures and controls.

Chief Executive

Text change: “Overall responsibility for day to day…”

Delegated to: General Manager – Corporate Excellence

Clarification.

As per Treasury Management Policy.

Borrowing and investment

Undertaking new borrowing or re-financing of existing debt in accordance with LTP / AP, requirements of the LGA 2002, approved policies, including Treasury Management Policy, counterparties, approved expenditure limits and any relevant council resolutions.

Approve new counterparties & counterparty limits.

Chief Executive

Text change: “…approved policies, including Investment, Liability Management and Treasury Management Policies, counterparties…”

Delete text: “Approve new counterparties & counterparty limits.”

As per new policy structure.

As per Treasury Management Policy, this now sits with council.

Investments – in accordance with Treasury Management Policy, Statement of Investment Policy & Objectives (SIPO) & relevant sub-committee or working party Terms of Reference.

Chief Executive

Group Manager – Corporate Excellence

Text change: “– in accordance with Investment Policy, Treasury Management Policy, Statement of Investment…”

As per new policy structure.

Compliance with legislation

Ensuring the Treasury Management Policy and other financial policies included in Part 6 subpart 3 of LGA 2002 comply with existing and new legislation.

Chief Executive

Group Manager – Corporate Excellence

Text change: “Ensuring the financial policies included in Part 6 subpart 3 of LGA 2002 comply with existing and new legislation.”

Delegated to: General Manager – Corporate Excellence

Exclude reference to Treasury Management Policy as this no longer contains content required by the LGA.

As per Treasury Management Policy.

International Swaps & Derivatives

Enter into ISDA agreements with NZ Banks as required to fulfill investment objectives within LTP / AP and relevant council policies.

Chief Executive

Remove delegation

Swaps and derivatives have been removed from the financial instruments to be approved, as they are not used.

Council Meeting item: 6.5

19 February 2019

TITLE:	Manea Footprints of Kupe - Request for a funding contribution from Council
ID:	A1132029
From:	Jon Trewin, Economic Policy Advisor and Darryl Jones, Economist

Executive summary

The Manea Footprints of Kupe proposal at Opononi (‘Manea’) involves the establishment of a cultural heritage tourism and education centre, including displays, guided tours and interactive performances, with a total development cost of $8.2 million. The proponents are seeking project grant funding of $500,000 from council towards this total cost. In September 2018, council sought a recommendation from the Northland Inc. Board on the viability of the project. The Northland Inc. Board has now formally recommended that council invest the requested sum in the Manea proposal (Attachment 1). Council staff also concur with this recommendation. However, there is presently not enough available funding in the IGR to meet this request in full. The purpose of this agenda item is therefore to recommend the transfer of $500,000 from the Community Investment Fund (CIF) into the Investment and Growth Reserve (IGR) and to allocate $500,000 from the Investment and Growth Reserve to the Manea proposal, subject to conditions being met.

Recommendation(s)

1. That the report ‘Manea Footprints of Kupe - Request for a funding contribution from Council’ by Jon Trewin, Economic Policy Advisor and Darryl Jones, Economist and dated 22 November 2018, be received.

2. That $500,000 be transferred from the Community Investment Fund into the Investment and Growth Reserve once the conditions of funding set out in recommendation 3 have been met.

3. That $500,000 (excluding GST) be allocated as Enabling Investment funding from the Investment and Growth Reserve to the Manea Footprints of Kupe project subject to the following conditions being met.

a. All resource and building consents are obtained for all elements of the project to proceed;

b. Fixed price construction tenders that permits all elements of the project to proceed is secured;

c. All funding has been secured to cover the development of the entire project;

d. A funding agreement is signed between Te Hua o Te Kawariki Trust, Manea Footprints of Kupe Ltd, Far North Holdings (FNHL), and council that includes:

i. a list of key performance indicators;

ii. a schedule of payment instalments that are linked to construction milestones with the first payment not occurring prior to 1 November 2019;

iii. an undertaking that any cost overruns for the construction of the buildings will be covered by supplementary funding and not by reducing the experience/fit-out development; and

iv. an undertaking that Manea will be held in perpetuity for the benefit of the local community and that should it ever be sold into private ownership that council will be refunded its $500,000 funding allocation.

e. Confirmation that an overdraft facility of $200,000 has been secured.

Background

The Manea Footprints of Kupe project has been developed by the Te Hua o te Kawariki Trust (the Trust) to establish a cultural heritage tourism and education centre in Opononi that would celebrate the journeys of Kupe. Manea will tell the stories (footprints) of Kupe using a combination of guided tours, 4D interactive performances and technology stations. This will be complemented by taonga repatriated from various museums.

At its meeting on 21 November 2017, council allocated $40,000 from the IGR as Feasibility Assessment and Business Case funding to assist with the validation of development plans, quantity surveying, technical review, architectural plans and producing high definition images to attract investment.

The project is being supported by the Shane Lloyd Family Trust (owners of the Copthorne Hotel and Resort Hokianga) and FNHL. The experience involves the construction of a building to be built by FNHL and leased to the Trust, making up the Manea – Footprints of Kupe Education and Heritage Centre (its full title).

FNHL has agreed to purchase the land from the Lloyd Family Trust once all the funding has been secured. FNHL will also project manage the build, and will incur ‘in kind’ costs in this regard. Once Manea has opened, FNHL will continue to own the building and land that it sits on, and lease the building to the Trust at a rate of $120,000 per annum (an annual rate of return of 10% for FNHL on an initial investment of $1.2M).

A charitable limited liability company, Manea Footprints of Kupe Ltd, has been established by the Trust to operate the business. The Board of Directors includes a number of experienced individuals in the tourism sector including Shane Lloyd, Anton Haigh, and Northland Inc. board members Nicole Anderson and Denis Callesen. Profits not required for operational or capital requirements of the business will be returned back to the Trust for community charitable purposes. As per the deed of Trust this includes any purpose which promotes the educational, spiritual, economic, social or cultural advancement of iwi and hapu in the Hokianga including the provision of facilities or is otherwise for the benefit of communities in the Hokianga.

It is understood that the Trust intends to purchase the land and buildings from FNHL as funding allows, with the intention of this being several years after opening. The Trust will be given first right of refusal to purchase in this regard. In addition, as part of the funding agreement with MBIE for Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding, FNHL cannot sell or dispose of the land and buildings without approval from MBIE and the Trust for a period of 20 years.

Manea business case

The attraction is likely to have positive economic benefits for the Hokianga area and complement existing attractions such as Footprints Waipoua. For example, the total economic impact from visitors is estimated to be approximately $5.5M per annum, and the total economic impact from construction is estimated to be approximately $12M.

The business case for the project has evolved over time. An update to the business case in January 2019 (Attachment 2) envisages 17 FTEs employed by the end of Year 3 and onwards. A ‘conservative’ estimate of 44,100 visitors in Year 1 rising to 59,000 in Year 3 has been adopted based on existing operator estimates and accepted by Deloitte as reasonable (p.32 of business case). By comparison other figures produced by Crowe Horwath, commissioned to provide a ‘second opinion’ to the operator figures, suggested visitor numbers could be 10-20% higher. As with other attractions, most of these visitors will arrive in the peak summer months of December to February dropping off considerably into the winter season.

A varied pricing structure will be used, with the majority of visitors paying $45 (gross). The overall net revenue for the business will be less factoring in GST and commission to tour operators. Local visitors will pay a koha. Based on the above visitor numbers, the overall three-year profit and loss calculations in the business case estimate a company profit (after GST calculations) of $207,537 in 2020/21 (Year 1), dropping to $160,631 in 2021/22 (Year 2) and rising to $591,655 in 2022/23 (Year 3) (page 44 of business case). Overall it is estimated that a cumulative profit of $959,823 will be generated by 2022/23. However, the growth in company profit in Year 3 assumes the removal of the requirement to fund the lease, due to a desired purchase of the land and buildings from FNHL by the Trust in 2022/23. Clearly this intended purchase is dependent on the projected growth of visitor numbers and retail income in the business case.

Northland Inc. has carried out extensive testing of the financial model and its various assumptions. Their analysis suggests that an overdraft facility of up to $200,000 (rather than $100,000) should be obtained by Manea Footprints of Kupe Ltd to cover a possible lower number of visitors during the first year of operation than assumed in the business case.

The proponents were successful in receiving an allocation of $4.6 million from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) in February 2018, one of the first PGF projects announced. However, changes to the project design have since occurred including relocating the ticket office, additional car park development, and the reposition and orientation of the building to face the harbour entrance. This has increased the project development cost and triggered the request for council investment.

The total indicative project cost, as of January 2019, is $ 8.2 million and can be broadly broken down into three components (Table 1). It should be noted that this cost only includes gravel carparking and temporary pre-fabricated toilet and reception facilities. It is envisaged that the sealing of the carpark and a future reception building will be added as funding is applied for/becomes available, e.g. via the Tourism Infrastructure Fund.

Table 1. Breakdown for project costs by component

Cost element	Total	Share of total	Comments
Trust costs and company operation development	$919,646	11%
Experience development	$3,395,746	41%	Includes design, fitout, content and equipment.
Construction	$3,881,903	48%	Includes concept design, site works, building shell, ancillary buildings and contingency.
TOTAL	$8,197,295	100%

Funding sources and amount still required

FNHL is contributing $1.2 million ($0.4 million for the purchase of the land and $0.8 million for construction). A contribution of $1.1 million was sought from Foundation North in 2018. However due to oversubscription of the fund, only 56% of the sought-after funding was awarded. To make up the shortfall, funding from the Lotteries New Zealand Significant Project Fund is again being sought and the Trust are planning on making an application to this fund. The proponents have also indicated that the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s Regional Culture and Heritage Fund – a fund of last resort – could also be used to cover any funding gap but they need to demonstrate that regional funding sources have been exhausted.

Table 2. Breakdown for project costs by funding source

Funding agency	Total	Share of total	Comments
Provincial Growth Fund	$4,600,000	55%	Awarded
Far North Holdings	$800,000	10%	Awarded – does not include ‘in-kind’ support, advice and project management, and the cost of land purchase ($400,000).
Foundation North	$653,439	8%	Awarded, however, due to oversubscription of the fund only 56% of the sought after $1.15M was awarded.
Lotteries NZ	$1,643,856	22%	To be applied for. Funding from Lotteries Significant Projects Fund was sought in June 2018, however, the application was unsuccessful. Feedback from Lotteries NZ was that the proponents should first seek funding from a regional fund. Another application will be submitted prior to the close of the next funding round in March 2019.
Northland Regional Council	$500,000	6%	Applied for (the subject of this agenda item)
Total	$8,197,295	100%

The proponents of the project are flexible on when council funding could be available – for example funding could be available to draw down towards the latter part of the build and fit-out (envisaged to be Q2 and Q3 of 2019/20).

