Introducing issue # 6

Hello everyone,

Across the country the submission period for the current Long Term Plan has mostly closed. It appears from various headlines on local news sources and Councils’ own new channels that the response has been excellent.

This is great news, for empowering residents and ratepayers and including them in the decision-making process, which is one of the chief roles of Council. And to have such an encouraging response has to be good for the decision-making process.

With regard to finding out what residents and ratepayers think and feel about certain issue, can I remind you of the polls and survey functions included within our Buzzit platform. Ideal for gaining insights before consultation documents go out for formal submission. There is a wee reminder of this feature of Buzzit further on in this issue of Buzzit.

The next step of course is to work through all the submissions that have been received, not an easy task, and to adopt as many as possible into the final Long Term Plan.

That very well-known quote comes to mind,

“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.

(Attributed to English monk and poet John Lydgate (1370-1451) and later adapted by US President, Abraham Lincoln)

Balancing personal and sector interests, against the good of the whole District is the task that Councils are entrusted, with when finalising the Long Term Plan.

Keeping this in mind, once having had their say, respondents to any Council submission process, need to feel and to know they have been heard. Council’s inclusion of majority themes from the submission process into the final plan needs to be seen to be considered and not ignored via a ‘we know best’ practice. In a reasonable conversation, you would like to think all parties can bow to good reason.

Anyway, good luck to all as you adopt your LTP. There are some wonderful and far reaching decisions and projects and philosophies to be included. May the final plan enhance the lifestyle we value so much in this country and set the stage for a future we can all be proud to leave to our grandchildren.

In this issue of Buzz, we introduce you to Tararua District’s new library publication, on the Buzzit platform. Also, we show off a little with a couple of recent projects we have been fortunate to have worked on with our Council partners.

That’s it for this time.

Talk again soon.
Mark, Dry Crust Holdings Ltd.