'Why the f*** should I'
And taking the temperature of the climate
A special thanks to my tipster who told me to keep an eye on the Code of Conduct hearing being held behind closed doors of the Dunedin City Council on Tuesday.
I had noticed it on the last page of the agenda, and fleshed out a preview story which included naming the person involved. You can read that here.
While the meeting was excluding the public, council proactively released a copy of the letter. You can read that here:
And here is the draft minute extract:
I listened back to the interview again this morning, which came after council had released some information from the closed door meeting.
Williams – the highest polling candidate of the Strath Taieri 2022 election – was in a jovial mood, and was probably blindsided by the move.
“That’s quite on the cards,” Williams said on Tuesday morning when asked about the Code of Conduct hearing (because he was not named in the agenda).
Williams did confirm that he was under investigation, and that he did know what it was about.
“I haven’t been in this position before,” Williams, who didn’t attend the closed door meeting, said.
“I’m not prepared to answer until I find out what was happening after the investigation ... and then I’ll be more than happy to talk.”
So on Wednesday morning I put that to the test.
After the initial “Barry, speaking”, I got this after I said my name.
“I’m not talking at this stage,” he said.
I reminded him that he said he was going to be ‘happy to talk’.
“I’m still wading through some paperwork,” he said.
That’s fair, and I told him when he was ready to make a statement, to hit me up.
Before the call ended I couldn’t resist saying it “didn’t sound like you’ve resigned”.
“Why the f*** should I.”
Williams again insisted he had a lot of things to “wade through” before making any decision.
I’ll keep you posted.
That same council meeting was expected to feature the Draft Zero Carbon Plan 2030, but a spokesperson sent the following notice:
“A couple of the key staff involved in this work are away sick, and we have received feedback from Councillors that it would be best to consider this report alongside another on the costs of implementing the plan, which is also being prepared.
“We are aiming to have both reports ready for the next Council meeting on 26 September 2023 instead.”
This is an important plan and I’m interested to see how this right-leaning council takes up the challenge.
That comes as 7000 homes across South Dunedin were starting to receive a flyer explaining water, land and climate change-related challenges facing their community:
The flyer is the second in a series of four this year, giving all residents and other stakeholders information about the programme, the science, community values and options. A first ‘long list’ of adaptation options for South Dunedin is planned for release in December 2023. That’s going to be fascinating, particularly this: “more detailed information about how particular hazards such as groundwater and rainfall will affect South Dunedin are expected to be released over the next two years”.
In other climate news, I also got this email yesterday concerning well-known Dunedin activist, Rosemary Penwarden, who has been remanded in custody until her September court appearance.
She was charged with endangering transport pursuant to S270(1)(b) of the Crimes Act. You might recall Penwarden’s actions were the subject of a trial, after she forged a letter to an oil and gas conference, claiming in court it was satirical.
The courts don’t take kindly to offending while on bail, so I’ll be fascinated with how the judge sentences Penwarden next month.
Outside the Dunedin District Court after she had heard that guilty verdict, Penwarden said she would not change how she protested: “This is a motivation for me to continue doing what I do”.
She would not do a “single thing different,” she said, because humankind had only a few short years to tackle climate change.
As an aside, it was interesting that activists here haven’t taken to fixing their hands to roads, and it seems to be a largely Wellington movement. I think that is largely due to the proximity of those in power.
Among the things I check regularly are resource consents, whether that be notified or non-notified.
This week I spotted this:
“10 Holyhead Street Outram (LUC-2023-168)
This consent was an application to/for the demolition of the existing church; construction of a new community and leisure building and vehicle crossing within a flood hazard overlay; and associated earthworks at 10 Holyhead Street Outram.
This was considered by the Council's Senior Planner (Consents) on 3 August 2023.”
You don’t see many churches being demolished, they tend to be sold off and converted into homes/galleries etc.
This one, the Trinity Presbyterian Church (congregation size - 30) is a little bit different in that a new church is going to be constructed, as well as a community centre. Great news for a small but growing community.
I was interested to read that the new church and community centre would be built with the floor level elevated above the maximum flood level for the Flood Hazard Area.
You can read more here:
I was going to head out to Outram to take a picture of the church, but also to see this: courtesy of the Otago Regional Council (spoiler alert: a gas leak on George St changed those plans), the new autonomous water gauging boats.
Those vessels, which are remote controlled, were being demonstrated on the Taieri River near Outram.
The advantage of the vessels, known as the Surfbee autonomous gauging boat, was safety for staff, as well as saving field time when gauging water flow in rivers and streams.
But they didn’t mention they look bad-ass, I mean look at it!
ICYMI, probably my favourite story of the last week involved the 94-year-old who has walked away from multiple aircraft crashes.
I forgot to add these from last week, but I went to look at the annual science fair entries at Otago Museum, and I just loved reading the research involved.
These are some snippets which caught my eye.
I will never leave bread in the hot water cupboard again!
I’m a sucker for wood research. It has taken me year to perfect the best fire – small amount of kindling, newspaper and fire started in teepee shape – but that is for my own future science presentation.
And my favourite deserves the Nobel Prize:
This has bothered me for years!
Incredible.
The future is bright.
And if you know where this is, please add in the comments below.
Here is a new track from Julian Temple Band - No Evil:
Have a great week, and if you want to know more about the Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival, please check out more information here.
Bell Tea building.