In January 2019, the Northland Inc. Board formally recommended to council that the request for funding from the IGR be approved by council. The Board recommended two conditions:

1. That the full quantum of project funding ($8.2M) be secured before any drawdown from IGR funds occurs. Any cost overrun for the building development be funded by supplemental funding and not from any funding to be used to develop the experience, fit-out or start-up operating costs.

2. Following stress testing on the financial model, an overdraft of $200,000 is likely to be required (an extra $100,000).

Considerations

1. Options

No.	Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
1	Transfer $500,000 from the CIF to the IGR and then allocate $500,000 to Manea subject to conditions being met.	A good proportion (73%) of funding has already been secured. Council funding would provide certainty and would allow the proponents of the project to show there is “skin in the game” from the region. Can “piggyback” on PGF funding and agreed requirements from MBIE. Would provide project funding to the west coast of Northland (Hokianga area) which has not historically received much investment from the IGR.	Would reduce the funds available in the CIF that could be invested in other projects or retained for growth (refer to Section 6 – Financial Implications below).
2	Transfer a lesser amount from the CIF to the IGR and then allocate to Manea subject to conditions being met.	The advantages are similar to Option 1 with the exception that a greater amount of funding would be retained in the CIF that could be invested in other projects or retained for growth.	Would reduce the funds available in the CIF that could be invested in other projects or retained for growth (refer to Section 6 – Financial Implications below). Would not fully meet the requested sum of $500,000 and therefore the proponents would have to source this shortfall from elsewhere.
3	Decline the request for funding	Would maintain funding in the CIF for other projects or retained within the fund for growth. Would provide proponents with a clear decision and therefore allow them to modify their funding applications to the Lotteries Significant Project Fund and other funding streams such as the Minister of Culture and Heritage’s Regional Culture and Heritage Fund (a fund of last resort).	Uncertainty would remain around the funding shortfall of $2,143,856. $4.6M of central government funding awarded could be lost from the PGF if the project does not proceed.

The staff’s recommended option is Option 1 as this option provides a regional contribution to a worthwhile project whilst safeguarding existing commitments budgeted in the IGR (refer to Section 6 – Financial Implications below).

The following conditions are recommended by staff to be set for Option 1 before funding is released:

a. All resource and building consents are obtained for all elements of the project to proceed;

b. Fixed price construction tenders that permits all elements of the project to proceed is secured;

c. All funding has been secured to cover the development of the entire project;

d. A funding agreement is signed between Te Hua o Te Kawariki Trust, Manea Footprints of Kupe Ltd, Far North Holdings (FNHL) and council that includes:

i. a list of key performance indicators;

ii. a schedule of payment instalments that are linked to construction milestones with the first payment not occurring prior to 1 November 2019;

iii. an undertaking that any cost overruns for the construction of the buildings will be covered by supplementary funding and not by reducing the experience development; and

e. Confirmation that an overdraft facility of $200,000 has been secured.

2. Significance and engagement

In relation to section 79 of the Local Government Act 2002, this decision is considered to be of low significance when assessed against council’s Significance and Engagement Policy as the ability to transfer money between the CIF and IGR and allocate funding from the IGR has been specifically considered and provided for in council’s Long Term Plan.

3. Policy, risk management and legislative compliance

The activities detailed in this report are in accordance with the IGR criteria, the Long Term Plan 2018–2028, and council’s decision-making process as prescribed in the Local Government Act 2002.

Further considerations

4. Community views

The project is supported by local marae through the Te Hua o Te Kawariki Trust. Shane Lloyd Family Trust operates and manages several local businesses and has a mutual partnership with the Trust to contribute meaningfully to the local community through a Māori cultural tourism project. The project proponents have held several community meetings, leading to some of the changes in layout and design described above.

5. Māori impact statement

The project is being led by Te Hua o Te Kawariki Trust who represent four local maraes who are invested in the project. The project will showcase Māori culture and contribute to economic development in the Hokianga area. There is no known opposition to this project from Māori.

6. Financial implications

Staff have reviewed funding available in the IGR and conclude that there are insufficient funds available to cover the $500,000 investment requested in the timeframe required without significantly impacting on existing commitments. Presently the IGR has a forecast closing balance of $238,000 in 2018/19 taking into account current funding commitments and policy settings. The following table shows that there are insufficient funds available to allocate $500,000 from the IGR for Manea, assuming all other commitments are maintained and providing for ongoing project development ($300,000) and enabling investment funding.

Table 1. Investment and Growth Reserve cash flow balance

Cumulative value for the three years 2019/20-2021/22
based on current funding commitments and settings

Note:

Analysis does not take into account other income, e.g. interest earned.

The Long Term Plan 2018-2028 allows council to make discretionary additional input from the Community Investment Fund (CIF) into the IGR as needed for economic development initiatives provided the CIF does not fall below $12.5 million. The current CIF balance (as at 31 December 2018) is $13,862,081. Deducting $12.5 million from this, we can assume an available funding envelope of $1,362,081 at present which could be transferred to the IGR (Table 2).

Table 2. Available funding from the Community Investment Fund

Note:

Analysis does not consider any gains in the value of the CIF.

Over the last few months, council’s managed funds (including CIF) have been hit by volatility in the global share market. This has had a negative effect on the performance of these funds, falling below the objective set. The performance of the CIF is however expected to improve in the year to 30 June 2019. However, this is contingent on global economic factors and the inherent risk of volatility in the stock market.

In terms of the effect of the withdrawal of funding on the CIF under Option 1, a $500,000 withdrawal in 2019/20 (for example in Q2 November 2019) is projected to reduce gains in the fund by around $20,000, i.e. from $739,827 to $726,337 in 2019/20, with a closing forecast 2019/20 balance of $14,410,065.

7. Implementation issues

The project will be implemented by Far North Holdings Limited who have been involved in developing a number of infrastructure projects in the Far North so no implementation issues are envisaged.

Attachments

Attachment 1: Letter to NRC from NINC recommending Manea ⇩

Attachment 2: Manea Business and Development Plan - January 2019 ⇩

Authorised by Group Manager

Name:	Jonathan Gibbard
Title:	Group Manager - Strategy, Governance and Engagement
Date:	13 February 2019

Council Meeting item: 7.2

19 February 2019

TITLE:	Chief Executive’s Report to Council
ID:	A1156933
From:	Malcolm Nicolson, Chief Executive Officer

Recommendation

That the report ‘Chief Executive’s Report to Council’ by Malcolm Nicolson, Chief Executive Officer and dated 29 January 2019, be received.

7.2.1 Highlights

Signing of historic relationship agreement

Council’s Chairman and CEO attended the National Iwi Chairs Forum at Waitangi on Thursday 31 January, where the Mayoral Forum and Taitokerau Iwi Chairs Forum (Te Kahu O Taonui) signed an historic governance to governance Relationship Agreement.

Best Trade Exhibit

This year council won the Best Trade Exhibit at the Whangārei A&P show, and attributed this to its combined partner effort that creating linkages between biosecurity pest animals and adjacent site partners Pukenui Forest Trust and Kiwi Coast.

Sustainable Hill Country and Regional Priorities Programme

Northland was notified late December 2018 that the proposed “Sustainable Hill Country and Regional Priorities” ( SHARP) programme funded through the Hill Country Erosion Fund (2019-2023) (a subset of the PGF and One Billion Trees programme ) has been approved, in principle, subject to contracts being finalised. The $3.6 M of funding, over 4 years, will allow the hiring of 4FTE, provision of advisory services for soil conservation and afforestation, grant funding for planting and fencing and research funds for coastal vegetative buffers and managing ageing poplars and willows in the landscape. The SHARP programme will enable Northland to progress our Long Term Soil Conservation Plan, over and above the Long Term Plan and consolidate NRC’s land management advisory, soil conservation nursery, Environment Fund, Farm Environment Plans and One Billion Trees workstreams around one programme.

Kiwi Coast finalist for New Zealander of the Year

The Kiwi Coast Trust is a finalist in the Kiwi Bank New Zealander of the Year Awards. Kiwi Coast has been nominated for the Mitre 10 New Zealand Community of the Year category with the winners to be announced at the New Zealander of the Year Awards Gala in Auckland on February 13. Read more about the awards here: https://nzawards.org.nz/news/2019-new-zealander-year-awards-finalists-confirmed/

7.2.2 CEO’s Office

Shared services

Nine shared services/collaborations are now business as usual, complete or at operational stage:

· Active Recreation and Sports Facilities (NRC rate funding)

· Joint Procurement/Contracts

· One Calendar

· Whanaketia te Whenua

· Contact Centre – KDC and FNDC

· Northland One Voice Collaboration

· Northland Transportation Alliance

· Civil Defence

· Health and Safety.

Focus remains on Northland councils working together on applications for the Provincial Growth Fund a part of the Northland Forward Together’s ‘One Voice’ advocacy program. The four councils’ other priorities also include four waters, IT services, and LIDAR (survey restarted in December with Mainland Air).

Regional Economic Development has been an addition to the Shared Services program following CEOs workshop in January 2019. Three potential business model concepts are to be progressed with a recommendation on a preferred business model, funding and benefits targeted to go to Mayors then councils August/September 2019.

Council property update

An offer by way of a Sale & Purchase Agreement to purchase a Waipapa property is currently before the vendor.

Redevelopment at 8 Kensington Avenue: the resource consent application has been submitted. There is significant interest from prospective tenants. All consultants have been engaged. Detailed design has begun.

Kaipara Service Centre: HB Architecture and Griffiths & Associates have been contracted as Architect and Project Manager respectively. Consultant engagement has commenced. Engagement with KDC on detailed design has begun.

Preparation for the Autumn 2019 Mt Tiger Forest harvest is well underway.

In response to the LTP, Water Street Office’s renovations Stage 1 complete. Stage 2 currently on hold.

