Mayoral Candidate Q&A One
Te Awa Kairangi
Lower Hutt
Mayoral Candidate Q&A 1
7 til 9pm, Thursday 21st August 2025
Boulcott Farm Heritage Golf Club
Uh first and foremost, thank you so much. Each and every one of you offered an opportunity for us to see you for who you are and the vision that you have for our city. And that's something that's really special and unique and we're grateful to hear that.
So now we're going to head into the questions. I think we have a person maybe I'm going to get a microphone who would like Yes. First question. Yeah. that’s Mike our microphone man. All righty. So, who would like to ask the first question? Who's going to be brave? Come on, Rotarians. Oh, look. Hands are going up. Mike does the running.
And the question, the two people that will answer this is Karen because she went first. You went last, so you can be first on this one. And can we please have Ken Label for this one as well? So, those are the two that will answer this question.
Liz Palmer: I'm Liz Palmer and I’m from Eastbourne and I would like to know which of you all of you or whatever will look at community boards into the future.
Moderator: Do we just jump up? Yep. Go for it. Karen, you can go first. Do you I don't think you need a mic. Do you need a mic?
Karen Morgan: No. Anyway, uh tell me if you do. absolutely brilliant. You know, we Oh, great. We have two community boards now. We have one Wainuiomata and we have Eastbourne and they do a phenomenal job. But part of what I'm about is equity and it's not okay that we have a lot of our city that is not represented by a community board. Now, a community board doesn't have to always be very formalised and follow the same model. We can have different models across the city, but I absolutely agree with you 100%. We must have different representation that comes together so the voices are heard at ground level, grassroots level once again because that's where it's at. Your voices matter and we must make that. As mayor, I would pledge to be absolutely doing that. So, those voices are heard. We bring them together. They are part of the team and then we look at working on a partnership together as to making changes and what we can do for the city. So, thank you for your question.
Moderator: Awesome. Have you pass?
Ken Laban: I don't I don't disagree. Brady was on the Petone community board before doing six years on council. Campbell Barry was on the Wainuiomata community board before before going on to council and eventually coming may in fact I remember uh I remember Campbell he was a second year university student in Victoria uh when he was advocating for student discount on on public transport and he had some very very he was only young then well he's still young he had some very animated discussions with uh Peter Glensel who was the then chair of uh the public transport subcommittee at the time and pro and I can both attest to the fact that was a very very objective and at times robust and heated debate over the years. So if you get rid of those community boards and if you get rid of local representation, you lose the opportunity to debate issues that are relevant to your neighbourhood. and people can talk about cost efficiency, but you've either got to have a democratic process or you're not. So I I support community representation as much as possible.
Moderator: Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Ken. Okay, second question. Yes. Go for it, mate. You get to choose.
Barbara: Uh, Koda Barbara, I'm from Stokes Valley. Um, my question concerns everyone's concern about the rates increases. However, I also am aware of the challenges that face us. So, as a future mayor, what areas of council operations do you believe are wasteful or would be the first things that they're currently carried out that would have to go? Brady, you get to answer that first.
Brady Dyer: Oh, thanks for the question. Um, the council spends about $300 million a year and 50 million of that is on staffing costs. So, obviously staff is a big a big cost for the council. We've been investing heavily in uh technology and AI. Our LIMS team now uh was taking weeks to create a lims report. They can now do it in a matter of minutes using an AI tool that's obviously checked by humans and they they do all the the checking still by real people, but they they can do so much more with so much less or do so much more with the same. So for me, it's not so much about the cuts we're going to make now to to drop things. It's about they can't increase with what's being projected in the current long-term plan. It is not sustainable for households to keep increasing uh at the rate that is being projected. The new council is going to have to have some really honest uh conversations with the community about what things we stop doing more of, which things we do slow down on. Uh but like I say, staffing costs are a really big cost to the council.
Prabha Ravi: Awesome for thank you for your question Barbara. with regards to wasteful spending I can just give you examples from this little wasteful spending. This much wasteful spending for example we had the cycle ways put on Nights road and ru that's small that's a small little wasteful spending. We've got a park that's temporary park that's put on Daly street. I'm not sure if It's about $300,000 from what I understand. So that's unnecessary. We've got the Naenae pool that was demolished and built. I have nothing and I totally believe in having pools and having all those recreational and that's what I stand for as my third policy. But did we choose the right option? We've chosen the gold-plated option to demolish the pool and rebuild it. I'm thinking if we had been a bit smarter in the way we could have refurbished the dining pool and had sonar or spa or whatever that we needed to do. We could have done that better with much less spending probably with the 20 million or 25 million instead of the 68 million and obviously the operational costs as well that Brady has just indicated. So just going back that those are just examples of some of the wasteful spending that we have been doing and if we can really get to our core services is the basics that we need to be focusing on what council needs to deliver and going very tight on how we spend our money and giving value for money. That's how we are going to be making things better for all of us and also bringing the rates down. So that's my uh answer at the moment because I exactly don't know how much money is being spent on uh other projects. So need to go deep need to deep dive into some of those things, but at the moment we really really need to be very conscious about how tough it is. So that's the that's my answer.
Moderator: Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. Give them all a big round of applause. Eh, okay, next question.
Prabha Ravi: I'm sorry I didn't stand up and answer that. I should have done that. I'm really sorry about that. Ken just indicated to me that people may be videoing this. So yeah, sorry about that. Next time I'll stand up.
Unidentified Audience Member: Thank you. Whoever becomes mayor is going to be the recipient of years, in fact, a decade of investment not only by Hutt City Council, but by Wellington City Council and government and a major piece of infrastructure that is the Great Harbour Way, a cycling and walking track right around Wellington Harbour that will really change the game for uh tourism, for commuting, and for recreation. How do you think council can contribute to celebrating that achievement and taking advantage of it?
Moderator: Can I have the two ladies this time? All right.
Karen Morgan: Hi, thank you. I think one thing that we talked about is climate change, right? And one of the reasons why that pathway has been created is to sort of mitigate a lot of that and what it is about connecting people. So to have pathways that can connect is actually really important. When you go out and talk to people though, there's some people right now who are feeling that that's not the top priority. They're not too happy that money is going into potentially cycle paths and things and it can actually polarise people. And so I think what we need to be doing is thinking about the future, thinking strategically if we can put these things and start chipping away at making sure we can get these pathways have that wonderful connectedness right into Wellington, how glorious will that be? And I think what we often see is that things aren't great until they're finished. And I talk about the Ni pool now. You know, people are going there and I had a meeting today actually and people were just saying the yells, the smiles, the happiness of all those people using that pool now, which went through a sort of a phase of real real turmoil in in some ways to get to that point. And it was hard. There were hard decisions that had to be made. But with the pathways, I think that is a future and it could mean that we could do so much to help our planet reduce the carbon emissions. All of these things by thinking differently about how we move and how mobile we are and using those pathways as opposed to a car. But we need to start thinking about that now and actively making those pathways available. So I think it's very important. So thank you
Prabha Ravi: for me. Um, cycle ways is really really important but I have a very different view for me. Cycle ways is not the right thing right now. When things are really tough, when people are doing it extremely tough, we have do not we do not have a culture of cycling in the hut. That's the reality. I actually parked my car by the cycle way and I was waiting there for two hours just to see how many cycle passed by. And you're all laughing. You know how many cycles passed by. So there was hardly any cycle that passed by at least in the two hours that I was sitting and watching. Just I know that I'm going to be coming for a debate here and I wanted to make sure that I did some of these things. So cycleways are important, but we are not in Amsterdam yet. We really need to be focusing on the basics. But now that we've got the cycle ways, what we need to be doing is how do we generate a revenue from from the cycle ways that we have already laid. So we need to look at some international trails or cycle trails or some sort of ways that we can generate some income from some of those cycle waste that we've got. But I would definitely not support any new cycle ways right now when our pipes are leaking, when our roads are not in condition, when things are very very tough. Cycle ways is a nice to have at this point. I'm a dancer. I'm all about well-being. I'm all about health and well-being. But this is not the right time for us to lay the cycle way. So, we need to look at ways to make the money, make money, make some money out of the cycle ways. That would be my response to how do we utilise what we've already got.
