Continuing Frustration
Following the two year meetup of flood friends it was notable that considerable frustration was evident among those trying to put their lives back together.
It was all coming from one source and confirms my belief that the closed ears of one authority in particular , is the root of many problems.
It is likely that we will never gain any ground in trying to find common ground or meaningful dialogue as long as the same staff remain. There is a bureaucratic resistance in place that is likely because of loss of faith or just some miniscule admission of fault.
Fault does not mean that any one person should be responsible for a very complicated situation but fault should be admitted in the sense that no one was prepared for what happened that day and major contributing factors came from an accumulation or a series of events that added to massive damage.
The response has been to appear to be fixing the problem when in actual fact they are spending millions in the wrong areas.
I also discovered the Regional Council made a curious decision on rates that may mean they are breaching the Bill of Rights .
Hastings DC simply remitted rates for two years .They could see that any attempt at picking and choosing who should pay rates following such a major event , would be fraught with difficulty.
The Regional Council however implemented a policy where affected persons had to apply for rates remission.
This puts staff in a terrible position.
The exercise has become and intrusive, personal, means testing of ratepayers who differ from each other in their situations like chalk and cheese.
There are corporates, small businesses, retired folk, life style blocks, farms, professional people and absentee owners.
Where does one draw the line.
It is discriminatory to say 'a' should pay rates but 'b' is exempt.
This is not a normal situation where rates remission is considered.
This is a big fail from the RC.
Added to the frustration is the fact they are basing the rates on valuations struck the year preceding the flood.
This is another reason they should have remitted all rates until after the next valuations are due.