Current Legal Proceedings

*Department*	*Description*	*Status*
Consent decision appeal	To construct a boardwalk as part of a coastal walkway in Back Bay, Mangawhai Estuary	No further progress to report. Mediation adjourned until 30 June 2019.
Consent decision appeal	Seventeen groundwater takes for horticultural irrigation at Houhora, Motutangi, and Waiharara	The Court hearing closed on Friday 14 December 2018. The Court undertook a site visit on 21 January 2019 and the council is awaiting its decision on the applications.
Consent decision appeal	Proposed deepening and realignment of Whangārei Harbour entrance and approaches	Appeal resolved via consent order issued 14 December 2018.
Consent decision appeal	Replacement consents for, and new consents for an expansion of, Doug’s Ōpua Boat Yard in Walls Bay, Ōpua.	Appeal of the decision lodged with the Environment Court on 27 November 2018. Judicial teleconference held 22 January 2019. The Appellant made a partial withdrawal of the parts of the appeal relating to coastal structures and dredging (new activities) on 31 January 2019. The remaining matters subject to the appeal are the existing discharges associated with the boat yard that are continuing under section 124 of the Act. A Court hearing has been set down for the weeks of 8 or 15 April 2019. An objection to costs of processing the application was received on 10 December 2018.
Consents and notification decisions judicial review	Peat/kauri gum and resin extraction operation	The judicial review proceedings were withdrawn following surrender of the consents by the Consent Holder. One of the plaintiffs (Forest and Bird) has applied for costs from the council, which the council is opposing. The application is currently before the High Court for determination.

7.2.3 Corporate Excellence

Fraud Declaration

I am not aware of any fraud nor am I investigating any incidence or suspected incidence of fraud at this time.

Information Technology

The following provides an update to the presentation made at the Council workshop in November, with further investigation occurring in these areas.

Auckland Council - Discussions have continued with Auckland Council to gain a better understanding of the opportunity to leverage their systems as a shared service, with the focus around costs and the value proposition of a shared service.

Waikato Regional Council – Waikato have prepared a comprehensive business case including the recommendation of a preferred supplier. Once approved, our council can review the decision and determine the level of alignment and syndicated procurement opportunities.

Our council – workshops were completed to capture and model the intended business benefits that will come from a transformation project such as this. The process utilises a quality framework that facilitates the capture of the proposed improvement and associated business metrics.

All of these elements will assist with the preparation of the high-level business case and evaluation of options.

An update back to council is scheduled for early March.

7.2.4 Regulatory Services

Consents in Process

During December 2018 and January 2019, a total of 96 Decisions were issued. These decisions comprised:

December 2018 (38)		January 2019 (58)
0	Moorings	2	Moorings
13	Coastal Permits	14	Coastal Permits
0	Air Discharge Permits	1	Air Discharge Permits
11	Land Discharge Permits	7	Land Discharge Permits
1	Water Discharge Permits	0	Water Discharge Permits
10	Land Use Consents	26	Land Use Consents
2	Water Permits	1	Water Permits
1	Bore Consents	7	Bore Consents

The processing timeframes for the December 2018 consents ranged from:

· 59 to 10 calendar days, with the median time being 29 days;

· 38 to 6 working days, with the median time being 20 days.

The processing timeframes for the January 2019 consents ranged from:

· 278 to 8 calendar days, with the median time being 48 days;

· 179 to 5 working days, with the median time being 18 days.

34	Applications were received in December 2018.
23	Applications were received in January 2019.

Of the 99 applications in progress at the end of January 2019:

29	were received more than 12 months ago (most awaiting further information);
20	were received between 6 and 12 months ago (most awaiting further information);
50	less than 6 months.

Appointment of Hearing Commissioners

The following commissioner was appointed in January 2019 for one consent hearing:

· Dr Robert Lieffering for consents associated with a new marina at Port Road, Whangārei. The hearing is scheduled for 29 March 2019.

Consents Decisions and Progress on Notified Applications in Process, Objections and Appeals

The current level of notified application processing activities at the end of January 2019 is (by number):

· Applications Publicly/Limited Notified During Previous Month	0
· Progress on Applications Previously Notified	5
· Hearings and Decisions	0
· Appeals/Objections	4

Compliance monitoring

The results of compliance monitoring for the period 24 November 2018 – 31 January 2019 (and year-to-date figures) are summarised in the following table and discussed below.

Classification	Total	Full compliance	Non-compliance	Significant non-compliance	Not exercised during period
Air discharges	35	23	6	5	1
Coastal permit	68	45	19	2	2
Discharge permit	150	104	32	11	3
FDE – Discharge permit	67	1	2	1	63
FDE – Permitted activity	3	2	0	1	0
Land use consent	37	35	1	0	1
Water permit	232	211	16	0	5
Total	592	421	76	20	75
Percentage		71.7%	12.8%	3.4%	12.7%
YTD	4827	3836	543	216	232
Percentage		79.4%	11.2%	4.5%	4.8%

Coastal

The majority of consents monitored during the reporting period related to coastal discharges (treated municipal sewage) and coastal structures.

Monitoring of the dredging at Marsden Point was undertaken on a number of occasions due to non-compliance relating to water clarity. The method of dredging (trailing suction hopper dredge) had not been used in Northland before, and while an efficient method of dredging, results indicated it resulted in more disturbance than previously used dredging methods at Marsden Point.

Hazardous substances

Twelve incidents involving the discharge of hazardous substances and 47 enquiries regarding contaminated land were received and responded to.

340.9kg of hazardous wastes was disposed of.

Discharge and land use monitoring

Routine compliance monitoring of discharge and land use consents continued during the period. Council staff attended a meeting with the Far North, Kaipara and Whangarei district councils to discuss sharing of information and working together on the National Environmental Standard – Plantation Forestry (Forestry NES).

Since 1 May 2018 (when the Forestry NES came into effect), NRC has received 289 notices of activities. The majority (about 57%) of these have been in relation to harvesting.

Notices of Activities NES–PF
Subpart 1	Afforestation	7
Subpart 3	Earthworks	92
Subpart 4	River crossings	23
Subpart 5	Forestry quarrying	3
Subpart 6	Harvesting	164
	Total	289

Farm Dairy Effluent (FDE) Monitoring

FDE annual inspections commenced on 16 July 2018 and were completed prior to Christmas, with a total of 855 farms being visited by our contractor or council staff. The results for consented and permitted activity farms are tabled below and compared with those for the same period last year.

Consented FDE discharges

A total of 642 consented farms were visited. There was a marked improvement in the significant non-compliance rate for consented farms, dropping from 21% last year to 15% this year. The full compliance rate improved by the same percentage.

Full Compliance		Non-Compliance		Significant Non-Compliance
This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year
387	358	158	167	97	142
60%	54%	25%	25%	15%	21%

Non-consented FDE discharges

A total of 213 non-consented farms were visited. There was a slight improvement in the significant non-compliance rate for non-consented farms (2% drop).

Full Compliance		Non-Compliance		Significant Non-Compliance
This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year	This Year	Last Year
138	162	30	17	45	52
65%	70%	14%	7%	21%	23%

The overall significant non-compliance for all farms was 16.6%. This is an improvement of 5% compared with last year. It is obviously pleasing that the compliance rate has moved in a positive direction this year.

Environmental incidents

A total of 223 environmental incidents were received during the reporting period. Regardless of the dry conditions and fire restrictions imposed for the region by Fire and Emergency Services, 53 of these related to burning and smoke nuisance. There were no incidents recorded during the reporting period which resulted in a significant environmental impact.

January recorded the second highest number of incidents reported to council since records began in 1994 (122 as compared with 124 in February 2007).

Enforcement

Abatement notices, infringement notices and formal warnings

The following enforcement actions were taken during the period:

	Infringement Notice		Abatement Notice		Total
Nature of Offence	No. Offences	No. Notices	No. Offences	No. Notices	No. Offences	No. Notices
Boat maintenance	1	1	1	1	1	2
Burning & smoke nuisance	0	0	14	14	14	15
Discharge to land	1	1	1	1	2	2
Farm dairy effluent	7	15	8	8	10	23
Illegal activity in CMA	0	0	4	4	5	5
Other air discharge	0	0	1	1	1	1
Other water discharge	1	1	1	1	1	2
Sediment	0	0	1	2	1	2
Sewage	1	1	1	1	2	2
Total	11	19	32	33	37	54

Other Enforcement

Dumping and burning of demolition waste, Kaikohe

Charges have been laid against two companies and one individual (associated with one of the companies) and a land owner for the dumping and burning of demolition waste near Kaikohe. One of the companies entered guilty pleas on 14 November 2018. The other company and the land owner have elected jury trial. The landowner has requested a sentence indication hearing. There were Case Review Hearings held on 12 and 17 December 2018. A call over date has been allocated for 28 February 2019.

Enforcement Order – Paihia Wastewater Treatment Plant

The Far North District Council (FNDC) was provided with draft enforcement orders and staff affidavits relating to the Paihia Wastewater Treatment Plant for consideration/response. Following the FNDC’s response changes were made to the enforcement orders, which were then lodged with the Environment Court. It is the NRC’s preference that we get an enforcement order by consent and this is currently being worked through with the FNDC.

Hydrology

It was an exceptionally dry start to the 2019 year. Over half of the region’s rainfall stations recorded totals of less than 10mm for the month, with the driest areas in the north and east coasts. The lowest, as yet unconfirmed, rainfall for the month was Ōruru with zero, 4mm at Cape Rēinga, 3.5mm at Kerikeri, 5mm at Ōpua and Ōākura, 6.5mm at Glenbervie (the lowest January rainfall recorded since 1947), and 1.5mm at Marsden Point. About 75% of Northland received less than 20% of normal January rainfall.

More information will be provided in the climate reports available on the NRC website , see below for the regional rainfall map

Low flow gauging project work has been carried out in Whangārei Harbour tributaries. This is to be carried out multiple times over low flows, with the aim of using the data to calibrate a MALF model. We will aim to get these measurements at least once more over the summer period.

Low flow gaugings have regularly been carried out at stations used for compliance purposes. Some compliance gaugings at consent holder water takes have been carried out in the Kerikeri and Kaihū catchments.

Some equipment at the Awanui At School Cut river recorder have been shifted upstream to make way for the river works currently under way. The equipment will be moved back to its original position soon after the completion of the river benching work.

A continuous dissolved oxygen/water temp sensor has been installed at the river recorder, Mangere at Knights road. This is the second of five sensors to be installed.

IRIS270 data loggers have been tested and installed at two stations (Tarawhataroa at Redan Road and Mangere at Knights Rd). These will be used at the remainder of our GPRS sites (around 45) over this financial year and the next.

The Waitangi at McDonald Road rainfall recorder has been switched to radio communications to decrease communications outages.

Natural Resources Science

Envirolink

Bill Dyck, Envirolink National Coordinator will be visiting us at the end of February.

