17 April 2026

“Why me, and what’s it all for anyway?”

Genesis 25: 29-34: “Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.”

I have always related to Esau much more than Jacob, who later on at his mother’s bequest through subterfuge tricked his father Isaac into giving him the elder brothers birthright blessing. That act seemed manipulative and devious, yet it started with a message from God that it would be so, and all Esau really wanted was a good feed after a hard days hunt. Are these things forgone conclusions before they even happen, and from the beginning of Creation does God know the future of you and I along with all the choices we will ever make? Perhaps it doesn’t make much difference and it will always be a mystery in this lifetime anyway, but I still want to know.

Again not much officially happening on the Council front this week, unless you count last weekends Supercar event which I still maintain is not a fraction as entertaining or exhilarating as a good motorbike sidecar speedway (not even any decent crashes!). By the way If anybody is wanting to set up a decent speedway track I am sure we could find some spare Council land with a peppercorn rent to go with it – so consider that as a pledge for next election. We did also have a promised cyclone that never did eventuate to cancel the Sunday racing, I was a little put out that the Taupo landfill was shut all day as a precaution (couldn’t we have at least waited to see if the wind got up?). I did find it interesting though that the Mayor of Wairoa refused to assent to a State of Emergency in his district, something which I discern our own Mayor John Funnell might have considered if given the option.

Baddies or the goodies? But we did have a couple of things happen, including that Mercury Energy pop in for a one hour session with Elected Members on Tuesday to educate us about how it is with them and us (unfortunately not recorded for public consumption). There was some discord between Mangakino Councillor Hope Woodward and one of the Mercury experts, who was claiming that Mercury are not at all responsible for the algae blooms in the Upper Waikato river despite some independent scientific advice claiming otherwise. Mercury were implying that farm runoff is the main instigator, but Councillor Kylie Leonard disputed that. It was at least acknowledged that the hydro schemes which were introduced in the 1960’s or so did helpfully prevent some of the awful downstream flooding of the Waikato River which Turangi elder Councillor Greenslade even manages to remember – but it seems to come at the cost of eroded lake foreshores (south end especially) and health of the Upper Waikato waters. These are problems which aren’t going away, and there are clearly two sides to this story which aren’t being fully heard. Lastly and according to them, Mercury are the most significant ratepayer in the District – so I am not sure why we aren’t yet talking about partnership deals and enmeshing their staff into Council operations like we are with another of our local ratepayers. Any idea, people?

Kinloch Kiddies win a battle: There was also the Kinloch Kindergarten workshop paper presented on Tuesday by Council staff and the Kinloch Families Trust which you can view HERE. Perhaps if you are not a Kinloch local or into kindergartens this might be of only passing interest, but I reckon it set the scene for something of a quite positive landmark for a way forward for this Council. The proposition is for around $500K of development contributions to be put towards land acquisition for the Trust to build a new kindergarten/ community centre. It is all quite inspirational stuff and not at all normal for local communities to get behind something like this, with the only hesitations of Elected Members around the potential opportunity cost of spending the money here and not somewhere else (the rates burden is apparently zero). The decision isn’t going to be made until at least May, and I am glad the Trust stuck at it because a year or so ago when they came to us with the same proposal the response was quite the contrary and negative. My advice to them at the time was to keep at it because so much of Council “official policies” are subject to interpretation, and it is really up to Elected Members to decide these things and not staff. So I am glad they listened.

Okay apart from that, what else is happening?

Joint Management Plan (JMA) latest: Not a whole lot that I am pertinent to be able to report on, but local amateur journalist sleuth Sophie M Smith put up an article on the JMA which you can read HERE. My advice to Sophie is that she needs to understand that the JMA is not just procedural as she implies, and that she needs to start following dynamic Far North Councillor Davina Smolders on Facebook. Davina is the person outing her Council on unethical constitutional arrangements which she says effectively give power to unelected representatives. Even though final decisions are for Elected Members to make, do please recognise that the recommendations of committees do significantly shape the decisions that get made. Anybody who has spent any time as an Elected Member will recognise this, and our own JMA is no different. Yes there does have to be a new JMA, but there is no requirement to give away any more influence than strictly necessary, and at the end of the day constituents will be the ones paying for it.