Moderator: Thank you. Thank you. Now, I did see some of you playing with your green cards. Would you like to Brady Dyer is going to pull out his green card, ladies and gentlemen. Give him a round of applause. Thank you.
Brady Dyer: I feel like your question actually needs to be addressed cos it wasn't actually addressed in any of those answers. What can be done to uh leverage the amazing investment we've had in the great way. Thank you for knocking. Uh there's a few things that the council could be doing. we have Wildfinder around in Eastbourne. They're amazing business hiring out ebikes. They could have a new home at the start of the new shed pathway. I can't wait till next summer to take my daughter at the back of the room on an ebike and do the full circuit, get to Days Bay, get on the electric fury, go across to Wellington and get back here. Uh it's going to be an amazing facility once it's open. We've invested did a lot into the Eastbourne shared pathway. Shared pathway, not cycleway. Uh it's also a sea wall. It's also protecting the road. I don't know if many of you from Eastborne, but I've been around there the last few days for the Eastbourne Community Board. Uh the road would have been closed if the sea wall wasn't there. The sea wall is there to protect the road so people can get in and out of Eastborne, not a cycle way.
Moderator: Okay, more questions. Now, there's lots of Yep.
Alex: My name's Alex. I'm from the Woburn area. I would like to ask the candidates. What is your position regarding the Cross Valley link and the Petone to Grenada link which is part of the government's road of national significance.
Moderator: Awesome. We're going to pass this over to the lads. Go Ken.
Ken Laban: Well, you know, the Hutt City Council is broke. Um, so we need projects, we need money, we need jobs, and we need stimulus. in the economy. Uh, Petone to Granada and the Cross Valley Link will create jobs and create and create opportunities. Um, hopefully from a commercial point of view, the intent is that the money spent on developing those roads will enhance the economic impact of our city will provide a valuable valuable road to employment which hopefully also will add to the GDP spend within our within our city as well. So I see that as a very very valuable part of of our activities going forward. It's money that's it's money that's already been committed but where there's obviously clearly an opportunity for us to grow and develop as a result of being involved with projects of that magnitude.
Moderator: I assume it's Brady.
Brady Dyer: Yes. A fellow lad. thank you for the question. to answer the question, yes, I support the Cross Valley Link and Granada. Uh the government right now has obviously named it as a road of significance as you've mentioned, which means they're paying the bill, which is great for lower heart rate payers, not so good for the taxpayers, but good for the rate payers. the second part is we've already got the money in the budget cuz we thought we were going to fund it, which means that uh this connection can be a bit better because there's no way that National is going to be putting a bus priority lane in there or a pathway or possibly a shared pathway so people can get across the valley. Uh so that's where I see the opportunity of how we can leverage the the money we've already got in the budget uh with the the code co investing alongside the government. The reality is they're doing a business case to see whether the numbers stack up and that will ultimately dictate whether it happens. Uh the council, as you heard, is broke. won't be able to afford to do it without government subsidy. Uh so ultimately, it's a it's a waiting game at the moment to see how that investment case that I hear is uh heading at pace. Once that gets back and lands on my desk, I'll let you know.
Moderator: Awesome. Thanks, guys. Okay. Good. Yes. Oh, Mike's got he's the he is the man with the microphone. So, if you want to ask a question. You need to get Mike's attention. Okay, I did that. Thank you.
Unidentified Audience Member: Now, I feel a bit scared when both the people who sat on the council for quite a few years saying the council is broke. That's that's not what we want to probably hear tonight. We want to see how do we do it better. But I've got a question. Uh you both said on the council when the rates were going up year on year on year higher and higher but decided to vote against it this year which is the election year. So I have a question why voted against it and second thing is you mentioned that the government would be spending on that project that you're talking about. council has got money that were projected towards that project. But on the other hand, we are saying we are broke. We don't want more people to go to Australia. We want you guys to keep us together and give us the hope that we can see a right pathway. So again, the question is you both sat on the council rates were going up every year or year on year, but this year you voted against it. Why is that? Brady, that one's definitely for you. So,
Moderator: Two on the council.
Brady Dyer: Cool. Thank you. The Hutt City Council rates have gone up. Um, not by as much as the regional council though. Um, yeah, I did vote against the rates increase. Yep. The reason I voted against the rates increase this time is water infrastructure is leaving our books 1 July next year. Hutt City Council will not be funding water renewals. I voted against the rate increase and made it very clear. I wasn't saying we shouldn't be doing any rate increase. I wanted to see a single-digit rate increase. I put on the table a way to get to 9.9% rates increase by removing a little bit of depreciation on assets that are leaving our books in a few months time. So that's why I voted against it to answer your question.
Moderator: I'm guessing it's me, right?
Karen Morgan: Yes, it is. Thank you. I just want to say you know and we're not getting nasty here or anything because it's really important but Brady, you only voted against it the 12th hour. Prior to that we were all Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And And if you learn like I have how an annual plan works, how now a long-term plan works and when you're working with these things, we went through months of culling of culling of what can we take away, what can we take away, what can we do. We know it's not okay. We know it's it's not optimum optimum at all. But once you go through that process, you can't wait for the last vote and then vote no. That's not okay. You've got to own it. And I own it. We did our very best at the time with the evidence that we were given Where are we now, though? We do have a new water entity coming. That's going to mean a whole big change. But I also do agree. I mean, Tony's in the room and he's been calling it for a long time and he said no right the way through. So that's that's great. I admire that, you know, but what we've got to do, we do have to do a review. We do have to do a very independent review. So that's no bias and we can all make that really transparent about what does it look like. But if we're going to take if we want something, we might have to take something things away and that's a reality because it's really hard financially right now. So, I hope that answers your question. I did vote for it because of the evidence that came through. That's what we had to do and it wasn't a particularly nice feeling and it's probably one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. But my learning curve in three years has been huge. But you can't just opt out really quickly like that without having the evidence around it. So, thank you. But we will be redressing that. It's on top issue for everyone and it must be more transparent. so that we all have an understanding of what what the costs are. So, thank you.
Moderator: Awesome. Oh, you're starting to get tough, Rotarians. Right. Who's next? Okay.
Pru: can I ask if Ken can answer this?
Moderator: Yes, of course.
Pru: I had a few questions for you, Ken, but you said such nice things about me. I think perhaps I'll just tone it down a bit. But I do want to ask you one thing. Where do you stand? stand on saving the Petone Wharf?
