Mayor Len hosted his first citizenship ceremony at the Thames War Memorial Civic Centre this week.
In a moving ceremony Mayor Len formally confirmed citizenship on 24 people who have chosen to make New Zealand, and Thames-Coromandel in particular, their home. Two other new citizens were unable to
make the ceremony due to hazardous roads caused by heavy rain.
But the dampness didn’t deter the spirits of those who could attend, where smiles, gratitude and emotional family
support marked the day.
The Civic Centre was filled with about 80 whānau and well-wishers. Some families told tear-filled stories about their long journey to citizenship and their relief to have achieved it.
It was the first time the ceremony had been able to be held since June 2021, due to COVID restrictions.
In this week's wet start to the holiday season, Mayor Len gave a huge shout out to the hardworking crews that have been working tirelessly to clear our roads and make sure we all stay safe. “On behalf of all of us, ngā mihi nui – a big thank you,” he said.
“It’s a job that is often taken for granted, but without them we would be stuck. Give a friendly thumbs up or wave to the crews next time you pass them; they are worth their weight in gold.
“And thanks to each and every one of you who’ve helped in your communities. Kia noho ora mai. Stay safe."
Visitor spending in Whangamatā and Thames received a huge boost as a result of Beach Hop at the end of November.
According to the latest Market View data for Whangamatā, the visitor spend (measured by expenditure on credit cards registered to addresses out of the district) was $667,372 on the Saturday of Beach Hop, compared to $242,226 the Saturday before (up 175 per cent).
For Thames, the visitor spend the Thursday of the event in Thames was $195,623 compared to $151,088 the previous Thursday (up 29 per cent).
In reality, the overall figure is likely to be much more as these spending figures do not account for accommodation booked and paid before the event or registration fees for the festival.
Our Regional Marketing Organisation, Destination Hauraki Coromandel describes the economic success of Beach Hop as “awesome”. The event was supported by the Whangamatā and Thames Community Boards, as well as the Thames Business Association in making the festival happen for Thames.
The next Beach Hop is on 22-26 March 2023. Find out more here.
Our summer schedule of extra kerbside rubbish and recycling collections across most of the Coromandel begins on Boxing Day (Monday 26 December) and finishes on Friday 10 February 2023.
The schedules for your area are on our website at tcdc.govt.nz/kerbside. We’ll be posting daily notices each evening on our Council’s Facebook page to remind you of where the next day’s collections are taking place.
Our seven Refuse Transfer Stations (RTS) are open from today to their extended summer hours until Sunday 19 February 2023. Every one of our RTSs is open every day during this period except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
There are some changes to our kerbside schedules this summer from previous summers:
- We don’t have any Saturday collections this summer. Collections are Monday to Friday. This is so our collection crews can get a rest after a long week doing strenuous work in the heat. This means Whangamatā, Onemana & Ōpoutere, and Pāuanui will have their second collection of the week on Wednesday instead of Saturday.
- Please put your material out on the kerbside by 7:30am on your collection day. The earlier collection time is to avoid crews working in the full summer heat and getting heat exhaustion.
- Please only put your material out on your collection day, not the night before. This is because sometimes people use the glass bottles as missiles to throw around. And animals like to get into rubbish bags containing leftovers. Please don’t put out your glass crate or recycling wheelie bin if they’re not full. This is because high volumes of material are put out for collection and emptying one-quarter full crates and wheelie bins slows the crews down, with the risk of not getting through the day’s collections. In most areas there’ll be another collection in a few days.
If your rubbish and/or recycling isn’t collected in the morning of your collection day (and you’ve put it out by 7:30am), please wait until the evening before contacting us.
The collection schedules can be subject to delay or change at short notice due to a variety of potential issues, for example illness among our contractor’s crews, staff recruitment challenges and road closures due to weather or accidents. If there are unforeseen delays or changes to kerbside collections, the Refuse Transfer Stations will accept rubbish in blue Council bags and recycling, both for free.
Our Council's brand-new website has been live for a little over a week now and we’ve received some great feedback. You’ve noticed a few issues, most of which we can fix quickly and easily, but here is some information about a couple of points that have been raised.
"Where is the A to Z list?" We’ve got rid of our A to Z listing as it is no longer the most efficient way to find information on our website. Instead, we’ve introduced a smart search system which uses your keywords to automatically search our website for relevant information. This search bar always stays at the top of your browser, so it’s simple to type in keywords and find content wherever you are on the website. Here’s a handy video to help you get comfortable with this new system.
"Why are links from Google broken?" Because we’ve shuffled and optimised where content lies on our website, some links from Google will no longer take you to the correct page. This is completely normal after such a big change. If you try to follow a link from Google and encounter a 404 Page Not Found alert, simply use the search bar on our Council website just like you would use Google and you will be able to find the page you need. There’s no more need to search Google to find information on our Council – use our own website's search function instead.
Over time, Google will trawl our new website and links from Google will be updated. This is just a short-term issue that will be automatically fixed as more people browse our website.
"The information I need is not on the new website." We tried our best to migrate all relevant content from the old website to the new one, but we may have missed the odd page. If you can’t find the content you are looking for, reach out to communicationsteam@tcdc.govt.nz and they can provide you with what you need, as well fix the issue on the website.
Again, we thank everyone for your patience as we make our new website the best it can be. Any feedback is welcome and extremely helpful – send it along to communcationsteam@tcdc.govt.nz
Help bring some joy into the lives of children or families in need this Christmas.
Bring an unwrapped gift for a child, a teenager or a woman affected by family violence into our Council’s Thames office before midday 23 December and place it under the Christmas tree.
The present donation is being organised by Thames Rotary, Thames/Coromandel Newsfeed and our Council in support of the Women’s Refuge.
One of the organisers Monika Lange heartily thanked everyone who’s donated so far and asked others to consider adding their gift. The organisers will label and wrap the gifts.
Merry Christmas and thank you for thinking of others this festive season.
Please note all Council offices will be closing at midday on Friday 23 December – earlier than previously advertised.
We wish you a relaxing and refreshing break and a bright start to the new year.
Meetings
Despite the challenges of high inflation, disruption to supply chains, nationwide skills shortages and rising construction, freight and labour costs, our Council has either achieved, or is on track to achieve, 68 per cent of our non-financial performance measures, compared to 65 per cent at the same time last year.
Our Quarterly Report 2022/23, (covering the period 1 July to 30 September 2022), monitors non-financial performance measures as part of our 2021-2031 Long Term Plan, and was presented to Council meeting on 13 December.
Out of 122 performance measures in place across our Council for Quarter One, 82 (67 per cent) are on track to be achieved, one per cent have been achieved and 31 (25 per cent) are not being measured this quarter. There are five measures (four per cent) that are off track and three (two per cent) that were not achieved, relating to wastewater and coastal and hazard management.
Read more here.
Watch a recording of the 13 December Council meeting
Meetings coming up
Our Council’s next meeting is Tuesday 21 February 2023. The public are welcome to attend.
For agendas, reports and minutes of meetings, check out this link.
The Port Charles cell sites have gone live and there is now coverage in Port Charles from Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees, who together formed the Rural Connectivity Group several years ago to provide wireless broadband connectivity in rural areas.
To connect to the cell site coverage, 4G voicecalling-capable mobile phones are required.
Contact your service provider for more information.
Staff met with members of the netball, rugby, football, cricket, junior rugby and tennis clubs in early December to review the findings from the needs assessment for the Thames Sports Partnership Project.
The project is now in the feasibility stage and the sports groups reviewed an indicative list of sites.
Further investigation will be undertaken on the sites identified over the next few months.
Your Coromandel Tracks and Trails Guide
An updated edition of our popular Tracks and Trails Guide is now available online. Have a look at it here.
It outlines a wide range of walks and cycle trails for all fitness levels. The mix of locations includes harbour and river margins, heritage town centres, playgrounds, busy working wharves and the Coromandel's famous sandy beaches.
Most of the walks in this guide are short, easy excursions near our town centres), rather than more strenuous tramping routes. The guide also covers mountain biking and cycling trails, ranging from family-friendly easy experiences to harder mountain biking trails.
Printed copies of the guide will be available free from information centres, public libraries and Council officers in mid-to-late January
Boaties are reminded about our new, smart payment system for launching and trailer parking at ramps where fees apply. This new QR payment system has replaced the physical ramp permits
Simply scan the QR code with your smartphone, camera or Google Lens and follow the easy prompts to pay – right at the ramp. If you don’t have a smartphone, you can still pay in person at our Council offices and participating retail outlets.
tcdc.govt.nz/boatramps.
2023 Coromandel Food Trail Guide
If you make or sell local or artisan produce and products, including beverages, we'd love to hear from you.
We're looking for local businesses to include in our 2023 edition of the Coromandel Food Collective’s Food Trail Guide
Find out more and register your interest here.
Just the job
We’re recruiting for some great jobs at the moment – everything from summer jobs (such as ambassadors for walking tracks and wharves) to specialist technical jobs.
Visit tcdc.govt.nz/jobs for more information about summer work. For opportunities with our Council's solid waste contractor, Smart Environmental, check out tcdc.govt.nz/summerjobs.
Bookmark our jobs page for regular postings of vacancies.
Te Whatu Ora’s Health Promotion Unit is offering one-off grants of $5,000-$30,000 to projects supporting youth wellbeing priorities in communities.
The priority issues include mental health awareness, development of identity (social/cultural) and strengthening connection.
Applications close at 12pm on Friday 17 February 2023.
Find out more here.
Work updates
Road maintenance works
Take a look at our webpage for details of work scheduled for Council-run roads and footpaths for the week beginning 19 December 2022 (weather dependent).
For State Highway road works check out Waka Kotahi’s Forward Works programme.
Erosion protection Whitianga
The final stage of erosion protection will be completed next week at the Robinson Road Reserve (opposite White Street) in Whitianga. The final section is approximately 11m in length and will complement stage 1 (30m in length).
The intention of this work is to provide a cost-effective and novel approach to slow down shoreline erosion in this area. So far, stage 1 has proven effective in trapping sand and halting any erosion.
Matarangi Jetty
The work on replacing the piles on the Matarangi Jetty is still underway due to weather disruptions. The jetty remains closed while the work takes place.
We are still on track to get the repairs completed before Christmas.