As to only be expected Hobsons Pledge are piping in about that situation up north which you can read about HERE, with a snippet of their commentary below which I say absolutely does apply here:

Lost in translation: Rotorua Lakes Council seems to be getting some significant interest which you can read about in this social media post from Rotorua Councillor Robert Lee. The gripe is around an untranslated eight-minute karakia ceremony at the start of one of their Council committee meetings, and although I haven’t read all 500 comments and perhaps Roberts followers are already biased – but the consensus seems to be that such a carry on is quite disrespectful to the audience, and I have to agree.

Dear Auditor General: I was passed this letter of complaint to the Auditor General about Taupo District Council, not sure where on earth this is headed but I haven’t come across this author Pee Kay before, and they are clearly interested in Taupo so thought to share.

Order of the rabbit: Democracy Project ran this intriguing piece lately about dysfunctional Wellington City Council claiming that there was a now defunct secret society of staff which ran the place (you can read it HERE). The article contains a lot more info than just that of course and I have no evidence to show anything like that has ever existing here in Taupo, but I can absolutely sympathise with the snippetted comment below

Who is really running the Country, is it the politicians or the bureaucrats? In New Zealand, it is the bureaucrats according to this interview with Dr Oliver Hartwich, Executive Director of the NZ Initiative which you can listen to HERE. I was particularly interested in the below snippet, which is totally relevant to local government and a reason the likes of Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has his own Mayoral executive team separate from Council staff – and I bet Taupo Mayor John Funnell wishes he had one too.

“Virtually every other developed democracy gives its ministers at least some say over who leads their departments. France, Germany, Sweden, Italy and the United Kingdom all figured this out long ago. In Germany, ministers appoint their top officials from a pool of qualified candidates. When a new government takes office, incoming ministers can replace the top officials with people committed to delivering their programmes. Ninety per cent come from within the career service, not from party backrooms. The officials below are protected by statute and cannot be removed on a whim. A new government changes only the top officials. Everyone else stays. Germany gets plenty wrong, but on this question, it found an answer that works“

Stop the kiddies drowning: It has struck me that manhole safety grilles like shown right could be useful around here, not only for worker but kiddy safety – I was working at Waitakere City when a toddler drowned in one of them during a heavy rain event and public life for Council workers became quite unpleasant because of it. I have done some digging to find out that Watercare in Auckland use them frequently and Tauranga City puts them in for every new install, and at around $600 each aren’t a bad idea for near playgrounds especially. So I will put it into the Council suggestion box to consider.

Council building Part 2: Sophie M Smith has put out the second of her series on the Taupo District Council building saga and how it all came to be, which you can read HERE. My own take which I have reiterated many times, is that there was a misguided determination to get a new building come hell or high water, and the demolition of the original Council building happened without any real analysis of the future consequences. I think it would make a great case study for current batch of Elected Members to learn some lessons such as what pre-determined decision making looks like, and how to avoid being led by the nose by staff with an agenda – but I doubt that will happen.

How to save money: The Taxpayers Union are at it again this time with a publication claiming 103 ideas for Councils to save money such as paying back debt, cutting back on Councillor lunches (I can’t agree with that one), and even our own Boom Boom the dinosaur gets a dishonorable mention. Taupo resident Phil Shields pointed this document out to Councillors last week, attached to his quite pointed letter which I thought worth reprinting below. Phil is a retired Council engineer of many decades experiences both in New Zealand and the UK where he originates from, so he knows a thing or two about the dire situation we now find ourselves in. Bring back the days of the City Engineer!

South lights up: This came across my purview recently as I am in touch with a Councillor down there, regarding small town Lincoln in the the Selwyn district which has been slated for a series of new traffic signal intersections down their main street (ring any bells, Taupo?). You can read some about it in this social media post from local Zoran Rakovic HERE. From my own point of view as somebody well versed in their application, there are much misconceptions about roundabouts such as they are always less safe for pedestrians and cyclists, and are so much more expensive than traffic signals. I say that a well designed roundabout can be better for pedestrians especially, and it is fairly well known in the transportation industry that Christchurch is traffic signal happy compared to many other parts of the country. These are some roundabout solutions which I developed for urban areas, viable for places like Lincoln and Taupo too. 

Fridays budgetary advice for governments everywhere and they even have a Duncan: