Our new Honorary Member Adele White provided the Club on Monday evening with an outline of the function of Local Boards, gave a summary of some of the significant projects underway in the Howick-Pakuranga area and fielded some stirring questions from members about “harebrained” Auckland Council and AT schemes affecting residents on a daily basis.Adele of course is Chair of the Howick Local Board, is Howick born and bred and has spent 33 years as a Police Officer and 18 years as a local body politician. Local boards have a significant and wide-ranging role that spans many council services and activities. They make decisions on local matters, provide local leadership and are designed to enable strong local communities. The local board has non-regulatory decision making authority and also acts as a listening post for local concerns and communicates those to Council
The Club’s annual carnival has been supported by our local Board for some time and Adele raised the possibility of the Club becoming involved in other community projects such as Men’s Sheds.
In a spirited question time, it was made plain that we were stuck with the Unitary Plan although Adele obviously felt for some Sunnyhills residents affected by intensification. It is apparent that Auckland Transport continues to take people in directions which make little sense to the majority of residents.
Graham Kearns introduced and thanked our guest speaker and President Alison presented her with her Honorary Member Badge.
As an added bonus, Adele drew her own winning ticket for the meat raffle and went home with a superb meat pack from Howick Meats in Vincent Sreet.