Residents and Ratepayers of the Taupo District should be reading this draft Joint Management Agreement. I have attached a full version at the end of this article.
This agreement has been introduced by the Taupo District Council and was to be voted on at the end of July, without any input from the residents of our district, to be in force forever without the right to be terminated.
I would urge you to read what the actual agreement says, think for yourself and then ask yourself would you be happy to sign this in its current form? I don’t think so.
Here are just 4 points that are being glossed over and need to be understood.
s33(g) section 33 RMA transfer of powers;
Under this section powers of the council can be transferred to Tuwharetoa. Now, where this is appropriate it is perfectly fine. Water monitoring has already been transferred with this mechanism from Waikato Regional Council. But this agreement is actively looking to transfer ‘appropriate powers’. Whatever appropriate means.
129. The partners commit to working together to investigate opportunities to transfer any one or more of the Council’s functions, powers or duties under the RMA to the Trust Board, including:
(a) having section 33 transfers as a standing agenda item for the meetings of the Joint Committee;
(b) actively encouraging Council and Trust Board staff to identify and raise matters for which a section 33 transfer might be appropriate; and
(c) maintaining a register for Council and Trust Board staff to record those matters and reasons for their view, for review at the meetings of the Joint Committee.
Meaning, it becomes a standing order for council staff to look for powers to transfer and making the transfer of powers an overriding and standing order of this agreement.
116. If Trust Board staff and Council staff agree an amendment to any plan, bylaw or other document is desirable, Trust Board staff and Council staff will:
(a) agree the timeframe and process for reviewing and amending the particular plan,
bylaw or other document;
(b) co-draft the content of the amendment; and
(c) jointly recommend the amendment to the Trust Board and the Council.
What this paragraph spells out is that if council staff (not its elected members) and Trust Board staff agree to pretty much anything to be reviewed, it will be reviewed. The amount of time and council resource this will take up is anyones guess.
164. There is no right to terminate this agreement.
And to top it all off, there is NO way back from this agreement. No wonder it got abandoned by the last set of councillors in election year. I know this is a long document to read, but I urge you to read it and not read the PR spin being put out.
