Kia ora tātou
Trust Update
I am delighted to report that the postal vote for two Trustees is now complete, and I thank all candidates for standing and all the owners that participated in the voting. A total of 291 valid votes were received, and the voting was as follows:
| Colin Hemana Bennett | 40 |
| Matire Duncan | 52 |
| John Fenwick | 52 |
| Arthur Flintoff | 17 |
| Renee Kiriona | 108 |
| Tahi Patrick Kelly | 5 |
| Paora Maxwell | 50 |
| Colman Rauhihi | 11 |
| Geoffrey Rice | 53 |
| Kramer Ronaki | 35 |
| Georgina Whata | 84 |
Congratulations to the two highest polling candidates Renee Kiriona and Georgina Whata who will now be referred to the Maori Land Court for formal appointment as Trustees. This will bring the number of Trustees back to 7.
Voting on Trustees Resolutions
As most of you will be aware, we held a series of engagement hui, workshops and a site visit earlier this year. The two key outcomes of this engagement were to put forward for an owner’s postal vote two resolutions:
- A proposed variation to the Trust order that would provide for a rotational election process of Trustees.
- A resolution to facilitate the development of the Trust lands initially by negotiating infrastructure corridors and active reserves with the Tauranga City Council.
We are now ready to seek owner’s votes on these two resolutions, and we have again enlisted the assistance of GHA, Chartered Accountants as independent returning officers. Included in the pack below is information on the resolutions and voting paper and instructions on completion.
Download 2022 Voting Paper (resolutions)
The closing date for voting is 15th December 2022. If there is sufficient support for the resolutions, then the next steps will be:
- Variation of the Trust Order for Rotation of Trustees. An application will be lodged in the Maori Land Court to consider/approve the request for the variation.
- Resolution on the Infrastructure Corridors and Active Reserve. The Trustees will proceed to negotiate a draft agreement in principle with the Tauranga City Council, and when this agreement has been reached, a Trust owners hui will be held to discuss and consider the terms of the agreement. If the hui supports the agreement, an application will be made to the Maori Land Court for any required relevant orders.
The Trustees wish to thank all owners who contributed to this process and provided valuable feedback. We would like to stress that this process is only one step toward developing our lands. Without access to infrastructure services to our land, we cannot develop our lands. There will be many more aspects of any proposed development that we will need to discuss with owners as we move forward, and there will be many opportunities for that. We have increased our engagement with owners through some challenging times with the Covid-19 pandemic, whether through zoom hui, kanohi te kanohi, website updates, post, emails or social media. We will continue to engage with owners using all tools available and seek your feedback as we continue this journey.
I encourage you to complete your voting papers and show your support or otherwise for these proposals.
Nga mihi
Malcolm T Short
Chairman