February WMRA meeting recap

We kicked off at 7pm with our Annual General Meeting.  Chairman Jeff revisited the highlights of the last year and thanked several people for their commitment to the community.  Treasurer Erin visited the annual finances then we elected a new committee, including five new volunteers from our community.  Welcome!  We welcomed back Jeff as Chairman and Erin as Treasurer.  Secretary is still TBA.  The 2016 committee is as follows;

Jeff Waters (Chairman)
Erin McElroy (Treasurer)
Tony Blaber
Lois Lea
Tim Schurr
Bruce Russell
Viv Titmus
Ria Kremmers
Jerome Gastaldo
Gill & Gerry Lake
Melanie Elliot
Ron Gloag
Diane Henderson
Steve Belchin
Ian Sandford

Sports and Recreation Centre
Moving on to the regular meeting, Bruce spoke about progress with the new Sports and Recreation Centre.  A fundraising committee has been formed with the goal of raising $1M for the build.  The $6.6M is funded by several sources including insurance funds from the previous hall, capital from the SDC and other sources.  The project is approximately $2.7M short, necessitating the fund-raising effort.  The build is planned to start in July, with full approval pending the tender price which is due in 6 weeks.  Resource Consent has been granted but building permit is still needed.

Speed signs
The WMRA are considering buying automated speed signs to install in strategic locations around the town.  Sites discussed at this meeting included SH73 near the entrance to the town, outside the domain and outside the primary school.  Cr Jeff Bland spoke about the possibility for the SDC to fund these signs and urged the WMRA to make an appearance at the next Wednesday public forum.

Community Board
Bruce gave a report from the community board, speaking about its desire to become more “grass-roots” based, driving local projects such as a Christmas parade, ANZAC Day, the re-establishment of the Field Days or other events.  The board has 9 months to run, but is appealing against its decommission.  There will be a public meeting for this on March 7 at 10:30.

Water boil notice
Local resident and Selwyn water asset manager Murray England described the events which lead to the recent water boil notice for the West Melton town supply.  Murray confirmed how the system was now operating as expected and took several questions from residents.

Other goings on
The West Melton Scholarship awards close on Friday Feb 26.  We’re making arrangements for another ANZAC day ceremony this year, including a military presence as well as the local youth band.

Next meeting is April 13.