With no residents stepping up to speak in the public forum at last Wednesday’s meeting at Port Chalmers Town Hall, the board was free to get on with nuts-and-bolts planning for the year ahead.
This included adopting a meeting schedule for 2021, and discussing the possibility of sending a board member to the Community Board Conference in Gore in April.
In association with the conference, boards have been invited to nominate board members for the Community Boards Outstanding Awards.
Chairwoman Francisca Griffin put forward the motion that long-serving West Harbour Community Board member Jan Tucker be nominated for her efforts, which was unanimously supported by the board.
With a board workshop planned for discussion of updates to the West Harbour Community Board Long Term Plan 2018-28, little was said about the plan at the meeting.
In answer to questions, board member Duncan Eddy described for his colleagues how litter monitoring continues on both sides of Otago Harbour by national conservation organisation Sustainable Coastlines.
The results of the surveys are posted online at sustainablecoastlines.org.nz
Street maintenance was also briefly discussed by the board, but was set aside for consideration at the upcoming workshop.
In her report to the board, Ms Griffin described the successful Junk to Joy community rubbish day event, held in late January with Port Chalmers and District Lions, in the Watson Park car park.
"The skips were almost full by the end of the day, which was good to see," she said.
Ms Griffin also told the board the Albertson Ave Beautification Project had been very successful and thanks to the effort of UpFront, was looking "really nice".
Maintenance on the site would get a boost on February 22, when 10 student volunteers from Carrington College were set to spend two hours weeding and tidying.
Reporting to the board on Vision Port Chalmers, Mrs Tucker highlighted the Explore Dunedin booklet, and the creation of a new website focused on the area, portchalmers.com
Planning was also under way for a shoppers’ day in Port Chalmers in the next few weeks, she said.
The meeting concluded with board members perusing designs for 3000 "Know Your Neighbours" flyers, to be funded by the board and distributed to as many West Harbour households as possible.
The aim of the flyers is to encourage residents to ensure they can contact their neighbours in times of emergency.
