It's not Hallmark, but it's a card

A timely opportunity for those who've expressed concern about the fate of the Film Festival and other community initiatives to actually do something about it:

Have your say - Community Contracts process

The Council is proposing to change the way it allocates Community Contracts - its funding to community groups and organisations.

You are invited to make a submission on the proposals. The closing date for submissions is Monday, 31 October 2005.

Please address your submission to:
Keith Smith
Wanganui District
Council
PO Box 637
Wanganui

Key proposals include:

• A maximum of $350,000 for Community Contracts to be budgeted by the Council each year for the next three years.Wherever possible, a three-year contract will be granted to community groups to provide certainty in their planning.
• Wanganui Inc will be allocated $200,000 to distribute to assist events and economic development in the Wanganui District; to promote Wanganui on a national stage; and/or to provide an opportunity for people to come to Wanganui.
• $100,000 will be allocated by the Council for social, community, recreational, cultural and environmental initiatives, with minimum contract level of $5000. The intention is to allow a limited number of recipients greater ability to achieve their goals effectively. Applicants will need to demonstrate that they have applied to other appropriate funding agencies before applying for a Community Contract.
• Community House will be allocated $50,000 per year for three years to distribute to community groups and organisations for amounts under $5000.

A paper outlining the Community Contracts review and proposed changes is available from the Council's Customer Services Desk and the District Library. It is available on this page, where you can also make an online submission.We encourage you to consider the proposals and make a submission.

A submission needn't be formal, or lengthy, or time consuming to prepare. If you're a member of a community group, or merely concerned to see they're properly funded for the next three years, this is probably the only opportunity you'll get to influence the process.

We'd even go so far as to suggest that you call up the community organistion(s) with whom you're associated, make sure they are preparing a submission, ascertain what they'll be saying, and then write one of your own in support.

We can't blame Council for not listening if, when they ask our opinion, they're met with a deafening silence.

If any community organisation would like to make their submission public and don't have the facility to do so, send it to lawswatch-at-hotmail-dot-com and we'll arrange for it to be linked from here. Alternatively, if you've posted it to your own website, send us the link.

Meanwhile, Murray Hughes confesses he's having trouble coming to terms with this whole "democracy" thingo.

Having operated my own business for many years, one has had a steep learning curve and had to virtually learn or accept new words like Consultation, Process, LTCCP and so on. Much of local government is about consultation which is laid down in the Local Government Act. Councillors are criticised for making decisions without adequate consultation and also criticised for consulting through mediums such as referenda. Talk about a no-win situation.

Not quite the way it was portrayed when you signed on, and were no doubt told that "crash through or crash" approach would work better than it has been, huh? But then again, it didn't do wonders for the guy who coined the phrase, either. And if you didn't know words like "consultation" or "process" when running a business, we're willing to bet there's a few people thanking their lucky stars they're working for someone other than you.

Much time has been spent during the first year putting the building blocks in place and I expect to see the fruits of this during the next 12–18 months. Splash Centre, riverfront redevelopment, the Old Town area and the Heart of Wanganui project are some.

So do we, Muzza. So do we. The Splash Centre redevelopment in 12-18 months, along with the mysteriously off-the-radar Heart of Wanganui Project in the same timeframe. Yes, that would be nice. There's just the small matter of a few million dollars between us and absolute nirvana, in fact.

One of the pledges Vision candidates gave was to introduce a ratepayers/residents concession card. I am now working on such a card and hope to be able to present something to Council in the New Year. The card should provide discounts on a range of Council owned or controlled organisations, together with those in private enterprise who wish to be involved. This could include restaurants, hairdressers, florists, chemists, real estate agents, hotels/motels to name a few.

Concessions off, say, entry to the Splash Centre? Which Council officers are telling you will already need patronage to increase by 50 percent just to have any hope of breaking even. But that's 50 percent at current entry prices. Or the Sarjeant Gallery perhaps. Oops, no, wait on, that needs money spent on it as well. Perhaps they'll be allowed in on quiet days to see where their $100,000 was spent refurbishing Guyton Street.

We won't leave you hanging, Muzza. Here's our design for Wanganui's ideal concession card. Readers may like to suggest additional concessions which could be provided to happy citizens at a cut price without threatening our next "nil rates increase".

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