Ken Laban: There's two answers to Pru. If we had the money, we'd save it tomorrow. We don't have the money.
Moderator: Would anyone else like to answer that? Okay, great. No more questions.
Sarah: Hi, I'm Sarah. This is perhaps not going to be the nicest question. So, I just want to say beforehand, sorry, thank you before I say ask my question, thank you so much for uh showing up for putting your head your your name in the hat to to be here. I I really appreciate that and it's been wonderful to listen to everything that you've said tonight for for all four of you. Now, for for uh the selected two people, everybody has enemies. You know, everybody has people who don't get along with them, who don't like what they choose to do. What's something that what's a criticism that people might have about you and how would you counter it? Oh, you know what? I'm not even going to choose who's going to answer that. What? Who's brave enough to tell us the truth?
Moderator: Who would like to go? This isn't
Prabha Ravi: I think the criticism that I won't say criticism but the question that people might have is she's fresh she's new does she know anything about Hutt she's not from our country originally and what does she know about Hutt or uh politics so I just wanted to assure you all that we've got people with experience here for two terms for a term for four terms whatever And we haven't seen the rates drop. We haven't seen a lot of things change. So things have just been the same. So what I will bring is the fresh leadership, a new lens, new thinking, new perspectives and the courage to actually stand up and ask the difficult questions to ensure that every dollar works for us. That is what I will be doing. So the criticism if you are thinking I don't know anything about uh local government. I do know I have been in governance. So governance is a transferable skill. Be it a city council or a public sector board or a local government board, whatever it is, it is governance. Governance is about making sure the organisation is running at its best with a clear plan to deliver what we need to deliver. for our stakeholders and our stakeholders. I hate to say the word stakeholders in local government for our people. So that's what I would be doing. Thank you.
Moderator: All right. Next question.
Peter Low: My name is Peter Low. I want to ask you you people which party or it's a two-part question. Which party are you affiliated with? Secondly, I want to know if you didn't have any money, why did you put a one-way street in Walter Street Naenae, which cost millions of dollars and yet there's no parking. There's a school there. There's churches. There's people that council have, you know, given permission for them to build doublestory houses. There's no parking at all. And you made a one-way street. You're a joke.
Moderator: Well, I don't know if that was a question or a statement. Brady, do you want to answer that? Yeah.
Brady Dyer: The question on which political party am I part of? I'm not part of any political parties. I'm 100% independent. Um, but the project you're talking about on Walter Street uh was a project from the previous Labor government who gave the council the money to do that project to connect up the school to the Beltway, which is an amazing uh facility that runs alongside the river corridor. Uh it's for kids to be able to walk and cycle and and scooter to school safer. the the The big cost of that project was the consultation with the community. It was a requirement of getting the money from the government uh labor government in the previous term that the community had to be bought into this project.
Peter Low: Could I talk to you about the specific project at the end? I'll be sticking around if you want or supplement. That's not the point though, is it? Right now, all the people in that area voted against that. There was one person went voted for it and they belong to the council and what happened? It did the damn job.
Moderator: Okay. Well, anyone else want to answer that? I think we'll move on. Yeah. Okay. Great. Thank you though. Okay. Next question.
Tui Lewis: K. Thank you. Uh Tui Lewis, uh Hutt City Council. we voted in Māori Wards last term. I'd like to know where you all stand on Māori Wards and why.
Moderator: Oh. Let that be answered by Ken and Prabha.
Prabha Ravi: Okay. I do believe in uh Māori represent in fact diverse representation, ethnic representation, diverse representation. All of those are extremely important because only then you will have a very good discussion, debate and different perspectives around the table. However, I think we've got four representatives from the Māori community and who have been elected unopposed. So I'm very very happy with the representation that we've got. For me it is about the people. It is going to a referendum and I will as a mayor do what the people want me to do. I will support whatever the referendum is. So that is my stand on.
Ken Laban: Thank you. It's a very divisive subject. Sarah's question about how much heat we get with just the climate that that we're in now. And in in my lifetime, I've never seen the level of vitriol that's expressed right across various media uh terms, especially on the social media type thing. I do support uh the Māori Wards, but I feel sorry for the people coming ahead in the reality of what it's like trying to be a positive influence in an environment where there's so much negativity and so much division. So that will be that will be a challenging issue. Te Awa Puketapu, those of you who don't know her, she's Kara's granddaughter, Kara Puketapu. The older members of the uh of the audience will know and recognise uh his name. One of the great one of the great leaders historically in our in our area. She's an academic. She's just finished a uh master's degree in English from Cambridge University. she's a very very perceptive, very visionary, and I think she's going to be a tremendous addition to to the Hutt City Council. We wouldn't have had the opportunity to enjoy somebody of that skill and that intellect if it wasn't for the establishment of the Māori Wards.
Moderator: Awesome. And we've got a green card.
Karen Morgan: Look, I've been in education for 30 years and I can tell you categorically that titangi is such an important document that we have really held so strongly in our leadership and our governance and our curriculum and everything that we've done and I think part of the issue when the messages came out about co-governance and what does that look like there was a lot of misinformation put up out there which is most unfortunate. I absolutely believe in Māori Wards. I think they are so important. I I feel they're so that important. I actually went to Parliament and put in a submission with a couple of my colleagues and Andy Mitchell's here today and and it was pretty incredible actually to stand strong and firm in what we really believe in in Aotearoa New Zealand. And I think we've got to be really open and and this is my platform of diversity. Those voices, everyone's voices are so important and Māori voices are critical for me in in this space. So I absolutely think it's absolutely critical to have multi voice. It's very it's going to be so exciting and I think we need more communication though and more information so people really understand what that looks like and are not worried about it or threatened by it through the misinformation that's coming on out there to to people sadly. So yeah, all for it. So thank you to
Moderator: Oh Mike's over here.
Unidentified Audience Member: I would like to thank Brady. He always answers questions at night. He's always available. But my question is, what are you going to do about uh our contractors holding us to ransom? Like a week ago, we had that sleep. There's only two wheelbarrows of dirt on the ground and it took the council nearly 3 hours to clean it up. There's a contractor just right around the corner who could have done it or I could have gone there with a SP. pandmic the amount of cost it I mean it cost the council people and everybody going around the block and we will hold ransom for that the other thing is uh Wellington water which is the same contractor which looks after it there's a water leak right outside in our outside our house it's been there for 4 weeks and it's probably losing more than 10,000 L of water a day cost of making that water putting pumping through the pipes and licking it out there. Why can't they get somebody else to fix it? Why can't a council have a pool of contractors? The cost would be far less to get another contractor to fix it than the amount of water it's lost to make the water. Why is the council just reluctant to use one contractor?
Moderator: Brady, you have all the good ones.
Brady Dyer: K, I thank you for the acknowledgement at the start. Um, there's sort of two parts to your question. The first one is um, if you look at my plan on the wall, I'm really keen to launch a local procurement policy here in Lower Hutt that uh will buy local and build local and employ local staff here in the hut uh for two reasons. One, it means we keep more money in our economy, which is awesome for everyone here. It means that that contractor that will fix that leak that you're talking about will do a sponsorship deal with their local sports team and have their name on the back of kids playing playing sports, which is it's amazing for lower hutt. We can keep more money here. Uh the second part of it is I'm wanting to launch an open interactive dashboard which shows exactly where all the rates money is going. The reality is people don't mind paying rates. They mind when it gets wasted and their mind where they don't know where the rates money is going and they don't see where it's going and they think there's money being wasted on silly things. So plenty of other councils have launched an interactive dashboard where you can really dive into the data and see exactly where your rates money is going and that's something I'm committing to doing in the first six months.