NRC managed to get seven Envirolink grants this year for a total of $130K. Projects topics are listed below:

· Drivers of periphyton biomass in Northland streams

· Developing a Fish IBI for Northland

· Dune lake galaxid aging using otolith growth rings – training advice package

· Meteorological drought localisation for Eastern region

· Real-time radar rainfall estimation and correction for Northland

· Review of 1080 recent science

· Application to introduce two biological control agents for the weed Sydney golden wattle

SWIM SIG convener

Jean-Charles Perquin to be taking over from Tim Davie (ECan) as the Surface Water Integrated Management (SWIM) SIG convener. Handover is estimated to be by the end of 2019.

Natural Resources Science projects - Water quantity

NRC is working on securing a site to deploy a temporal vertical pointing radar that will operate for one month as part of the real-time radar rainfall estimation project. Below is an image of the radar that the University of Auckland developed, this unit will be deployed in the autumn period.

Coastal

· A surveillance camera and local volunteers have been used to monitor nuisance algae (seaweed) at Waipū Cove. The observations will be matched to weather patterns to help predict future incidents of nuisance algae.

· Coastal water quality buoys have been deployed in the Hātea River and Waitangi Estuary. These buoys will be deployed for one month and record water quality parameters every 15 minutes. The results can be viewed by the public in real-time on the NRC website. www.nrc.govt.nz/buoydata.

Freshwater quality/Freshwater ecology

· Seven additional water quality monitoring sites in the Northern Wairoa catchment will be established through the Northern Wairoa FIF project. Four of these sites will fill in gaps in our existing SOE monitoring network in the lower catchment. The remainder will be used to monitor effectiveness of targeted mitigation measures.

· A review of the first three years of periphyton monitoring data has been commissioned to NIWA; to be completed by June 2019. This work will be essential in informing a proposed plan change in 2021. Critical to this is understanding the role of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) in driving periphyton growth and ultimately deriving appropriate in-stream nutrient concentrations and limits/criteria for Northland rivers.

· Victoria University has been contracted to develop an Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) for fish communities specific to Northland utilising data from the NIWA NZFFD and relevant models. The Fish IBI developed for Northland will provide an assessment of the state of regional fish communities.

· Targeted monitoring of low flows will be undertaken in the Kerikeri River catchment to inform the impacts of low flows on ecosystem health.

Water allocation

A workshop on NRC’s Water Allocation Calculator was held on the 24 January 2019 with Bay of Plenty Regional Council Staff (BoP). BoP are considering using the tool to meet their water quantity accounting requirements.

Air quality

· Ambient PM₁₀ monitoring results for November and December 2018 for the Whangārei and Marsden Point airsheds, and Kaikohe, showed that compliance was met with the National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NESAQ). PM_2.5 monitoring results for Whangārei were within the Ambient Air Quality Guideline value.

· Unsealed Road PM₁₀ monitoring started in early December 2018 with some difficulties due to instrument failure. A technician is due to visit Whāngarei in early February to repair the instrument.

· A project was initiated to calculate NRC CO₂ emissions. The first results show that NRC produced 859.88 tCO₂-e (including buses, air travel, electricity, cars, boats, waste generation, air conditioning and refrigerator) for the financial year 2017-18.

Natural Resources Data

· NRC attended the Environmental Data Workshop on 21 January 2019. The workshop focused on the environmental data management needs of the different councils rather than the solution. Non-functional and functional requirements (i.e. QC, security, provenance, accessibility, usability, interoperability, supportable platform, types of data, interfaces, outputs). The project is supported by ReCoCo.

· Survey 123: NRC attended a workshop session at ECan in Christchurch on Survey 123 for environmental data collection. The Data team will be creating electronic data capture forms and testing in the field in February and March 2019. The GIS team is supportive of the project. Survey123 proof of concept will be tested by the Natural Resources Team

· Ki Eco: NRC attended a workshop session at Auckland Council on the biological database to provide direction with commissioning the system at NRC over the next six months

· Quality System: working on options to restructure the field monitoring manual to better reflect the responsibilities/tasks of the different teams.

· Water use records: The online submission system is currently being tested by several consent holders until the end of February 2019.

7.2.5 Environmental Services

LAND MANAGEMENT

Environment Fund Update

28 Environment Fund projects have been completed and signed off to date for this financial year totalling $126,180.

Farm Environment Plans (FEP) – 2018/19

This financial year 91 FEP’s have been commenced and 69 have been completed. We anticipate approximately 150 plans will be undertaken during the year, surpassing the LTP KPI of 25,000 ha.

One Billion Trees Programme Update

The Hill Country Erosion Fund boost year (June 2018-June 2019) team have been making good progress commissioning Northland consultants and afforestation experts , developing best practice afforestation guides and forming partnerships to enable Northland to respond to the One Billion Tree Programme. By July 2019 we are progressing the planting of 20,000 or more trees on farms for riparian planting through this funding programme.

BIODIVERSITY

FIF Dune Lakes Project

Four fencing and three water reticulation projects are now underway (Lakes Waiparera, Ngatu, Shag, Midgley’s), to be completed by the end of the financial year.

Pest fishing work began with Lake Parawanui (North Dargaville) which is the first lake targeted for rudd removal.

Ngāti Kuri, Te Aupouri and NgaiTakoto have indicated support for aquatic weed control herbicide operations for Lakes Ngakeketo South, Waiparera, Ngatu, Mini Split and Waimimiha North. Te Uri o Hau and DOC have indicated they support the plant aquaculture (phyto-remedication) work at Lake Rototuna.

Wetlands

Wetland condition monitoring is well underway. This is the third repeat monitoring of 28 wetlands over 18 properties, that were originally monitored in 2011. As at the end of January, 13 wetlands have been monitored. Nine have improved overall wetland condition scores and four had stable scores.

CoastCare

Prior to Christmas two new CoastCare brochures were produced, one aimed at summer tourists to the region and the other at people driving on Northland’s beaches. These have been provided to Ambassadors in the Whangārei and Far North districts as well as to I-sites, agencies and CoastCare groups for distribution.

A CoastCare – Northland’s Coast and Us social media campaign is currently running to share dune protection messages and promote the work being done around the region by CoastCare volunteers. The campaign includes a photo competition to encourage public involvement.

Check, Clean, Dry

The Check, Clean, Dry (CCD) advocacy programme is funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries to reduce the spread of freshwater pests between water-ways. The programme includes a user survey, signage and interaction with users of fresh-water sites.

To date this summer, 115 surveys have been completed and around 700 people have been spoken to about CCD messages. 435 CCD packs containing information, detergent and spray bottles were given out to the public and relevant businesses around Northland for distribution to their clients.

NRC CCD advocates have attended popular lakes and waterways throughout Northland including the Kai Iwi lakes (Taharoa and Waikere), Lake Ngatu, Lake Rotopokaka (Coca Cola Lake) and Lake Manuwai. The overall engagement from surveys taken at these lakes has been good. In addition, events including Whangārei A&P show, waka ama trials and the Kai Iwi Lakes Open Day have been attended.

BIOSECURITY

Biosecurity Threats/Incursions

Mycoplasma bovis

As of January 2019, assistance provided by NRC to the Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis) response has concluded. Council’s involvement with the response began in March 2018 through to December 2018 – with all staff costs (approximately $120,000) charged back to Asure Quality. A new Farm Case Manager (ICP Manager), employed by Asure Quality and based in Whangārei, continues to assist Northland farmers who have controls and restrictions placed upon their properties due to the response.

During December 2018, council’s Biosecurity Incursion Management Officer completed a handover of Northland’s current existing Notices of Direction and Restricted Place Notices to the new ICP manager. Latest updates on the M. bovis response can be found by following the link below:

https://www.mpi.govt.nz/protection-and-response/responding/alerts/mycoplasma-bovis/

Kiwi Coast – NRC Partnership

Kiwi Coast has collaborated with Department of Conservation to refresh the kiwi roadside billboards around Northland. The first of the two new Kiwi Coast roadside billboards have been installed at Ngunguru and on SH1 near Hikurangi. Further billboards have been requested at Russell, Mangamuka and Purerua. The purpose is to support communities who are working hard to increase kiwi numbers with a dog control message, in a positive and eye-catching way.

Biosecurity High Value Areas (HVAs)

Council’s recently established Biosecurity High Value Areas have all established community-based working groups to help ensure outcomes and objectives that have been developed in each HVA management plan are achieved. Each HVA working group have drafted individual terms of reference using a template previously approved by council.

Whangārei Heads High Value Area

Landowner engagement and predator trapping throughout the Whangārei Heads is ongoing and a high turnout of the public is expected at the next kiwi release which is planned for 17^th February.

Weed Action Whangārei Heads (WAWH) has continued to support community weed control projects which includes managing the “community store”, a place where locals can borrow equipment for managing weeds. The community is supported by council staff and advice on how to control weeds will be available at the upcoming kiwi release. Staff are also developing a community pest control plan with WAWH to address large infestations of privet around Parua Bay.

Mangawhai – Waipū (Piroa-Brynderwyn) High Value Area

The working group for this high value area have renamed their high value area to the Piroa-Brynderwyn HVA to better reflect the focus area of the pest control work being carried out. Piroa is the traditional name for the Brynderwyns as recognised by local iwi Patuharakeke and Te Uri o Hau which will be used to refer to this high value area. The Piroa-Brynderwyn Landcare (PBL) group has progressed with the extension of a comprehensive predator trapping network throughout the project area. Predator trap boxes are built by the Waipū Men’s Shed and deployed and serviced by local landowners and contractors. Increasing numbers of landowners are requesting support and wanting to get involved in pest management.

The Piroa Brynderwyn Weed Action Committee and Weed Action Coordinator are progressing the establishment of a ‘community store’ modelled on that of the Weed Action Whangārei Heads store, where locals can access free advice, tools and herbicide. They have three community events scheduled over the next three months and have begun developing a project plan for engaging the local community and raising awareness of the priority weeds they have identified for their area.

Mid North Bay of Islands High Value Area

Kiwi Coast Coordinator, Andrew Mentor has continued to coordinate and manage the Mid-North / Bay of Islands High Value Area alongside council staff. Northern Regional Corrections Facility at Ngāwhā have constructed hundreds of stoat trap boxes which are now being delivered to landowners, groups and projects within the Mid North High Value Area. These traps will help to intensify existing stoat trapping operations, fill gaps to link neighbouring projects into continuous trapping networks and kick start new projects wanting to protect local kiwi populations.

Tutukākā High Value Area

Biosecurity staff have been supporting the community in the Tutukākā HVA with kiwi monitoring work over December and January. This included the collection of an egg from a monitored male kiwi’s nest which was under threat. The chick hatched at the Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre and was released back into the Tutukākā area in January with community members in attendance. Staff also supported the capture and transmitter change of a monitored kiwi in the Sandy Bay Area and followed up on a kiwi nest reported by a member of the public in the Matapōuri area.

