School visit
Pupils and staff from Broad Bay, Portobello and Macandrew Bay Schools had a chance to see democracy in action during a visit to the Otago Peninsula Community Board meeting.
The pupils were able to see practical workings of local governance and civic engagement as they watched the board progress through its agenda.
Chairman Paul Pope welcomed the visitors and during the meeting explained how the board dealt with "all sorts of things".
"I like to just say it’s poos, parks, and pipes.
"So we deal with the sewage, and the water, and the roads, and speed limits, and dog control, and signage, and all those other little annoying things that people get frustrated with."
"But we also do some other bits and pieces around planning, around what we think the community needs, and providing that information back to council."
Funds for toilets, museum, school
The community board approved $2300 towards costs to complete upgrades to bathrooms at Scott Hall. The Scott Hall Society has raised more than $19,000 towards the $25,000 project which included replacing toilets and sinks, adding heating and hot water, upgrading walls and floors and adding hand dryers.
The board also granted $2000 to Portobello School to enable its Parihaumea Māori performance group to buy new uniforms, and $1000 to the Otago Peninsula Museum Historical Society to help with costs of installing a heat pump in the main building.
The remaining funds of $492 from the boards’ annual allocation was granted to the Portobello Volunteer Fire Brigade towards costs of batteries for AED devices.
Dog control submission
The board will make a submission to the Dunedin City Council’s Dog Control Bylaw and Dog Control Policy review.
In particular the board will focus on what proposed changes may be made regarding dogs at beaches, and how dogs on the shared pathway Te Aka Ōtākou may be approached.
