Coast council faces ‘challenging’ year
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
The West Coast Regional Council faces "another very challenging year," according to Risk and Assurance Committee chairman Frank Dooley.
The committee met on Tuesday for five-and-a-half hours as it received an update on the council's investment portfolio, got a closed door briefing on the draft 2022 annual report, endorsed a health and safety charter and teased out a schedule of workshops for the forthcoming annual plan.
The council also has received tens of millions of dollars for 'shovel ready' projects and other publicly funded infrastructure projects to clear and show progress on in the coming year.
Councillors workshopped the 2022 annual report for about three hours
and it will be adopted next week at the first formal council meeting of the year.
Dooley thanked council staff for their work to get it over the line and under pressure.
"It's really comforting to know we're going to be able to sign-off next week. I know it's six weeks behind our statutory deadline, but there's nothing we can do about it."
An earlier briefing by council investment portfolio advisers J B Were explained the rationale of having a diversified portfolio both domestically and internationally.
Dooley said the presentation was good from a risk perspective and explained the benefits of a diversified portfolio, although the council had a responsibility "to keep oversight".
He had asked management to also present a profile of the council's liabilities in the coming months.
The council had previously been briefed mid-year on liabilities, currently $12.25m.
J B Were advisers told the council the focus was on spreading risk, over-riding the tendency for investors to just focus on returns, hence a diverse portfolio held by the council.
The past three years had been particularly challenging with inflationary pressure in the international and domestic economy but the portfolio had rendered a "reasonable" return of 11.5% in that period; the performance benchmark was 6%.
Returns should be better over the next year, advisers said.
In the past, the regional council has used the investment portfolio to subsidise its activities in lieu of rates — with the average drawdown, until two years ago, being $350,000 every six months, or $2.8m in total.
*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
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A reminder this hunting season
As thousands of hunters are making their plans for autumn – the Roar – recreational firearms groups are urging hunters to always be 100% sure of their targets.
Te Tari Pureke - Firearms Safety Authority NZ, which chairs the Recreational Firearms Users Group, has begun a public information campaign reminding hunters everywhere of Rule #4 of the Firearms Safety Code: to identify their target beyond all doubt.
Director Communities and Corporate, Mike McIlraith, says there is an estimated 50,000-60,000 New Zealanders involved in big game animal hunting each year, and the Roar is the key event for many hunters each year.
“The Roar is a fantastic time of year for hunters to get out into the hills after a trophy animal but hunting safely and making sure everyone gets home in one piece, still must be the most important goal of every trip,” says Mike McIlraith.
“The consequences of not fully identifying your target beyond all doubt can be catastrophic. Our message to hunters is a really simple one: If you are not sure, then don’t shoot.”
Mike McIlraith says while hunting fatalities are thankfully rare, research has shown that misidentification of the target is the largest firearms related risk to New Zealand deer hunters, and 80% of the time this involves members of the same hunting group.
The Authority says hunters should not feel pressured to take a shot: “Instead, hunters should take the time to analyse their target, wait and see if it is a hind or stag, how old is the animal, how many points does its antlers have? Identifying your target means never firing at sound, shape, colour or movement alone.”
Mike McIlraith says good hunters will slow down, and run through some simple mental checks:
- Can I see the whole animal, or could this be another hunter?
- Where are my hunting companions – could this be them or someone else?
- How much of the animal can you see, if it is a hind or stag, how old is the animal, how - many points does its antlers have?
“Taking a little extra time to identify your target and check the firing zone is the key to safer hunting. No meat or no trophy is better than no mate,” he says.
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