Email your elected members at councillors@taupo.govt.nz For more information call 07 376 0899 or go to www.

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15 FEBRUARY 2013

What's on

For more information on Taupö District events visit www.taupo.govt.nz or www.GreatLakeTaupo.com

16 Feb Summer Concert – Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, Bachman and Turner and America

17 Feb Drag Racing, Taupo Motorsport Park20 Feb Coffee with Rick and Rob, Sierra Café23 Feb New Balance Great Lake Relay and Nature Valley Length of

the Lake Relay, Lake Taupō23 Feb Waikato Marching Competition, Taupō Events Centre23 Feb Across the Lake Swim, Lake Taupō23-24 Feb 2013 North Island Wakeboarding Champs, Lake Maraetai,

Mangakino24 Feb Our Neighbourhood – Tauhara Community Support Initiative

Community Picnic, Pihanga Reserve24 Feb Ironkidz, Taupō Lakefront26 Feb Council meeting

Now that foot traffic is beginning to reduce in our public reserves, Council is working to remove rabbits from some areas of Taupō.

There are high rabbit populations around Secombe Park, the Chad Street stormwater gully and the new neighbouring subdivision. These pest animals are causing problems for residents and those who choose to use the areas for recreation.

Council contractors are due to lay bait this week and next week to reduce the rabbit population.

The bait used, pindone, will be laid twice within the space of a week to effectively address the rabbit problem.

It is important that during the next few weeks the community takes care around these areas, and keeps an eye on their children and dogs.

There will be several signs visible in the areas being targeted by the contractors to ensure members of the public are aware of the bait laying. The area being focused on stretches from the Secombe Park carpark by the boatramp up to, and including, the Chad Street stormwater gully and the new lakeside subdivision.

Pest reduction on public reserves

Coffee morning is back!The first Coffee Morning with Rick and Rob of the year is here!

Come down to Sierra Café on Wednesday 20 February from 7.30am to have a chat and a coffee with our Mayor Rick Cooper and Chief Executive Rob Williams.

This month they will be joined by three special guests. General Manager for Destination Great Lake Taupō, Vanessa Freeman and General Manager for

Towncentre Taupō, Julie McLeod, will both be at the café to answer questions. Council staff will also on hand to help out.

So come along for a yarn and a latte at Sierra Café on Tongariro Street, Taupō, this coming Wednesday. As always, coffee will be only $2. The coffee morning is one of our regular coffee mornings, which are held on the third Wednesday of each month.

I can’t believe we’re halfway through February already. The saying that time flies when

you’re having fun was perhaps coined after spending summer here in our little slice of paradise. We’ve had a huge dose of sunshine and events over the past couple of months and there’s still more to come.

I’ve revelled in the positive comments I’ve heard about our District from both locals and visitors. It’s like getting a small pat on the back for the time and energy we put into fostering the vibrancy of our District. My fellow Councillors and I work extremely hard to ensure all decisions we make on your behalf are based on thorough investigation and are in the best interests of the District, so it hurts to read claims that decisions are “woefully informed”.

In the matter of the bus stop relocation, we’ve had all manner of infrastructural analyses carried out and considered associated influences on existing activities. Workshops held prior to any decision-making have all been open to the public so you, too, can hear the facts yet, disappointingly, nobody has attended. I, personally, have only had one person ring me to express their apprehension and seek more details, yet certain uninformed letter-writers have preferred to direct their concerns to local newspapers.

Please know that myself and any one of the elected members will, I am sure, happily discuss our decision with anyone who cares to call. I can assure you, there are no hidden agendas; the Council’s decision was an informed one and made using a democratic process. At the end of the day, if we’ve got it wrong, the bus shelter will be a moveable structure – but I stand behind our resolution.

In the six years I’ve spent as your representative, no decision I’ve made has been done so lightly. My door is open, my phone is on and I’m always happy to chat with you about any local issue. This is the District I love. I believe it is Godzone, it is paradise. This is where I’ve chosen to make my home, my life. It’s where my five children are becoming who they are because of what’s available to them – the environment, the teachers, the mentors, the coaches and the volunteers surrounding them. This is what drives me to be so involved in the community and I will continue to do so with passion, vigour and valour for as long as I’m able.

Deputy Mayor Mike Downard

mdownard@taupo.govt.nz

07 376 0899

Deputy Mayor Mike DownardInformed decisions through democracy

The concert of the summer has arrived, and it’s right here in Taupō District!

Legendary musicians Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo are joined by Bachman and Turner and America, all of whom are here to deliver a musical feast at Taupō Amphitheatre on 16 February 2013.

The summer concert follows the roaring success of last year’s concert, which featured the Doobie Brothers and Little River Band.

Together the three musical ensembles have produced 18 chart and 21 album hits in New Zealand. It is the first time Benatar and Giraldo and Bachman and Turner have played in New Zealand.

The audience can expect hits like Benatar’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot and Love Is A Battlefield and Bachman and Turner’s most recognisable hits from their work in Bachman Turner Overdrive, You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet and Takin’ Care Of Business.

Get ready to rock with some musical legends

The relocation of InterCity services to Tongariro Street and the creation of a new shelter has been a hot topic for discussion over the past few weeks.

Throughout 2011/2012, Councillors discussed on various occasions the merits of the proposal. In November 2012 they established that the relocation of bus services from the current Gascoigne Street site to Tongariro Street was the best overall move for the town and have decided not to revisit this decision. In fact, Nakedbus already operates 10 buses per day from Tongariro Street, along with the Taupo Connector.

Some concerns have been raised over what Tongariro Street will be like after the installation of the new bus shelter. Council believes the move will provide an opportunity to improve the area by encouraging more activity and interaction with the community. There will be little change in the physical layout of the area and all the services for bus operations are within close vicinity of the site.

In addition, there have been concerns about carparks; about

eight additional carparks can be created upon completion of the sale of the Gascoigne Street site. Some carparks on Tongariro Street will be reduced to temporary parking though overall the central business district will not suffer from a loss of carparks.

For more information on the new bus shelter, see the page opposite.

On the move TAUPŌ