Moderator: that one that question was directly related to Brady. So unless Karen you want to answer that as well? No, you're okay with that. Okay, next question.
Unidentified Audience Member: Hi. you each spoke about the importance of listening to the community and listening to the people and sort of taking in and absorbing what they have to say. I'm from a very small close-knit community in Lower Hutt which often gets ignored and we've been fighting for three years to be listened and no one's listening to us. We've poured thousands of dollars of our own money into lawyers and planners to just be listened to and for our voice to be heard and we're still not being heard. So what I want to know is what are you going to do that's different that means that we will actually be heard? How can you commit to lower hutt as a whole to actually prove that you're going to listen to what people are saying.
Moderator: Awesome. I think I'm going to give each of you a chance to answer that question. So, who would like to go first? Anyone of you can go first.
Ken Laban: Listen, I don't know what your I don't know what your issue is. You You and I have never spoken. I can hear the I can hear the pain and concern in the in the tenor of your words. you get to an age you don't know how to turn the phone on. You're not on your own, mate. all I can commit all I can commit to say is that if if I am fortunate enough to to be the mayor, I think it is on the 11th of October they they count the votes. If you ring me the day after we'll make an appointment. We'll have a cup of tea. I know you want more than a cup of tea.
Prabha Ravi: I am a person generally who listens to everything and uh acts on what it is. I've not had a chance to show you or demonstrate that until now, but I do give a commitment that I will be listening and I'm actually going to different community organisations now and listening and hearing and some of my policies have come out of that listening. So when I say we do need to be looking after our communities, our businesses, parking, everything, I'm actually listening and that's why I've put that uh in my policy. So I will be listening and welcome the opportunity to meet with you should people give me the mandate to be your mayor. Thank you.
Karen Morgan: You want us all to answer? Yeah, thank you. one thing I've been thinking about a lot that I'd like to do straight away if voted in as mayor is actually bring the council team together and actually have us starting to operate more as a team and what that means is meeting regularly. What that means is professional development together. What that means is having portfolios where our councillors actually have to go and be in the community and really at grassroots get to know and hear what's happening in their community. And I think that's where we start hearing and listening. When I go around and talk with people, they don't even know who the councillors are, some of them, and that's actually not okay. You should all know who we are because we're here to represent you and your voices. And so for me, that's a critical space. So when we say listening, listening is about going to where the people are, going to the communities, being in that community, and then understanding what those challenges or great things are, and then being able to represent that and bring that back to the table, bring that back to our planning. bring that into our thinking so that we can actually acknowledge what's going on and then hopefully do something about it collectively together. So, thank you.
Brady Dyer: Kia ora, thank you very much. Um, I have been listening, which is why I'd wage 100 bucks that I know exactly that you're talking about Manor Park. Yeah, thank you. Um, yeah, the reality is we're dealing with a really clunky RMA system that both sides of the house have decided they're going to reform. That will significantly change how the issues you've been dealing with. But I will push back as much as I can hear frustration and and and I know exactly where you're coming from because I've been listening. I'll push back a little bit that we haven't been listening. I'm obviously the chair of the district plan review committee which has been reviewing our district plan which is when we first uh came to life about the issue and the proposal of the council at that stage was to rezone the land to industrial land. Manor park turned up in numbers and I'm sorry I'm not sure if you were there when that when you when you turned up. Uh manor park turned up in numbers and fought a really hard case and the council changed its mind. We notified our plan uh the complete opposite of what we supposed to do before consultation. So, I pushed back a little bit and we didn't listen cuz we literally did a 180 flip after that. Yep. The other stuff is the RMA stuff and that's the stuff I get really frustrated with as a councillor. Yeah, it's that's the stuff I get really frustrated as a councillor because it's it's not our role to get involved in RMA decisions and I get really frustrated about it. Um, but it's also why I'm committing to to continue to listening. It's why I'm coming along to the residents association next Thursday night uh to to listen and keep talking with that community because I know how important this issue is to you. So, thank you.
Moderator: Awesome. Okay, Mike. Okay, Mike's got the microphone. So, just FYI, if you want, there's so many of you wanting to ask questions right now. And I can see and you're looking at me and I'm like, I have no power. Okay. The power is with Mike. All right. So, when you see him, get his eyes going, "Hey, get over here." All right.
Margaret: I'm Margaret from Avalon. You were saying about social media and all that, the Hutt news that probably most of us in this room would have had from when we were kids which has now just been abolished. How do we find out exactly what's happening etc in the council.
Moderator: and we got Brady Dyer.
Brady Dyer: Yeah, this is a really important question and and trust in a council is built by getting good information and with the loss of the Hutt news it's it's really sad. The good news is that Simon Edwards is going to get reelected into the central board and he's going to help us lead the next stage of good community consultation being the ex editor of the hutt news. He doesn't know this yet but I really see that being a really strong leadership role of the council of creating a new way to engage with the community. It's not social media unless you're you're you're doing bad things. The algorithms just don't serve you, the content we need you to see. So, it's about reimagining how we do community consultation. Could be as simple as a newsletter that you subscribe to and you get local news about your suburb and stuff that's important to you. Uh but it's something I'm committing to to doing more of. it's something I've I committed to doing six years ago when I was first elected as a city councillor. Uh it's why I've engaged with 5.5 million people just through my Facebook page. age over that time. Uh, but I know your question isn't just about social media. That isn't the answer. It's part of the answer, but it's not the only answer.
Prabha Ravi: It's really sad that the Hutt News is not there. And I used to read the Hutt News from page one to the end of that page, even including the advertisements and public notices. So, I feel really sad that that's going away. But I would be very, very supportive of any agency wanting to introduce any sort of media publication. in any form which is not necessarily just social media or in the digital form because we have an aging population and we have lot of people who would actually like to read something physically not just on the social media and we need to find ways to do it and then the other other thing that I would also like to talk about is the community panels. We used to have a very good system called community panels and that is not exactly like community board board which is very structured and does things the way it's not an elected board it is an appointed board and we used to have it at different wards and we had people representatives from that particular ward who came along and engaged with people talked about different issues so I think that is one way of engaging with people and getting the news out there but nothing to replace a media a newspaper like hutt news I'm sure all of you will agree with that but small things that we can start initiating to see how can we find the money or raise some funds to do something like that would be a big focus for me. Thank you.
Moderator: Where is Mike? Oh, there he is. Okay.
