Her Worship the Mayor presented her report (A2370921), which she tabled.

Resolved CL/2020/021

That the Council

1.       Receives the Mayor’s Report.

Courtney/Edgar                                                                        Carried

Attachments

1    Mayor's Report - 9 April 2020 Extraordinary Council meeting

Resolved CL/2020/022

That the Council

1.    Receives the report Update on the impact of COVID-19 and Council's response (R16944).

Her Worship the Mayor/McGurk                                                  Carried

Ms Harrison and Ms McDonald answered questions regarding, social capital, criteria, the rates remission policy and payment plans.

Resolved CL/2020/023

That the Council

2.    Notes that officers will remit rates penalties on the 2019/20 fourth rates instalment under the Rates Remission Policy using ‘compassionate grounds’ or where an agreed repayment programme is in place.

Sanson/Edgar                                                                          Carried

Ms Harrison answered questions regarding the effect on future rates levels.

Discussion took place on the rating increase scenario to be reported back to the next Council meeting and the uncertainty in these extraordinary circumstances. It was noted the Long Term Plan process would be the time to review service levels and that community input would be required. This was not business as usual, it was about Council’s response to supporting the community in this emergency.

Following discussion regarding the level of staff resources required to report on multiple scenarios, a further report on a zero percentage rating scenario was agreed and the recommendation was amended accordingly.

Resolved CL/2020/024

That the Council

3.    Notes that officers will report back to the next Council meeting, on a rating scenario of 0% for 2020/21; and;

4.    Agrees that the consultation period for the 2020/21 Annual Plan be extended to 6 May 2020, to enable the public to provide feedback on an appropriate rates rise. 

Edgar/Noonan                                                                          Carried

Group Manager Infrastructure, Alec Louverdis, answered questions regarding inner city parking and the Parking and Vehicle Control Bylaw.

Resolved CL/2020/025

That the Council

5.    Approves the suspension of charges for parking in the Central Business District until the end of June 2020; and

6.    Notes that steps may be required under the new Parking and Vehicle Control Bylaw, that comes into effect on 1 July 2020, to address the likely delay in installation of the new parking machines due to the COVID-19 shutdown

McGurk/Courtney                                                                      Carried

Ms Harrison answered questions regarding lease and licence income and payment plans. She confirmed that private tenants should have conversations with their landlords. Clause 8. of the recommendation was amended to clarify that this decision related only to Council tenants.

Resolved CL/2020/026

That the Council

7.    Notes the decision by the Chief Executive to grant a three month waiver starting 1 April 2020 of:

a.    Rental and outgoings for tourism and hospitality tenants/licensees holding Council leases and licences; and

b.    Rental for community tenants holding leases and licences; and

8.    Notes that the Chief Executive will consider any requests from other Council tenants/licence holders, including taking into account financial hardship.

Her Worship the Mayor/Rainey                                                   Carried

Acting Group Manager Community Services, Mark Preston-Thomas answered questions regarding events funding and future events.

Resolved CL/2020/027

That the Council

9.    Agrees that officers will discuss timing of the Fringe Festival with the organisers; and

10.  Notes that the Light Nelson Festival will be considered as part of the Annual Plan deliberations; and

11.  Notes that the 2020 Nelson Arts Festival is cancelled; and

12.  Agrees to invite a proposal from the Arts Festival Trust to replace the cancelled Arts Festival with local events involving regional partners; and

13.  Notes that the April 2020 Heritage Festival has been cancelled; and

14.  Notes that the Annual Plan deliberations report will include recommendations for the Events Fund and Venue Hire Fund; and

15.  Notes that Council-delivered events will be reviewed and adjusted as necessary during the COVID-19 recovery period.

O'Neill-Stevens/Bowater                                                            Carried

The Chief Executive answered questions regarding the proposed amount of funding. He noted that this was crisis funding to help keep community groups going, but that Council did not have enough money to help everyone and groups would need to apply for any available government funding.

It was agreed that funding criteria be reported to the next Council meeting and the recommendation was amended accordingly.

Resolved CL/2020/028

That the Council

16.  Approves an Emergency Fund of $200,000 to support community organisations impacted by COVID-19; and

17.  Delegates the setting of criteria and  distribution of funds to support community organisations from the Emergency Fund to the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the Chair of the Community Services Committee, with the criteria to be reported to the next Council meeting; and

18.  Notes that the criteria for granting funds from the Emergency Fund will include that the organisation has applied for any applicable Central Government support, for example wage subsidies.

Sanson/Noonan                                                                        Carried

A correction was made to change 2021/22 to 2020/21 in the recommendations.

Mr Mark Preston-Thomas answered questions regarding the risk of over subscription for the fund.

Resolved CL/2020/029

That the Council

19.  Agrees to remove the $5000 cap on Community Investment Fund applications in 2020/21; and

20.  Agrees to modify the criteria for Community Investment Fund applications in 2020/21 to prioritise projects that reduce the impact of the COVID-19 emergency on vulnerable communities; and

21.  Notes that existing allocation processes utilising the independent panel will be used to make Community Investment Fund allocations.

Edgar/Rainey                                                                           Carried

Resolved CL/2020/030

That the Council

1.       Acknowledges the work of the Nelson Regional Development Agency, the Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, in relation to the support, assurity and knowledge they have provided.

Her Worship the Mayor/Edgar                                                     Carried

1

Confidential Update on COVID-19 and its impact on Council contracts

Section 48(1)(a)

The public conduct of this matter would be likely to result in disclosure of information for which good reason exists under section 7

The withholding of the information is necessary:

·   Section 7(2)(b)(ii)

     To protect information where the making available of the information would be likely unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is the subject of the information

·    Section 7(2)(h)

     To enable the local authority to carry out, without prejudice or disadvantage, commercial activities

1

PUBLIC EXCLUDED: Confidential Update on COVID-19 and its impact on Council contracts

That the Council

1.    Receives the report Confidential Update on COVID-19 and its impact on Council contracts, leases and licences (R16952); and

2.    Agrees that the report Confidential Update on COVID-19 and its impact on Council contracts, leases and licences (R16952) remain confidential at this time.

Resolved CL/2020/033

That the Council

1.       Re-admits the public to the meeting.

Bowater/Rainey                                                                      Carried