Image: Kiwi chick due for release back into protected land in Tutukākā high value area

Image: Externally pipping kiwi (hatching) egg salvaged from monitored nest in Tutukākā

A sub-committee of Tutukākā Landcare representatives has been convened with a focus on weeds. This group has great representation for the various local community ‘hubs’ and will use that model to create a network of key local contacts for the community to access weed advice, equipment and support. They have also appointed a new coordinator who has begun developing a volunteer event kit and a prioritisation exercise to determine the ‘dirty dozen’ focus weed species, as well as a plan for raising awareness about these target species in their community. They are at the early stages of defining this group and are yet to determine if they will use the same Weed Action branding as the Whangārei Heads and Piroa-Brynderwyns group.

Kai Iwi Lakes High Value Area

Staff have continued to liaise with landowners surrounding the lakes regarding the development of a community pest control plan. A western-Northland based project manager has continued to build landowner relationships and encourage participation in community pest control. Local Te Roroa contractors have delivered weed and animal pest control operations at the lakes and surrounding areas. Wilding pine and acacia control has been ongoing with more scheduled over the coming months.

Western Northland Pest Control

Staff delivered 242 stoat trap boxes and 484 stoat traps were provided for council’s Western Northland Pest Control programmes. These traps will be used for predator control in new established community pest control areas such as Wekaweka Landcare CPCA, and Pupurangi Nature Sanctuary CPCA as well as several others which are currently being finalised.

Russell Forest Pest Control

Following on from the Department of Conservation’s aerial 1080 operation last year in Russell Forest, staff are continuing to work with the Russell State Forrest Roopu in developing the twenty-year forest health plan. Council has collaborated with Nga Whenua Rahui and Guardians of the Bay to fund a one-off ground operation on 3B2 Trust land to complement the aerial operation on Cape Brett. Council is supporting Manaaki Whenua /Landcare Research’s MBIE Vision Mātauranga proposal, a project that would replicate the forest vegetation and bird survey recently undertaken in the Warawara Forest. Ngāti Manu’s pest control team based at Kāretu have begun laying out traps and eventually bait stations in a small pilot area to train hapū members, with the long-term goal to expand throughout the Whaakaurau Valley.

Image: Ngati Manu’s pest control team based at Kāretu setting up their pilot pest control block.

Kauri Dieback

Staff are continuing to groundtruth potential kauri dieback sites identified through aerial surveillance in Northland. Results are presented in the following table.

Kauri Dieback management plans are currently being developed for all positive sites as well as those that are identified as medium – high risk sites. Nearly all sites council staff have inspected will receive advice and a basic management plan about how to best protect their kauri and forest from kauri dieback and other diseases.

Staff have provisionally secured additional funding of approximately $160,000 from the Kauri Dieback programme to groundtruth priority sites and fence off kauri in Northland.

Table 1 below: Summary of samples taken

	Number of Sites Inspected				Soil Samples Taken	Soil Sample Results
Month	Total Sites Inspected	Priority 1 Sites	Priority 2 Sites	Landowner Requested Sites	Number of Samples Taken	Positive	Undetected	Pending
October	5	0	2	3	17	6	11	0
November	11	3	3	5	38	2	32	6
December	11	8	3	0	44			44
January	15	7	3	5	40			40
YTD Total	42	18	11	13	139	8	43	90

Marine Biosecurity

The Hull Surveillance Programme has been running since October and is on track, with 53% of the annual target (2,000 vessels) completed as of 23 January 2019. In December and January, surveillance was carried out at Whangārei Harbour, Bay of Islands and Whangaroa Harbour and included a total of 630 vessels checked by divers for marine invasive species.

In three instances, fanworm were found in the Bay of Islands on the bottom of keels of boats that were recently cleaned in Auckland by the same facility (and a fourth one was reported by the boatyard). The team will work with this facility to improve their operations and ensure compliance. Overall, we have seen a very positive change in attitude this summer, in particular from vessels from Auckland, with a much higher compliance with the Pathways Plan (69% of vessels surveyed) and support for the clean hull rule and Hull Surveillance Programme.

Results of the 18/19 Hull Surveillance Programme for December 2018 and January 2019
Number of vessels surveyed	630
Total year to date	1061
% of target for 18/19	53%

Vessels detected with fanworm (Sabella)	11
Vessels detected with Styela sea squirt	40
Vessels detected with Japanese kelp (Undaria)	0
Vessels detected with Australian droplet tunicate (Eudistoma)	11
Vessels detected with Pyura sea squirt	0
Pathways plan compliance	69% of vessels

The Ōpua Fanworm Eradication Programme continues but was delayed due to very poor visibility; divers could not successfully conduct surveys. As soon as visibility improves, dive surveys and removal of any fanworm found will resume and be completed. This may not happen until May when it is anticipated that visibility will improve.

A fisherman reported catching four large shrimps in a flounder net in Whangaroa on 18 January and staff confirmed them as Japanese mantis shrimp, a species not currently known from Whangaroa but is found in the harbours of the Hokianga, Kaipara harbours and also reported from Mangonui. This aggressive, predatory shrimp is known to prey on a variety of fish, molluscs and crustaceans, however the impacts of high numbers of mantis shrimp on other fisheries such as flounder are unclear and currently there are no means of eradication once the shrimp is established. Many Northland harbours do not have the shrimp however they can hitchhike on vessels as part of biofouling and it is important that vessel hulls are kept clean to avoid their transfer.

The Ministry for Primary Industry provided a marine pest identification workshop on 24 January, hosted at NRC. Approximately 25 people attended including commercial divers, boatyard operators, port environmental officers, biosecurity officers, and local vessel owners.

Staff were required to attend a disputes tribunal hearing in Whangārei concerning the marine pest charge. The applicant claimed the charge was unfair and unjust however the referee determined the claim was not within the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear and dismissed the claim.

Pest Plants

Eradication and Progressive Containment plants

Staff have started the biannual inspections for Mickey Mouse plant (Ochna serrulata). There are currently 470 active or surveillance sites throughout Northland. Ninety-Four sites were inspected in January, with 8 new management sites added to the programme. Two of these are within Biosecurity High Value Areas at Tutukākā and Whangārei Heads.

The annual spartina control program is also now underway with control undertaken at Kaipara management sites. Whangaroa sites are scheduled to begin this month.

Inspections and control have also been undertaken for Senegal tea, yellow flag iris and cathedral bells. A new cathedral bells site was found in Onerahi while conducting searches for Mickey Mouse plant. There are now six known active eradication sites for this species in Northland.

Staff undertook control for progressive containment species pultenaea sites outside of the containment area and further initial knockdown work was undertaken by contractors at main pultenaea infestation site inside the containment area.

The summer period has also been an extremely busy time for customer requests for weed identification, advice and herbicide, with particular interest in moth plant and ragwort and tradescantia biocontrol, as well as the expected privet and wild ginger enquiries.

Manchurian Wild Rice

The first round of Manchurian wild rice spraying has commenced after delays due to unsuitable weather conditions. Local contractors have since been able to fast track control effort and have nearly completed the first round of contracted spray hours.

Stop Wild Ginger

The inaugural bi-annual Stop Wild Ginger stakeholders meeting was held, with relatively good representation of stakeholders in attendance. The meeting covered progress on the acquisition and testing of potential wild ginger biocontrol agents. Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research Containment Facility Manager, Hugh Gourlay, who is overseeing the project with CABI, provided a detailed update on the project.

One agent, the stem mining fly has been successfully exported from northern India to the UK, and host testing has begun. They are currently waiting on the emergence of the stem mining fly larvae from the host testing experiment and can expect the results in May/June.

A second agent, the ginger weevil, is proving more difficult to collect due to a number of factors such as weather and collection site numbers. It is expected that the weevil is to be collected and taken to the UK by October 2019.

The current target is for a release date in Northland is summer 2021.

RIVERS

River Contract Works

Priority Rivers	Work	Status	Comments
Awanui	OpEx	90% complete	Mid-Awanui stop-bank re-alignment completed some remaining spraying, mulching and minor maintenance.
Awanui	CapEx	55% complete	Te Ahu stopbank stabilization works and grade control.
Awanui	CapEx	75% complete	Bell’s Hill Benching.
Kaihū	OpEx	65% complete	~ 40% long-reach digger work and 50% of the Spraying.
Minor Rivers	OpEx	32% complete	Only high priority work is being progressed.

LTP Projects

Rivers	Comments
Awanui	Bell’s Hill Benching and the Te Ahu Rock Armouring projects has progressed well given the good weather in January. Modelling work is progressing and we expect the Preliminary Scheme design results to be delivered in March.
Matangirau	Preliminary modelling has been completed, staff have shared the modelling results with the Matangirau community and with FNDC. We have scoped additional modelling to refine the preferred options.
Kawakawa – Taumārere	The Resource Consent has been lodged as “Draft” for the Turntable Hill river benching works to allow FNDC and NRC to process and identify any gaps while an Archaeology Authority lodgement with HNZ is running concurrently. Staff have met with the affected landowners and with Iwi to get agreement for the works.
Whangārei	Detailed design for the Woods Road floodwall is finalised. We expect the Resource Consent to be lodged mid-February and works tendered shortly thereafter.
Panguru	Preliminary Modelling has been completed and staff are scoping and refining the modelling ahead of 12 February Committee meeting and 28 February Community Meeting.

NATURAL HAZARDS

Work Streams	Status	Comments
Priority Rivers Flood Hazard Maps	95%	Staff are reviewing the Paparoa and Waipū River models and preforming final checks. We expect the maps to be released in March.
Awanui Flood Model	75%	DHI has completed two model calibration runs, with only one remaining. This is the most complex part of the modelling work. Once the remaining calibration run is complete, DHI will start design storm runs
Regional LiDAR	26%	RPS has flown over Christmas and New Year and have completed approximately 26% total capture.

Northland LiDAR Capture

Northland LiDAR as of 7 February 2019

7.2.6 Strategy, Governance And Engagement

Proposed Regional Plan

The Hearing Panel is preparing its recommendations with the aim of presenting them to the April 2019 council meeting for approval. The aim is also for council to make its decisions on the provisions for managing genetically modified organisms at the same council meeting.

The council decisions version of the Proposed Regional Plan will have legal effect.

Once council has released its decisions, submitters will then have the ability to appeal provisions to the Environment Court.