Val Jennis: Thank you. Hello. My name is Val Val Jennis. I live in very close to Avalon Park because a lot of people here know that I'm very passionate about Avalon Park and what's been going on in it. I'm also very a very keen dog person and bred beagles many years and had met Beagles work for MAF. I was very concerned recently when I understand a meeting went on at the Avlon pavilion that I knew nothing about yet and I live just down the road. I was the one many years ago and I'm proud to admit it that took me seven years to get through council can we walk dogs in Avalon Park on Le seven years. It took another six years recently to get the pedestrian crossing put in that I asked for and got an awful shock the other day when I was speaking to somebody in the council and I said, "Well, look, you know, we need another dog park." The dog park that seven or eight of us pushed and pushed councils for for years ended up in Wui Ma. How many of our councillors live in Wui? Quite a few, I believe. The lower Hutt valley is Wui as well. Of course, it's Wui as well. But the the reality is people come from all over to shop in lower on the weekends particularly and also they go to Patoni. We need a dog. How many thousands of dogs do we have in the Hutt Valley now? Thousands. Hopefully most of them are registered. Mine are. And so we need a dog park where the dogs can run with themselves and not annoy other public. What is the question? And they've got to be chastised a little bit by their owners. Sometimes owners just take start walking, walking away, and just leave all the poo behind them. Not all owners are good owners. I've seen a few in Avalon Park recently who just walk and don't pick up things. I'd like to know also What? So, I'd also like to know that walking the streets a lot as I do. There's a lot of streets I can't walk. I can't walk on slanted streets. I have a disability in my back. I've also had a disability card for 30 years now. I'm finding that lower I was bred and born in Lower Hut. And I'm getting very very disillusioned with having to live here because I live in a state house. And part of the problem is that I'm finding the Avlon Park is the only place I can walk. Yeah, the council provoked were going to kick us out recently. Again, I'm very pleased that we're not, but what is going to be done in the valley and I think it was the lady on the end there that mentioned something about people with disabilities. The footpaths in the whole of the Hutt Valley are on angles in many places and that people in disabilities can't use them.
Moderator: Thank you so much. Can I just So, so I'm really clear. So, two questions. One is around are we going to get a dog park locally and the other one is around disability? Yes. Is that Correct. Kapai. Okay. Yeah. Great.
Karen Morgan: go for it. Okay. I'm going to focus on question two if that's okay. Since I raised it and I think that's really important. I've been doing a lot of work with Wheels and Canes. Some of you may know about this group who look at those who are in need who who can't access things. And I can tell you in the three years now that I've been on the council, my learning has been huge. Until you have an understanding of what someone with a visible or invisible disability looks like. You don't understand how many barriers there are currently for them to be able to access their city. So, exactly what you're saying, people said they can't even get to A to B because of things in the footpath and tripping over. I actually advocated not long last year, I think there was a bus stop where it was all grass. So, for that person who asked me to advocate there was no concrete. How could they even get to the bus stop to get onto a bus? And we'll talk buses are another issue. So, I've been talking with them. One of the things they would like to see happen is an accessibility review of the city. Let's see what does our city actually look like and be transparent around that to say where are the barriers and what can we do because it should be done once a path for instance and done properly. So, I absolutely hear you. It's and and a simple little thing. Sorry, I won't take up too much time but you know the car parks for when you have to get out a wheelchair So many of them are not from the council. I don't believe I think they've got a lens over that currently, but we need a lens every single in every single piece of work we do. We should have an accessibility lens. But there are some that are in places that they they come in with their car. By the time they come out with their wheelchair, they're actually in traffic or in in in harm's way. And so you just think, shouldn't we have a really clear plan around how we do that better? So, thank you for your question. I absolutely agree. We need to address that and look at that and make sure that voice is heard so that we do things better and do them properly. So, thank you.
Moderator: Awesome. Um, does anyone want to answer around the dog park?
Ken Laban: If you put the question about the dog park alongside Pru's question about saving Petone Wharf, alongside I think Peter raised his frustration about the one-way street. That will give you an indication of the dilemma. facing the council with all of these major decisions, all of which are are worthy causes, but in an economic environment that's not really conducive to spending too much.
Moderator: Thanks, Ken.
Bren Anderson: Hi, my name's Bren Anderson. The Hutt City Council is an accredited living wage employer. I want to know your stance on living wage employment for the council and that it extends to all your contractors. and so therefore would be included in any procurement plan. Hutt City Council can be very proud of the fact that they're a living uh living wage accredited employer and it also includes contractors as well. They're very specific about it's one of the things I checked in the leadup to to to these elections Not everybody's uh not everybody is in that category, but you know when we talk about the cost of living and we talk about how how much of a challenge it is being a living wage credit employer like the Hutt city council is something to be respected and admired.
Brady Dyer: I'll just give a quick plug. Yes. I voted to become a living wage accredited city and will continue that if I become the mayor.
Moderator: Green card.
Karen Morgan: Yes, you can you can just answer that. Might be the end of my green cards but it's okay. Thank you, Barl, for your question. I just want to say part of being a Hutt city councelor when I resigned from being a principal, I feel like I've really given my energy to do the best that I can to represent our city. And one of the things was living wage. And so, as a principal, I made sure we were at living wage. And what I've been doing over the last year and a half is actually working with the living wage team uh to actually go out and talk to schools or link with schools to get as many schools into this pledge because that was an avenue I could. But wouldn't it be wonderful if we could do more living wage and have that across the city. That would be phenomenal. Um, so I just want to say that that's an area that I believe is so important considering the pressures that are on so many families and I support it 100%. So thank you.
Prabha Ravi: Do you want to answer you get it back? I support Hutt City Council being a level living wage employer as well. So definitely I do support But when I look at some of the businesses very very small businesses when they are doing it extremely tough and even to pay their bills it could be a dilemma for them to to pay the minimum wage or the living wage. So I would I empathise with some of those businesses but as far as that city council is concerned I do support that we should be a willing living wage employer. Thank you.
Moderator: Awesome. Awesome.
Kaz: Kia ora koutou .... my name is Kaz. well done to you all four of you for stepping into this space and being here. Um, and I'm hoping that MID might indulge me in my question because I'd love to hear the answers for all four of them. Um, recognising that um, you know, council decisions are not just for the now but well down into the future. Um, and with the very few tamariki in the room, I'm really mindful of there's a lot of voices not in this room. Um, so my question to you is what is your vision for year 2100?
Moderator: Do you want a couple of minutes? You want to go? All right. All four of you can answer. Not a green card.
Prabha Ravi: Yeah. I I would like to start. I I've always spoken to I've spoken to a lot of businesses and I've shared my vision. I would love to see Hutt as the centre of excellence for manufacturing and technology. That's my big vision for our city. I think we've got some amazing companies already in Gracefield and Windgate and they are doing a lot of amazing work and we are pushing above our weight, punching above our weight to really position ourself uh in in a in a spot where we can call ourselves a centre of excellence for manufacturing. So the council should be doing everything possible to attract these manufacturing companies and technology companies to the hut. It gives employment, it brings skilled people, it brings professionals to the city. And our city is going to be thriving lot more with the river link and all other projects that are going to be focused on if we make our heart a centre of excellence. That one vision, that one change could bring a lot of difference to our city. So that's my vision to make heart a twin city to Wellington. Wellington is all about white collar jobs and uh let them deal with the policy, let them deal with all of the things that they need to be dealing with and we can become a really fantastic IC manufacturing and technology hub for the whole country. Thank you.
