Extra Waimarino rubbish service within budget

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 14, Issue 687, 20 May 1997, Page 4

Extra Waimarino rubbish service within budget

In its 1997/98 Draft Annual Plan (DAP) the Ruapehu District Council has set out its intentions with regard to the special needs of the Waimarino' s refuse disposal and landfill facilities. In introducing the DAP Mayor Weston Kirton reminded Councillors that the district was not a wealthy one and, due to the recent eruptions and the resultant downturn in the local economy, council cannot afford to go rushing into major projects. Acting CEO Chris Ryan said the council has committed itself to upgrading these rubbish facilities by investing in modern operating standards and constructing a network of refuse transfer stations over the

whole District and that the particular needs of the Ohakune and Raetihi townships will be the key focus for 1997/98. This will include a raview into providing an increased level of service to meet the seasonal demands of the two Waimarino communities. He said that Ohakune in particular was a tourist-fo-cused community and demand for a better service had come from local businesses and visitors alike ... "rubbish can't be left lying around". Extended hours at the local landfill may be the answer but additional hours will result in additional staffing costs. "Council needs to recog-

nise that many owners of properties in Ohakune live elsewhere for 90% of the year but during the ski season there may be as many as five different occupiers of that property within a week, each of whom want to leave it clean and tidy for the next occupants." The current once- weekly domestic kerbside collection does not address this problem so it is proposed to introduce a supplementary service by employing a contractor to collect refuse left by visitors during the ski season. In the discussion that followed the acting CEO's report it was suggested that the opening hours at the Ohakune landfill should coincide with the departure

times of visitors either in the late evening or early morning instead of the current weekday times of 12 noon to 5.30pm. Some visitors were known to bring their own rubbish bags with them when they arrive and either take them home when they depart or leave them outside their chalets. In such cases, where the bag was not an officially approved Ruapehu District Council bag, the contractors had been placing a sticker on such a bag and leaving them . This was a practice criticised by Mayor Weston Kirton who said "surely it takes council staff longer to stick a label on the (offending) bag than picking it up and throwing it onto the

back of a truck". Yet another suggestion was that owners of the ski chalets should be held responsible for the disposal of rubbish from their properties but this was considered impracticable as many owners were not present when their properties were occupied. Despite the increased cost proposed for extending the Ohakune landfill opening hours the overall budget for refuse disposal within the Waimarino Ward will be less than the 1996/97 year. National Park Ward The proposed budget will be slightly higher than last year due to an increase in the Owhango transfer sta- . tion maintenance costs. The proposed budget also

covers the National Park transfer station and the domestic kerbside collection in National Park township. Waiouru Ward Refuse disposal within the W aiouru Ward will continue to be in the nature of a 'special arrangemenf with the NZ Department of Defence whereby the Ruapehu District Council was not directly involved except to make a financial contribu-

tion towards the cost of maintaining the landfill. The 1997/98 budget is expected to be about the same as last year. Estimated budgets: Waimarino Ward: $347,000 for 1997/98 ($364,000 last year); National Park Ward: $45,000 for 1997/98 ($41,000 last year); Waiouru Ward: $6,000 for 1997/98 ($7,000 last year).