National Initiatives

The Productivity Commission has started an inquiry into local government funding and financing with the release of an Issues Paper on 6 November 2018. Council has lodged a submission on the paper under authority delegated to the Chairman and Chief Executive officer. The submission outlines council views on the local government funding and finance issues raised by the Commission.

Corporate Planning

The process of developing the Annual Plan 2019/20 is progressing well and is running to an earlier than usual timeframe to accommodate elections. Community consultation is scheduled to begin on 4 March.

The second quarter of reporting on the performance measures set out in the Long Term Plan 2018-2028 is now complete. The second quarter covers the three month period October – December 2018.

Quarter two provides an opportunity to check in on the progress of some of the annual measures, with reporting demonstrating that annual targets are tracking well. Targets were achieved for all but three of the measures reported on in the second quarter. Those not achieved are shown in the table below:

LTP performance measure	Target	Q2 result	Commentary
Percentage of official information requests that are responded to within 20 working days.	100% compliance	92%	Two LGOIMA requests not responded to within 20 working days during the reporting period.
Percentage of monitored permitted farm dairy effluent activities that are not graded as significantly non-compliant.	90%	79.20%	A total of 212 permitted activity dairy farms were monitored. Of these, 44 were significantly non-compliant.
Percentage of environmental incidents with more than minor effects reported to the Environmental Hotline that are resolved within 30 working days.	80% resolved within 30 working days	72.70%	There has been a total of 11 incidents with more than minor adverse effects. Of these 8 were resolved within 30 working days.

District Planning

Staff attended a hearing for Whangarei District Council’s Proposed Plan Change 129 (Notable and Public Trees) in early December. The regional council requested amendments to the plan change to allow tree works to be undertaken by Northland Regional Council staff as ‘permitted activities’, where trees have the potential to cause/exacerbate river flooding and stream bank erosion.

The Hearing Panel are currently deliberating on the plan change and will make a recommendation to Whangarei District Council in the next few months. Staff will provide a further update when the district council releases the Council’s decision.

Economic Development

Investment and Growth Reserve – Projects report

Project	December/January update	Future developments/ reporting
Extension 350	Nothing new to report.
Resources Enterprise Limited (REL)	Discussed with business consultant on plans to reopen the sawmill. December interest payment has not yet been paid.	Meeting with REL directors set for 8 February.
Hundertwasser Art Centre (Whangārei)	Nothing new to report.	Second invoice due at 50% works complete.
Kawakawa Hundertwasser Park Centre (Te Hononga)	Funding agreement signed and all conditions met. First invoice received and paid ($200,000).	Stone laying ceremony 1 February 2019. Second invoice expected in April 2019.
Extended Regional Promotion	Nothing new to report.	Report for the first six months 2018/19 due in February.
Twin Coast Cycle Trail (TCCT)	Contacted FNDC who informed that one of the five outstanding easements have been finalised.	Awaiting further progress report on remaining four easements to complete funding commitment. Maybe Q4.

Other activities

· Issue 22 of the Northland Economic Quarterly published on 11 December (www.nrc.govt.nz/economicquarterly). The annual section looks at some key primary sector results for the 2017/18 season while the spotlight section focuses on the latest business demography statistics for Northland.

· Internet Speed Survey 2018/19 launched 11 December and closed 1 February. The Digital Enablement Group (comprising the four Northland councils and Northland Inc) ran the internet speed survey to gather information that will assist us in our work with central government to expand and improve broadband coverage in Northland. 376 completed surveys were received.

· Letter of Expectations for the Statement of Intent 20019-2022 sent to Northland Inc.

· Second meeting held with NZTA, consultants, NInc and district council on developing walking and cycling business cases using funding awarded through the PGF.

Online Channels Highlights

· Most popular post on Facebook for December – Internet speed test survey promotion. The post reached over 14,000 people.

· Most popular post on Facebook for January – Call for our community to keep an eye out for pest plants in flower right now like the Cathedral Bells pest plant. The post reached over 7,000 people.

Key Performance Indicators	Sep-18	Oct-18	Nov-18	Dec-18	Jan-19
WEB
# Visits to the NRC website	13,000	14,800	14,700	16,100	18,400
E-payments made	25	11	6	2	4
# subscription customers (cumulative)	1,169	1,154	1,153	1,159	1,167
SOCIAL MEDIA (cumulative)
# Twitter followers	1,405	1,415	1,413	1,418	1,416
# NRC Facebook fans	6,623	6,910	7,132	7,198	7,611
# NRC Overall Facebook Reach	203,600	137,800	137,200	70,275	87,800
# CDEM Facebook fans	16,000	No data	16,200	16,400	16,500
# CDEM Overall Facebook Reach	59,100	No data	47,200	59,299	14,800
# Instagram followers	540	596	615	646	663

* November data is for a 25-day period due to early reporting deadlines.

Enviroschools / Education

Enviroschools Reflections

Date	School / Kindergarten	Stage
4 December Sharing and decision-making session 14 December Celebration with Chairman Bill Shepherd	Comrie Park Kindergarten (Matarau)	Green-Gold
5 December Celebration with Cr Joce Yeoman	Bay of Islands International Academy (Te Tī)	Silver
11 December Sharing and decision-making session 18 December Celebration with Cr John Bain	Whangaruru School	Silver
12 December Celebration with Cr Joce Yeoman	Whananaki School	Bronze

On 3 December, Otaika Valley School reported to the Whangārei Harbour Catchment Group on their work in and around the Otaika River.

School communities facilitated

Despite the school holidays, 21 school communities were visited by Enviroschools facilitators during December and January.

Marketing and Engagement

Whangārei A&P Show (1 December 2018)

Our display focused on biosecurity pest animals and pest plants, hygiene and the conclusion of the Where’s your Wai freshwater consultation. Our focus on partnerships influenced site set up this year, creating linkages between biosecurity pest animals and adjacent site partners Pukenui Forest Trust and Kiwi Coast. The partnership was an efficient way of maximising the messages to this audience. Pest plants also focused on joint messages with Pukenui and provided advice on predominantly urban control species. The hygiene display covered Kauri Dieback, Check, Clean, Dry and information was also available on Mycoplasma bovis given the current interest regarding this concern in Northland.

It was felt, however, that the show was not as well attended as in previous years. Approximately 200 people interacted with council’s site. The rainy morning would have contributed to this, but feedback will be given to the A&P Society.

Bay Bush Action-Paihia Green (15 December 2018)

Biosecurity team attended an event co-ordinated by Bay Bush Action on the Paihia Green. Although the event was poorly publicised the two staff attending felt it was a worthwhile event and that there was benefit in supporting the work being done in this area.

Kai Iwi Lakes Open Day (26 January 2019)

Council continued its usual presence at this event with information on wetlands, dune lakes animal pests and weeds. A check, clean, dry station also showed people the methods to ensure freshwater pests are not spread between waterways via the gear used in water activities.

Ngati Hau Festival – Akerama marae (26 January 2019)

This event was trialled as a new opportunity to engage with Māori. Unfortunately, attendance at this new event was marginal and engagement with the two council staff representing biosecurity pest animals was not significant.

Māori Engagement

At its November meeting, the Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē Board resolved to erect safe swimming signage at four sites along Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē/90 Mile Beach, and develop collateral to be distributed via the i-site centre Kaitāia as part of a summer campaign to raise awareness of the Board and its purpose. Signs were erected at Ahipara, Hukatere and Te Paki and the summer collateral provided to Te Ahu i-site centre for distributing to summer visitors.

The Te Taitokerau Māori and Council Working Party (TTMAC) by-monthly regional marae based hui was held at Takahiwai Marae, hosted by Patuharakeke Te Iwi Trust.

Staff continue to work with Auckland Council and Kaipara Uri on drafting advice around a mitigation proposal associated with the Kaipara Harbour for central government consideration.

During January, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua welcomed Alan Riwaka as their new Chief Executive. Councillors Dimery and Smart attending the pōwhiri for Mr Riwaka supported by the Chief Executive and staff.

Governance Support

Local government official information (LGOIMA) requests

Month	LGOIMA requests received 2017/18	LGOIMA requests received 2018/19
July	7	15
August	10	20
September	16	7
October	15	5
November	12	10
December	14	9
January	12	11
February	14
March	12
April	14
May	15
June	18

Total LGOIMA requests received	159	77
Total LGOIMA requests not responded to ≤ 20 working days*	15	0

Details on the requests not completed within 20 working days:

REQ.592230 – Request for bullying and harassment claims. This was not completed within 20 working days due to the need to seek legal advice.

REQ.592349 – Request for informatin on farm cattle consents. This was not completed within 20 working days because of a misunderstanding of the LGOIMA definition of working days.

7.2.7 Customer Service – Community Resilience

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Telephone Inbound Call Statistics

	December 2018	January 2019	Target
Call volume	1848	2334
Conversion rate	97.0%	95.3%	>95%
Average wait time	7 sec	8 sec
Calls answered in under 30sec	94%	91.8%	>90%

The dip in performance in January is attributed to staff being on leave requiring Customer Services Officers to make multiple calls to locate suitable staff for referrals.

Telephone Performance

Although most post-installation issues have been resolved, there are still intermittent call quality issues and instances of calls not ringing internal numbers. Northcloud are responsive to issues and are meeting regularly with NRC to resolve these issues. A follow up staff survey is planned to identify any remaining problems and opportunities for improvement.

Satisfaction Monitoring

Feedback Cards, Compliments and Complaints

Some departments are including an online feedback link. Feedback from this source and from feedback cards has been included with compliments and complaints.

Compliments received December and January

Total

Overall Service

Biodiversity

Civil Defence

Consents

Records

Service provided by a specific person

Mike Knight, Biosecurity

Diane Lawrence, Biosecurity & Customer Services

Paula Munn, Customer Services

The two compliments received on behalf of Diane both related to her advice on pest control. Mike’s compliment related to his practical advice and offers of further assistance at Trefoil Park. Paula’s was an acknowledgement of her warm and friendly welcome.

Complaints received December and January

Total

Standard of service provided

Consents via web form with no additional detail

Armourguard inaction on hotline complaint

Fish died after salvinia removed from pond by NRC

Drinking water testing

Felled wilding pines not cleared up

Miscommunication and runaround over abandoned car

Gold card holder dissatisfied

Disagree with decision or process

Inaction over neighbours use of Roundup

Objected to display of taxidermied animals

Lack of information or communication

Delay in information because address not checked

Lack of detail on invoice

Delay in receiving application information

All non-anonymous complaints have been managed and responded to by their department and/or the Customer Services Manager. The web form has been amended to encourage dissatisfied customers to include their contact details.