Brady Dyer: Thanks guys for the question. yeah, 2100 a long way away but it's also not that far away. So sorry for the bad news. 2100 I look ahead and I just see a city that is full of opportunity. Uh there is so much innovation happening right here in Lower Hutt. Uh there's rocket parts being built in Gracefield right now uh that are on their way to the International Space Station because they are worldleading in what they do. We have so many amazing things happening in the Hutt behind roller doors and we can lean into that. so much more. We also have so many amazing uh tech exports which are a weightless export which is really good when you're really far away from everyone else in the world. Also some really small uh uh uh exports. I was down at Auto Tech diagnostics down in C view. They export 46 g of product every year for hundreds of millions of dollars that comes right back here into the hut. So we need to be embracing these businesses more. So people like my daughter at the back of the room have opportunities here uh to grow and to learn and to study. And it's a city where people can get around without barriers. It's a city where everyone has a warm, safe, dry house. house. I mean, it's a city when Scarlet's 86 years old in the year 2100, I won't be around. Uh, but she'll be raising a family and it'll be in the best city in New Zealand.
Ken Laban: It's a tough question, Kaz. Um, I do remember I did one term on Hutt City Council 2010 when Tony Stellinger was the chief executive and we were doing these various community workshops and I recall that when do you remember when the DSR was at the bottom of the Wainui Hill on the left of Gracefield. Um, an unintended consequence of the DSIR being located there was that there were more PhD graduates and more science graduates living in Wainuiomata than in any other suburb of New Zealand which was a direct result of all the scientists that were working at the DSIR. And I just well Brady was answering the question and I was just and I recall at the time I don't know whether it was Google then or whatever but I I went on an exercise to try to find the most educated city in the world. And uh where that where that city was and it was a city in America that had the most number of college graduates. And I I remember being involved in a conversation, you know, I know we're just kind of blue light. I'm just thinking thinking out aloud, but we had a number of conversations around what our city would look like if it had a reputation of being the number one place in New Zealand to educate your kid. And that the children who went to school anywhere in the Hutt would most likely to go to university and graduate with a degree. That might sound like pie in the sky until I checked on a thing and there are actually cities that measure themselves that way. So if we were to we look to something bold cares for the future an educated engaged city I think would be on the agenda of that conversation and to an educator.
Karen Morgan: Thank you. Oh that's a big one. where do you start unpacking that? And I guess when I always think strategically, it's about back mapping. So if we want this over here, how do we get there? And that's part of I guess why we're standing now and what we're all about. So one thing, climate change, I know Kaz, we've had a conversation about a citizens assembly. Are we going to be prepared and have a resilient city so we're ready to go in 2110 or whatever that looks like? And that work starts now. are we going to have our science and innovation hub here for our to employ local and look after locals and have a do an incredible, you know, network going on with our companies here, our businesses, manufacturing. What does that look like? We actually want our children who are born here to stay here and get jobs here. And that's really important. So that to me would be our vision that everyone is here. It's thriving. It's buzzy. It's busy. There are connected pathways where and shared pathways that we can go from A to B very easily. But also what's fundamentally important that we've got a safe city that we are able to talk to our neighbours, that we are prepared for any emergency that might come our way, and we've got all these things in place to look after each other, support each other, and navigate any anything that may come our way. And we actually look after each other. Um, quick story I'll just say right now around safety is that, you know, I went to a business the other day and they had had a theft and these people had taken some things and I went in actually Not long after, what had happened is the parents of that the the children sadly who took those things had gone in and abused that owner of that business. And I went in just as that had happened and he was actually starting to cry and I had to actually shed a few tears with him and I said, "Oh my goodness, now for me those things are really important. Those things should not be happening here. That is not okay. That is not hutt. that is not Aotearoa that we know. And so back mapping here, there's a lot of things we need to change to get to our optimum what is 2100 look like where we treat each other with absolute respect. We're a flourishing city where we want the very best for each other with the education and pathways and that we are supportive of those pathways and making that happen.
Unidentified Audience Member: Uh kia ora. I'm cheating and getting a second question and sorry about that. Um, citizens assemblies were just mentioned and that was my question. Uh, is there any interest from you four in establishing citizens assemblies that tackle the big the big issues in the Hutt valley. And for those of you who are unsure about citizens assemblies, just Google it and you'll see what it's all about. But I think it's time has come and I'd like to know your thoughts. on that.
Moderator: I'm going to open that up to anybody and Brady's ready to go.
Brady Dyer: Cool. It's on my plan over there. Number seven. Citizens Assemblies are amazing. They're really good for tackling really big issues. As I said before at the start of this meeting, we've got some really big issues in front of us. Climate change, climate mitigation is a really big issue. Uh one that I'm pretty keen to use it for is amalgamation. It's a really big complicated question. Uh I'll touch on it really quickly rather than waiting for Google on what citizens assemblies are. It's basically a random group of people from around the area that you're you're talking about that come together for usually a couple of days. They bring in all the experts from all sides of all sides of the the the arguments. Uh they put all the information in front of them. They feed them. They drink them uh not alcohol drunk. give them coffee. they pay them as well. It's not usually a lot. You don't you don't do it for that. You do it. It's almost like jury service for your city. Uh but it's usually about 100 to 200 residents that come together for a sole purpose of of fixing a single issue. Uh so you're absolutely committed to using it sometime in the next 3 years. Uh reality is we need to start talking about amalgamation. don't know how big, how little, how small, all of us just up, who knows? But I think it's a an issue that the citizens assembly could tackle.
Karen Morgan: You want us all to answer it? I don't you don't all have to, but if you'd like, I'll just I'll just You've already heard that I'm very open to citizenship assemblies. And what's important is that it's coming from once again grassroots level, ground level of people who come in and it it provides an evidence-based approach to making decisions. And I think that's what we need as a council continually go back to the evidence. What is the actual evidence telling us so we can make informed decisions? So, absolutely, particularly with things like climate change and the big issues. Yep. Very supportive.
Prabha Ravi: Um, anything to listen to people that's that's the most important thing in any form. Is it cit if it is citizens assemblies or it is advisory groups or is it people coming together to give us expert knowledge or insights into what's going on. That's going to be very helpful for big issues. Obviously, citizens assembly sounds like a great idea and uh we should be doing that more often. I haven't been involved in one, so I'm not able to really understand how it all works, but I would Google and find a little bit more about it. But, I've been participating in lot of the advisory groups and I've always valued that to be uh providing input into some of the major decisions as well. within community groups. Thank you.
Ken Laban: There's already a Pura uh citizens assembly group. uh Barbara, I don't know if you've heard uh yeah under helmet and they that paper was at regional council today and they were at public submissions a few weeks a few weeks ago. It's interesting we have that discussion about citizens assembly in the context of community boards disappearing and a democratic process come. So I guess of citizens assembly is going to be the next invention of that and it and it has got good people with good ideas to uh make the future better for everybody then I think it's going to be a good thing.
Moderator: Does that answer it? Sort of. You feel like I fed it off. All right. Over.
John: Hi, I'm John. I live in Belmont. Uh the council recently a few months ago sent us a letter to say that we're in a high erosion or slip zone and I thought, "Oh gosh. I'm going to have to move down to the flat, but I can't do that either because the lower valley is in a flood zone. So, a where are people supposed to live? Um, but on that, uh, the Riverlake project, as I understand, is to stop a 440year flood. Is that roughly correct? So, therefore, all those people in the lower valley that are living in Alicetown, Petone, Gracefield, Eastbourne surely are not going to flood in our lifetime. So therefore, why all of those uh council records that show that we're in a flood zone should be removed once that's built so that everyone's insurance will be cheaper. Will that happen? And if it doesn't happen, why are we doing Riverlink?
Moderator: So candidates, go Karen.
Karen Morgan: Thank you for that that question. I'm not trying to fob this off either, but Let's just talk insurance right now. So insurance companies right now from my understanding of being in the council for three years and learning a lot is they get different you know the maps that they're using and they are making decisions right now that impact all of our insurances based on what they know. So there's that we know for a fact that insurance is out of the roof. It's it's crazy. And I've even been in a house here in Lower Hutt and they refused I've had Tower I'll just say it who said your your insurance is stopping. I always paid my bills. I did everything. But they stopped insurance. Why? Because of the flood risk. And so I had no control to do anything about it. So that's happening now. It's happening across Hutt Valley sadly. What can we do about it? there's a couple of things you raised about the thing uh with the upstairs, but as far as the flood plan goes, we are trying to mitigate anything happening here, but we are always going to be on a flood plane. That's not going to change. So, we just have to look at how are we moving forward protecting our people and those homeowners to the best of our ability. And I know there's changes coming through with consents, etc. So, houses will be raised, etc. So, all I can say is we have to be we h we have to acknowledge that we're in a flood plane. It's not going to go away. What matters is mitigating that risk to the best of our ability uh and in our processes and in our decisions.
Moderator: Would anyone else like to answer it? So, we're actually going to change the game a little bit. Would anyone else like to answer that question? You don't have to. And we're going to go to the next question. So, whanau, we've got approximately 15 minutes before we wrap up tonight. I know. So, if you want your question asked. So, therefore, I'm going to change the game in the sense you're going to listen to the questions candidates and then you can make a choice if you want to answer it or not. Okay? So, these will be your last opportunities to talk to these amazing humans here at Rotary and Mike has all the power. Who's the next person?
Diane: Hi, I'm Diane and I live locally. I was able to walk here, which is really good. No need to park. Um, my question is about the water situation that we have heard quite a lot about over the past couple of years and And we have heard that there was a huge amount of cost associated with the water and that basically in the Wellington region we were being ripped off and this was supposed to have been overseen by council. So why were we being ripped off and why do we trust you that we will not get ripped off by somebody else while you're not looking.
Ken Laban: Well, that pretty much sums it up. Um, and she's 100% right. Um, that's been that's been the big concern from a governance level is, you know, what does oversight mean when things go wrong? And, um, you know, ripped off as an appropriate term for some of the charges that were uh that were leveled to to us over the over the course of time. at the Riverlink uh project, one of the questions that gets asked nearly every day are the safeguards and other checks in place so that it's not uh so that it's not replicated. have we done enough to hold the people to account uh who should have found those that overcharging earlier? Who's who should be held accountable for that? Should it be governors? Should be the chief executives? At the time it's been I think it came up and uh not many people were ing the scale uh of it. But, you know, I guess it's just another example if you're going to serve in public office uh like some of us are about the importance of being vigilant and making sure we have oversight, especially over over major projects. Uh the River Link, well, in our lifetime, it's going to be the biggest project ever. and not for the first time in various environments that I've been in where the issues been raised. Should we be looking to try and chip money away from from Riverlink given the size of But then, you know, we then have the debate over, well, what value do you place on life and what value do you place on safety? So, again, it's just one of those ongoing dilemmas for those of us, you know, that aspire to be in these leadership roles, but you're 100% right. Uh, they were asked to fix things. Uh, they overcharged, they got away with it for a couple of years before it was detected. Um, maybe we might be a chance to get the money back, but I doubt it.
Brady Dyer: Uh, thank you for the question. Um, wasn't 100% correct. Um, if you actually read the report rather than just the headline, which is intended to scare you because that's what the media loves to do. The actual report that said per kilometre of pipe, we are charged charged three times more than other cities. That's cuz our network sucks because it hasn't been invested in. It's at the end of its life and it needs a lot of work. When you when you close a road uh to fix the pipes, it costs money to traffic management out. And the problem with an aging network is when you fix that pipe and fix that hole right there, the pressure on the rest of the pipe now builds up and now there's another hole here and then another hole there. So over a kilometre of pipe, yes, cost three times this amount. But the actual report didn't say we were being overcharged. It actually said we're being undercharged for the actual fixes. It was just that over per kilometre of pipe, there was a lot more cost. Uh but to talk to your question about how you can trust us with water going forward because there should have been better oversight uh with Wellington water in general. Yesterday we've signed off uh the transitional plan for the Wellington region to move to a new water entity. It takes the good bits from Wellington water and it purposely leaves the bad bits of Wellington water behind and we're creating a new entity It starts on 1 October this year and by 1 July next year they will be charging houses directly for water. It will not come through the council which means you'll get your rates bill. If I'm the mayor I'll have a massive drop in rates but then you'll get your next piece of paper which will be from the water entity which will be an increase in rates. So I'm not going to stand here and promise you we're going to drop rates by heaps cuz the reality is households don't care which piece of paper they're looking at. But you need a M that's going to run up and actually cut the rates because you're going to get another invoice from the new water entity. It's in the approximately 20 to 30%. It's still Yeah, it's still being worked through because the the issue with three waters as much as it's three waters is actually if I'm the mayor. Yeah. Yeah. The calculations still being worked out because as much as it's three orders, it's more like two and a half. The storm water, a lot of that will still stay with the art city council. So, your rates will still need to be funding part of the storm water network. But the storm network is very complicated. Can we get the mic turned out? It's going crazy. Um, the storm network is very a very complicated system. Some of it is pipes, some of it is pumps, some of it is just creeks and and waterways leading into the the Hutt river. So, it's a very complicated system. So, some of that will still be responsible for, some of it we won't, and those details haven't been worked through yet. So, we don't know the exact figure, but it will come out in the next few months.
Moderator: Okay. Um, Mike, I have a question here that um, so question from me should not for me from Simon Should the council have extended parking pay parking to Jackson Street Petone? Should the council have extended pay parking to Jackson Street Petone?
Brady Dyer: The reality is pay parking is a very controversial uh thing in our city. The reality is we spend hundreds of millions of dollars on transport in our city and pay park makes up a tiny tiny tiny part of that. Uh the the flip side is that when you put paid parking to places like Jackson Street, it does have some impact on the businesses. There's that's a fact. But the reality is also right now businesses are struggling. I've been uh doornocking at Avalon all week and the businesses there are struggling just as much. And we know from the F boss spend and the data we've seen that this isn't a Jackson Street Petone issue. This is a New Zealand issue right now that people are struggling out there right now. People do not have as much money to spend. They're not going out and spending at the cafes. And it's not just a paid parking. It's we've been seeing record number of businesses closing down, but the reality is paid parking does have an impact and I'm keen to look at that. But the reality is if we got rid of paid parking, say in the CBD or dropped it to a dollar an hour, uh the rates would have to go up to fund it. That's a fact. You can't do both. It's one or the other.