Regional Customer Service Centres (CSC)

Other Activity

By creating a virtual call centre, the new phone system has increased Customer Service’s capacity to answer incoming calls relieving pressure for the officers to refer calls quickly. The officers now spend more time with callers ensuring they get through to a subject expert rather than voice mail. An on-line knowledge base is being developed to ensure more enquiries can be satisfied at first point of contact without the need for referral.

CIVIL DEFENCE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Warnings and activations

No weather watches or warnings have been issued during December or January for the Northland region. A National Warning System test message was carried out by the Ministry on 29 January. Response to the test was carried out in accordance with group operating procedures.

Emergency Management System Reform

The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM) is working to implement many of the recommendations made in the Government’s response to the Technical Advisory Group Report on the Ministerial Review on better responses to natural disasters and other emergencies. Many of the recommendations relate directly to CDEM Groups.

This work includes the Ministry working towards the establishment of “Fly in Teams,” (NZFIT) which is effectively surge capacity and capability to support groups at the local and regional level during an emergency. A draft concept paper on the design and implementation of NZFIT was circulated to groups prior to Christmas 2018.

The Northland CDEM Group has now provided comments on the proposal. It is apparent that the Ministry is working to a very tight timeframe to put in place the arrangements and personnel. This time pressure seems to have impacted the consultation and development outcomes. The Group comments relate to the limited consultation and input to the design, team name, deployment process and funding arrangements, the proposed reporting lines and governance. The target date for having the NZFIT up and running is 30 June 2019.

The Ministry recently released details outlining the new Response and Recovery Leadership Capability Development Programme. (Previously referred to as Controllers and Recovery managers professional development programmes). A contract has been signed with Massey University on behalf of the Response and Recovery Aotearoa (RRANZ) consortium in December and a draft programme outline has subsequently been developed, consisting of an on-line component and two face-to-face Tiers: Tier 1 focussing on common capabilities for response and recovery, and Tier 2 focussing more on the response and recovery leadership capabilities.

Significant costs are associated with this programme and matters such as prior learning and current levels of capability are yet to be resolved.

Iwi engagement

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet assisted by Te Puni Kōkori, has been asked to engage with iwi and CDEM Groups to explore how best to involve iwi in governance/management of Civil Defence and to better recognise the role of marae in a response capacity. This work is underway, including consideration of support that may be needed to support the work of groups/iwi/marae.

Emergency Response Software

The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management are progressing with development of an Office365 solution to replace the Emergency Management Information System (EMIS). A Project Reference Group is being established as part of the build. The project is expected to be completed by July 2019.

Council shared services

A presentation was made by CDEM Group office personnel to the Mayoral Forum in mid-December and a follow up presentation has also been made to Whangarei District councillors. The presentation focused mainly on shared services, work programmes and the changes to the on-call arrangements.

The work program for each of the three councils have been agreed for the coming year.

TRANSPORT

Regional Land Transport Planning

The Local Government sponsored Transport Special Interest Group (TSIG) is presently looking into the New Zealand Transport Agencies (NZTA) policies and procedures relating to the compilation of Regional Land Transport Plans (RLTP). The present process is onerous, time consuming and does not align with local governments Long Term Plans.

The TSIG does not consider that enough emphasis is placed on the importance of the RLTP’s, particularly during the compilation of National Land Transport Plans and the subsequent allocation of funds.

PASSENGER TRANSPORT ADMINISTRATION

Total Mobility

Total Mobility (TM) figures are reported on one month in arrears, as the required information is unavailable at the time of the agenda deadline.

Total clients

Monthly

Actual

Expend

Monthly Budget Expend

Variance

Year/Date

Actual Expend

Year/Date

Budgeted Expend

Variance

November

1423

$19,587

$25,000

-$5,413

$89,843

$125,000

$35,157

December

1425

$16,215

$25,000

-$8,785

$106,058

$150,000

$43,942

On 7 December, Northland Regional Council staff attended the International Day of People with Disabilities event held in Whangārei, the event was widely advertised and was well attended. Staff took the opportunity to fully promote the TM Scheme.

Total Mobility Awareness campaign

The Transport team is working with the Communications team on creating more awareness around Total Mobility, through radio advertising, posters for doctor surgeries and rest homes, and incorporating a social media campaign.

Contracted Bus Services

Due to information for this report being required prior to the month end, complete statistics are not available. Therefore, the information included below is one month in arrears.

* Please Note - Cash fares were lowered to $2 Adult and $1 Child for the month under review. This reduction in fares was to offset any passenger related problems with the closure of the Snapper system and the introduction of the new INIT interim cash fare only system. This reduction in fares is expected to continue to about March 2019 when the INIT system becomes fully online (activation of card-based fares).

Operational Statistics

December 2018 (revenue ex GST)	Actual	Budget	Variance	Year/Date Actual	Year/Date Budgeted
City Link Passengers	29192	22353	6839	161975	158805
City Link Revenue	$29,689	$45,130	*- $15,441	$258,188	$315,272
Mid North Link Passengers	157	402	-245	1153	2496
Mid North Link Revenue	$545	$2,660	-$2,115	$3,311	$15,714
Hokianga Link Passengers	26	42	-16	159	174
Hokianga Link Revenue	$229	$313	-$84	$1,674	$2,268
Far North Link Passengers	461	501	-40	3486	3827
Far North Link Revenue	$1,126	$1,253	-$127	$7,916	$9,568

Operational Statistics

November 2018 (revenue ex GST)	Actual	Budget	Variance	Year/Date Actual	Year/Date Budgeted
City Link Passengers	30315	27930	2385	132783	136452
City Link Revenue	$40,327	$56,644	-$16,318	$228,499	$270,142
Mid North Link Passengers	219	414	-195	996	2094
Mid North Link Revenue	$808	$2,699	-$1,891	$3,676	$ 13,053
Hokianga Link Passengers	35	30	5	133	132
Hokianga Link Revenue	$397	$391	$6	$1,445	$1,721
Far North Link Passengers	668	667	1	3025	3326
Far North Link Revenue	$1,650	$1,667	-$17	$6,790	$8,314

BusLink Services - Christmas Cheer event

On Friday 21 December, the Transport team ran a promotion for all BusLink services. This consisted of riding the bus free. In Whangārei, staff and Councilors, John Bain and Paul Dimery did a sausage sizzle at the Rose Street Bus Terminus. This was much appreciated by our regular bus passengers, and was well attended.

Road Safety Update

Despite continued and increased efforts from the regions Road Policing, Roading Engineers and Road Safety promotion partners, Northland’s provisional road toll for 2018 was 35. The Provisional national figure is 379 but a number of crash victims are still hospitalised as critically injured so these figures could change.

Key advertising themes by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for November and December 2018 was centred around ‘Speed and Motorcycling, Alcohol, Drugs’.

Nationally, the highest risks for fatal and serious injury crashes to date for November and December 2018 were –

· Alcohol; Speed; Drugs; Fatigue; Motorcycling and Young Drivers.

Hospitalistion Provisional Data Northland Transport Injuries 2018 – Length of Stay (LOS). There were 1258 <1 Day stays – 142 1-3 Day stays & 166 >3 Day stays for a total of 1566. In 2017 there were 1158 <1 Day stays – 188 1-3 Day stays & 160 >3 Day stays to total of 1506.

Regionally the year to date road deaths stands at 2 with the main contributing factors being -

· Speed;

Regional Road Toll Statistics – 2019 & 2018 Comparison Year to Date

Location	YTD 2019	YTD 2018
Far North	2	0
Whangārei	0	0
Kaipara	0	1
Northland	2	1
National	20	21

Maritime

Two new Maritime Officers started in November providing much needed additional resources to the team, along with a summer student who is assisting with some technical projects.

The infringement regulation for the Navigation Safety Bylaw was signed off by Parliament on 5November and the new regulation came into effect on 7 December 2018.

A spare second hand engine has been purchased and serviced for the Waikare, which will serve as back up in case of sudden failure, and assist with the engine reconditioning over winter. A reconditioned third engine will now always be on standby, as parts can take weeks to be delivered.

The month of November saw nine cruise vessels visit the Bay of islands with one double up day, in which both the Maasdam and the Pacific Explorer called. There were six ships in December and thirteen in January plus some extra superyachts visiting. The weather has been calm so no ships have cancelled this season so far.

The tier two oil spill response exercise scheduled for 14 November was suspended after an actual spill occurred at the refinery. The incident was caused by a leak from a bunker fuel line on Jetty #2. Loss of containment was minor and dispersed quickly, the refinery handled the incident as a tier one response with NRC staff in attendance. The incident provided a good opportunity to test the combined Marsden Point response plan with all three ROSC present. A follow up revalidation exercise was held on 22January. The ROSCs attended the annual oil spill conference in Tauranga.

The harbourmaster and maritime manager presented to the Maori Advisory Committee on how the oil spill response system works. The Harbourmaster attended a two-day oil and gas workshop in Wellington in his position as National on Scene Commander. The Deputy Harbourmaster attended a LINZ workshop on digital chart development in Auckland along with a Northtugz pilot.

All navigation beacons in Tutu kaka harbour have been renewed with positive feedback received. These were some of the last harbour board beacons to be replaced, with some found to be imbedded seven metres into the ground. K12, a bent beacon in the Kioreroa Reach caused some concern amongst local residents. It was removed and replaced with a buoy.

The annual Harbour Wardens meeting was held, in Waitangi on the 28November 2018 with a good turnout. This forum updates the Regional Wardens on latest safety advice, changes to regulations and this year’s summer boating safety campaigns. Topics covered during the meeting included summer safety campaigns, the new bylaw and infringement regulation. Peter Wiessing also attended as a guest speaker and presented on the Awanui flood scheme.

Summer bylaw and safety patrols were carried out over 16 days in the peak season in Bay of islands, Whangaroa, Tutukākā, Hokianga, Kai Iwi, Mangawhai, Whananaki, Whangārei and Ngunguru. Fifteen days of biosecurity and pollution water runs were provided in support of those departments.

The on-water garbage service ran according to schedule with no days missed and received good reviews on a welcome service.

The bay has been busy with sail week, tall ships race and Millennium cup race, along with cruise ships.

Twenty one incidents were received over the month of November. A large portion of the incidents are mooring related with several oil spill incidents.

Forty three incidents in December with the same number in January giving an overall total of eighty six. Out of these incidents the majority consisted mostly of unregistered jet skis, speeding, sinking and dragging yachts. 2 abandoned boats were removed and destroyed.

No major oil spills were recorded.

Attachments/Ngā tapirihanga

Nil

No.	Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
1	Transfer the private equity funds currently held in the Property Reinvestment Fund into the Community Investment Fund and reimburse with the equivalent amount from CIF Income funds.	Hold funds in the PRF that are easily and quickly converted to cash, are less volatile and have a lower risk of capital loss and thus provide funding certainty for the Kensington and Kaipara development projects.	The CIF increases its exposure to private equity which is illiquid.
2	Status Quo	No additional risk is taken in the CIF, and the CIF maintains its current level of liquidity.	The target return of the CIF (council’s longest fund time horizon) is not increased and the PRF will continue to hold an element of illiquid investment that will not be available as funding for development projects.

No.	Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
1	Use and distribute the accumulated ESF reserve funds to: up to $10,000 per year for advertising and promotional materials, with the remainder distributed to fund recipients in direct proportion to current allocations.	Provides for promotion and recognition of the ESF and recipient emergency services and is a logical and straightforward distribution amongst recipients.	Up to $10,000 less per year for distribution directly to ESF recipients.
2	As for 1 above, with no allocation for advertising and promotion materials.	Up to $10,000 more per year for distribution directly to ESF recipients.	Little or no promotion of the ESF.
3	Use some other than proportional distribution formula.	None apparent.	Less logical and straightforward.

Category	Financial instrument
Cash management and borrowing	Bank overdraft Committed cash advance and bank accepted bill facilities (short term and long-term loan facilities) Floating rate note (FRN) Fixed rate note (MTN)
Investments <181 days	Short term bank deposits Bank registered certificates of deposit (RCDs)
Investments (other)	LGFA borrower notes Bank term deposits linked to pre-funding maturing debt
Interest rate risk management	Forward rate agreements (FRAs) on bank bills Interest rate options on: · Bank bills (purchased caps and one for one collars) · Interest rate swaptions (purchased swaptions and one for one collars only)

Counterparty/issuer	Maximum investments per counterparty ($m)
NZ Government	Unlimited
Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA)	20.0
NZ registered banks: · ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited · ASB Bank Limited · Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) · Kiwibank Limited · Westpac New Zealand Limited	20.0

No.	Option	Advantages	Disadvantages
1	Approve the financial instruments and named counterparties and limits, and the changes to the TOR of the Audit and Finance Working Party and the delegations.	The TMP and council approvals are clear and consistent, and the TMP is fully operational.	Slower approval of new counterparties, international swaps and derivatives, and financial instruments.
2	Do not approve the financial instruments and named counterparties and limits, and the changes to the TOR of the Audit and Finance Working Party and the delegations.	Status quo is retained. No implementation work is required.	The TMP is not fully operational, so will need to be amended.
3	Approve all but recommendations 2, 3d, 4, 5 and 6.	Status quo.	The TMP is not fully operational, so will need to be amended.
4	Approve all but 3a and 3b.	Responsibilities stay at CEO level. No implementation work is required.	The TMP is not fully operational, so will need to be amended.
5	Approve all but recommendation 3c.	Approval of new named counterparties could occur faster in future.	The TMP is not fully operational, so will need to be amended.

TITLE:	Health and Safety Report for December 2018 and January 2019
ID:	A1159977
From:	Tracey Warboys, Health and Safety Specialist

Name:	Dave Tams
Title:	Group Manager, Corporate Excellence
Date:	05 February 2019

TITLE:	Confirmation of Minutes - 11 December 2018
ID:	A1158038
From:	Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Name:	Chris Taylor
Title:	Governance Support Manager
Date:	12 February 2019

TITLE:	Receipt of Action Sheet
ID:	A1157209
From:	Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

TITLE:	Working Party Updates and Chairpersons' Briefings
ID:	A1154691

Name:	Bruce Howse
Title:	Group Manager - Environmental Services
Date:	07 February 2019

TITLE:	Financial Report to 31 January 2019
ID:	A1161254
From:	Vincent McColl, Financial Accountant

TITLE:	Credit note for approval
ID:	A1136567
From:	Trish Wells, Accounts Receivable Officer

TITLE:	Approval to Borrow to Fund Flood Protection Infrastructure
ID:	A1156622
From:	Simon Crabb, Finance Manager

TITLE:	Regional Rates Collection - Update to 31 December 2018
ID:	A1156884
From:	Simon Crabb, Finance Manager

TITLE:	Externally Managed Funds: Transfer of Private Equity Funds from PRF to CIF
ID:	A1156890
From:	Simon Crabb, Finance Manager

TITLE:	Emergency Services Fund Update - Funding Uptake, Engagement and Promotion Plan and Reserve
ID:	A1160121
From:	Tony Phipps, Group Manager - Customer Services - Community Resilience and Natasha Stubbing, Marketing and Engagement Manager

Name:	Tony Phipps
Title:	Group Manager - Customer Services - Community Resilience
Date:	06 February 2019

TITLE:	Treasury Management Policy
ID:	A1102988
From:	Dave Tams, Group Manager, Corporate Excellence

Counterparty/issuer	Credit ratings required in TMP	Credit rating at 28.8.2018	Recommended limit $m
NZ Government	N/A	N/A	Unlimited
Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA)	N/A	N/A	20.0
ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited	Long term: A- Short term: A2	Standard and Poor’s: AA- Moody’s: A1	20.0
ASB Bank Limited	Long term: A- Short term: A2	Standard and Poor’s: AA- Moody’s: A1	20.0
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ)	Long term: A- Short term: A2	Standard and Poor’s: AA- Moody’s: A1	20.0
Kiwibank Limited	Long term: A- Short term: A2	Standard and Poor’s: A Moody’s: A1	20.0
Westpac New Zealand Limited	Long term: A- Short term: A2	Standard and Poor’s: AA- Moody’s: A1	20.0

TITLE:	Adoption of Draft User Fees and Charges 2019/20 and approval to consult
ID:	A1157911
From:	Robyn Broadhurst, Policy Analyst and Kyla Carlier, Corporate Planning Manager

TITLE:	Adoption of the Annual Plan 2019/20 Supporting Information
ID:	A1159110
From:	Kyla Carlier, Corporate Planning Manager

TITLE:	Adoption of the Annual Plan 2019/20 Consultation Document and Approval to Consult
ID:	A1158997
From:	Kyla Carlier, Corporate Planning Manager

TITLE:	Environment Fund Criteria Review
ID:	A1156376
From:	Imogen Field, Land Management Advisor - Freshwater Improvement Project; Lorna Douglas, Eastern Coast Manager and Duncan Kervell, Land Manager

	Current criteria	Proposed new criteria
· Fencing General waterway: fencing rivers, streams, drains and wetlands · Fencing for Soil Conservation: Erosion control permanent retirement fencing and afforestation	50% funding via delegated authority (DA) Dairy farm cap: up to $5,000 Drystock caps: · Up to $10,000, 1-199ha · Up to $15,000, 200–599ha · Up to $20,000, 600+ha	Up to 50% funding via DA Note: With waterway fence buffers defined and required Equal dairy and drystock caps: · Up to 4ha ($2,000 limit) · Up to $5,000 for 4-49ha · Up to $10,000 for 50–199ha · Up to $15,000 for 200–599ha · Up to $20,000 for over 600ha
Top 150 wetlands and dune lakes	50% funding via DA or up to 100% with council approval	Retain
Terrestrial biodiversity projects	50% funding via DA	Retain
Planting	Traditionally granted approx. $1,000 of plants, 100% funded for riparian plants	Funds in 2019/20 available from 1BT Boost Year Fund, Hill Country Erosion Fund and Regional Afforestation Grant Scheme (RAGS)
Exceptional projects	Up to 100% for staff recommended exceptional projects not fitting other criteria, with council approval	Retain

Qualifying work categories	Percentage contribution
Fencing	Up to 50%
Alternative Water Supplies (Cost of troughs and tanks)	Up to 50% (will cover costs of troughs and tanks, with landowner contribution being installation and other materials required)
Native plant establishment and maintenance	Up to 50%
Wetland construction and restoration *	Up to 100%
Detention bund construction Erosion tree planting	Up to 50%
Works to restore fish passage (culvert remediation, weirs, floodgates)	Up to 50%

TITLE:	Inter-regional Marine Pest Management - Discussion Document
ID:	A1160314
From:	Justin Murfitt, Strategic Policy Specialist and Don McKenzie, Biosecurity Manager

TITLE:	Chair's Report to Council
ID:	A1156744
From:	Bill Shepherd, Chairman

Date	Addressed To	Subject
11.12.18	Jim Kilpatrick Chair Ngunguru Sandspit Protection Society Inc.	Ngunguru Sandspit
14.12.18	Fergus Gammie Chief Executive New Zealand Transport Agency	Thank you letter for the work carried out in Northland
19.12.18	Sarah Petersen, Chair David Wilson, Chief Executive Officer Northland Inc.	Northland Inc. Ltd Statement of Intent 2019-2022 – letter of expectations
21.01.19	Mayors Whangārei District Council Kaipara District Council Far North District Council	Invitation to attend session with Dame Diane Robertson, Chair, Data Futures Partnership, on governance responsibilities of data management
22.01.19	Ngaire Tyson Kiwi Coast Coordinator Kiwi Coast Trust	Congratulatory letter on Kiwi Coast’s achievement as a finalist for the New Zealander of the Year Award
25.01.19	Executive Officer Nature Heritage Fund	Northland Regional Council’s support to community efforts to protect Ngunguru Sandspit and Whakareora Maunga
30.01.19	Hon Phil Twyford Minister of Transport	New road infrastructure in Northland

TITLE:	Receipt of Committee Minutes
ID:	A1158061
From:	Chris Taylor, Governance Support Manager

Item No.	Item Issue	Reasons/Grounds
9.1	Confirmation of Confidential Minutes - 11 December 2018	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, as stated in the open section of the meeting -.
9.2	Receipt of Confidential Committee Minutes	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, as stated in the open section of the meeting -.
9.3	Human Resources Report	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, the withholding of which is necessary to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons s7(2)(a).
9.4	Sale of Council's Lessor's Interest in a CBD Property	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, the withholding of which is necessary to enable council to carry out, without prejudice or disadvantage, commercial activities s7(2)(h) and the withholding of which is necessary to enable council to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations (including commercial and industrial negotiations) s7(2)(i).
9.5	Remission Policy	The public conduct of the proceedings would be likely to result in disclosure of information, free and frank expression of opinions by or between or to members or officers or employees of any local authority s7(2)(f)(i) and the withholding of which is necessary to maintain legal professional privilege s7(2)(g).