Prabha Ravi: This is a this is a topic I'm really really passionate about because every single business that I've spoken to have complained about paint parking and how their business has dropped. by 30 40%. There are a lot of people coming from outside of Lower Hutt who come to Jackson Street often to have a good time to have a kai or walk around and do things and they've stopped coming. People are telling me that we've stopped coming because parking is the parking fee is a barrier. I think we are going penny wise pound foolish here. We are spending on so many big things, wasting money and we are penalising our businesses which should not be happening. We need to be thinking long term here. If our businesses are thriving and they are doing really really well, they're going to employ more people. We're going to have a lot of people getting to the Hutt CBD and to Petone Jackson Street and making sure that these businesses are going to be thriving, not just surviving. At the moment, they are not even able to survive. Businesses are considering closing shop and I don't think that is a good idea at all. So we need to think long term. It's going to give jobs. It's going to help businesses and they will be paying rates. If they're doing very well, they're going to be paying rates to the Hutt city as well. So we need to be thinking all the benefits when businesses do well in those streets. And we have to remove barriers. As a council, the commitment that I'm giving is to remove barriers for businesses to thrive on Jackson Street, on High Street, on all the places where it actually matters. So I'm a big advocate of and bringing the parking fee down uh first hour and weekends free and $1 uh from the second hour onwards.
Karen Morgan: I'll just say a quick few words on that. I actually went up and down Jackson Street because that's that's what's on top right now. Some very upset businesses and spoke to every business that I could. It was a kind of a 4060 split. 40% said actually it's okay. It's not impacting my business because what was happening is a lot of the businesses had people parking there all day and that meant people couldn't go and park there actually and so that's changed that. However, there's another 60% where it really is impacting and I know that some of us actually mooted for half an hour or an hour free before the parking charges came in. So when I'm talking to people grassroots level now we're we're you know navigating this space and we're saying what could it look like if it was half an hour and what I'm hearing is actually that would be way better than what it is now. That would mean people could drop off, go and pick something up, come back in the car, and not worry about a $70 fine, which is just not okay for so many people right now. So, for me, I think we can look at it. I think we could bring it up again because once again, we've got to listen to the people and there's a lot of people out there telling me that it's not okay. So, thanks.
Moderator: Oh, we got a question. One, I think you're our last question. Yeah.
Unidentified Audience Member: We talk about a city that you want to get around uh easily without interruption. We talk about uh emissions reducing emissions etc. Uh two questions actually. One first for the audience. How many here are in favour of Jutter bars? Put your hand up if you are okay. We got about three people. I've got 20 vehicles on the road and uh my uh we have to replace their brake shoes more often and And my fuel consumption has gone up cuz we speed up, we slow down. Uh my eyesight isn't as good as it was 20 years ago and uh you get close up to the Jutter bars and last Oh jeee, there's a sign there. it should be back a bit, but uh we've got a Jutter bar in Taita and we got another one a taita drive, should I say? Another one on High Street and they're collapsing. what one of you councillors are brave enough? You say you're listening to the people. I saw about maybe eight people that put their hand up are brave enough to remove them.
Moderator: Who wants to take on that question? Well, you'd like to take on that question.
Audience member: Sorry, I get your points about fuel consumption and other things with your business and brake shoes and so on, but I also think about Jutter bars and how it's used as a safety measure sometimes in streets to stop boy races. I know of examples of that, but also in pedestrian crossings where there are uh children and others and I'm someone who quite often also hits a jutter bar with a bump and you can hear the tools in the back of my car bouncing cuz I've gone up too fast and have recently noticed and probably should have noticed far long ago the speed limits on each of the Jutter bars and they vary too as to what they are. I wouldn't get rid of them. I think We do have to be judicious in our placing of them, but I certainly wouldn't be removing them all.
Prabha Ravi: I think pretty much you summed it up because I I do believe that it needs to be really looked at where we need to put and how many do we put. It's just way too much in some places which is annoying everybody and also it is damaging the cars as he pointed out. So I do agree that and it's way too much at the moment. So, we do need to remove it in some places. And for boy racing, I would think we should have a dedicated place to see where we could we could get them to do it. I know that it may not happen, but definitely we need to find a place where we need to dedicate a place for boy racing and not put it on Fraser Park just outside Fraser Park when people are trying to get to the park to pick up their kids and all of those sorts of things. It's quite a bit annoying actually. Um, So we need to be seeing in what distance we are laying it and how many we are laying it as well.
Brady Dyer: Look, I think there is a time and a place for for race crossings and and speed humps what you're talking about. Ironically, the lady next to you actually advocated very strongly for the one Avalon Park which is now there which is now a much safer crossing for people to get from the bus stop to the park. Took a while I know three. Yes. the other the reality is raised crossings are safer and we use them in certain places where we want a higher level of safety. It's usually around schools or places where lots of kids are uh walking distance from here. Someone was fatally killed on a crossing. That was not a raised crossing. Not to say if it was it was raised that would have changed the outcome, but raised crossings, it's a fact. They are safer for pedestrians to cross the road.
Moderator: Okay, friends and family, I think we're going to bring our night to the end. So, what I'd love to do is invite the candidates to give us 30 seconds as to why if we are to leave with one single message about you tonight. What should that single message be?
Brady Dyer: I'm hoping I can bend the rules just a little bit. Um, obviously the four main candidates are up here at the front of the room. We also have a bunch of candidates that are standing for many other positions uh in the current local government elections. I'm just wondering if you can get them all to stand up really briefly just so people can see their faces. Uh, you might have already made up your mind who you're voting for mayor, but there's other people in this room that are also going to want your vote. So, can I just get all the other candidates? We won't we won't name who they are, but um, yeah, there's a few for regional council, a few citywide, a few central ward. So these are the other people, Glenda, Tony. Yeah. yes, if you want to have a talk to some other candidates, these are the guys that are in the room. Kaz, thank you so much for coming out tonight. This is an awesome crowd. You've set the bar very high for the very first uh candidate evening. So thank you all to you guys for coming out and showing up. Uh look, I'm I'm I'm experienced. I'm creative. I love to think outside the box. I've run my own businesses for 20 years and I've got six years experience on the council. I'm ready to step up to the plate and with your support, I would love to be the next Mayor.
Ken Laban: In a civil and free society, if we can't help the many that are poor, there's not much we can do for the few that are rich. Responsibilities that we have in positions of governance and leadership is understanding the full governance of our responsibility. If I get the opportunity to be uh to be your mayor on behalf of our city, I will certainly do my best to make hutt city a better place. Thank you very much.
Prabha Ravi: Thank you all for coming today. That's really great to receive so many questions and you've given us some food for thought as well. As your mayor, I would bring fresh independent leadership, bring the grit that is needed to be bold and courageous to bring the financial discipline and do what is core services for our people. Deliver it very well and deliver it effectively. Bringing the cost down and making sure it works for all of you. That's what I will be bringing as your mayor. Thank you, Koutou.
Karen Morgan: Um, as I started tonight, it is about leadership and what does leadership look like? It's about bringing a team together and a team of really diverse people with different expertise. And then it's about bringing a bigger team to listen to those expertise, to listen to the people, to listen to what we need as a city. So for me, it's about being strong. as a leader being steady, being cool, calm, collected. We've got a lot of things to navigate, but it's about listening to our direction and where we're going, but listening to what is important right now because right now there are a lot of things that we need to look at the room. You've had some fantastic questions today and it's quite challenging being up here, but really good that you've had an opportunity to talk to us about what's on top for you. So, for me, it is about social cohesion. It is about our businesses. It is about listening to diverse voices and doing that collectively together in a really connected way for the betterment of our city. So, thank you.
Moderator: Um, I just want to make one acknowledgement to these four very brave candidates who regardless of which one of you becomes our new mayor, you have a massive, massive job ahead of you. And so, we take our hats off to you. One more big round of applause, please.