• Eric has been working on a Waihi Walkways Waihi to Waikino handout. He has visited various landowners and discussed his survey and the proposed route. This has received a generally positive response with some exceptions. Good progress made.
• NWO representatives from Australia -
  Met with Tessa and Clare. The company is looking at ways they can assist in the social services area and coordinate their support of the existing services more effectively.
  Christine Charles visited Waihi College and presented a cheque for $20,000 to the Education Trust fund.
• Rod met with Collette following her presentation at the last meeting on social impact needs. As a result of the meeting, Rod said he has a better understanding of social impact needs.
• Collette has worked with NWO and assisted them with an issue in respect to one property owner under the Property Sales Assistance Programme. This was positive and Collette’s assistance on behalf of the property owner is appreciated.
• At the last meeting Mark Samson suggested a Tour / road trip to Maungatautari, Tirau and the Buried Village at Tarawera. Of the 11 responses received by Mark, 4 people were able to / interested in attending. After discussion a decision was made to obtain videos of Buried Village and Predator Proof fence as a first step. Dave Ingle offered to obtain copies of the videos. If it is decided that this trip will be beneficial in the future the idea will be revisited.
• Keith Trembath raised an issue from last meeting’s minutes related to a proposed use of buildings left by Coeur Gold. Keith informed us that there is a group looking at opening a 3 day walk from Whangamata to Golden Cross using the Quarry Rd pack track. The organisers are looking at using the existing Coeur buildings/facilities (off DOC land) so they may not be available for Golden Legacy projects.
  

2. Social Impact and Sport and Recreation Subgroups
a. Social Impact
Collette was unable to attend this meeting so the proposed further discussion of the Social Impact needs has been deferred to the next meeting of the WCCC.

b. Sport and Recreation

• While Steve Moore was unable to attend this meeting we discussed the proposal that Steve has helped to formulate.
• It is proposed that there be a meeting of all interested sport bodies to look at whether there are benefits in planning towards centralising facilities and administration for all sporting codes.
• Tim and Sharon will commence this process.
• Julie Stevenson of Sport Waikato is also interested in supporting this process.
  

3. Presentations
a. The Preferred Legal Entity for the future of the WCCC
Jason Sandford gave a presentation on this subject. Jason has recently moved to Waihi. He and his wife have bought a house that they are renovating and Jason is enrolled to commence his Masters in Business Administration through Waikato University in the second semester of this year. Jason talked about the possibility of students from the MBA programme providing some input into the Golden Legacy process in Waihi.

After giving a brief overview of his background and experience, Jason presented a brief summary of his understanding of the differences between the legal requirements governing a Charitable Trust and an Incorporated Society.

Full copies of Jason’s presentation can be obtained through Tim and Sharon.

Questions arose in relation to
Q = What accountability do Trustees have to the beneficiaries? (Ian Verral)
A = Any beneficiary can go to the Trustees with an issue, if they get no satisfaction then the issue can be taken to the High Court for resolution.
Comment by Ian – It seems that the accountability of an Inc. Society is more direct in that it does not have to be taken to the Court. Members can vote at a Special or Annual General Meeting on rules and membership of the decision making executive.

Q = Winding up of Inc Societies?
A = 15 members required to form a society; An Inc. Society can be wound up by a resolution of a simple majority of members (confirmed at a second meeting), or the Registrar, and any member or a creditor can apply to the High Court to have the Society put into liquidation. The Society can also be dissolved by the Registrar if it is defunct or not carrying out its functions.

Q = How Disputes between members are resolved?
A = Rules define the way in which the Society is run and how disputes are handled. The Registrar of Inc Societies is not empowered to intervene in disputes or provide interpretations of rules.

Q = Whether the WCCC process serves NWO as a formal consultation process in environmental terms. (Don Lockwood)
A = Dennis Crequer This [WCCC] consultation process is not in respect of any current consent process and therefore has no role, and no impact on or credit for any other project NWO is involved in.

Q = What is the liability of Trustees (Don Lockwood)
A = Trustees can be liable and insurance is available.
A = With an Incorporated Society, the Committee is normally made up of members of the Society who don’t have any liability other than that which applies to all members if they are breaching the rules and involved in operations involving pecuniary gain. If that is the case then the Society and the members can be fined and the members involved in the operations can be held personally liable for the debts and obligations incurred by the Society in such operations.

After discussion about the future role of the WCCC and whether a legal entity is the best way forward, a decision was made to defer the discussion until after the Community meeting. More information is required and it seems that the decision may be best made in direct consultation with experts in the field once the purpose and direction of the entity is clear.

b. Draft PowerPoint Presentation of the WCCC Ideas
Mark Samson and Kit Wilson gave a PowerPoint presentation collating all ideas proposed by the various interest groups and featuring “A 2020 Vision for Waihi”. This was the draft version of a presentation that is to be given at the Community meeting on the 31st of May 2004 to which the Community Group from the 19 May 2003 will be invited.

The presentation with any amendments will then be made to Hauraki District Council and Newmont Waihi Operations as per the agreed process for the WCCC.

The presentation was followed by a question and answer session.
Things that were identified as missing were;

• Amaranth mine
• The relationship between the proposed ideas/projects and existing businesses. There would be benefit in making explicit the potential to all Waihi private enterprise and making this part of the presentations to be given.
• The Goldfields Railway Link
• A dot for the Museum
• The Waikino Battery
  

Other comments / thoughts that were made included:

• The presentation should be given to other business/tourist operators.
• It is a great vision for Waihi and we shouldn’t get bogged down in too much detail at this stage.
• The vision needs support from existing Councillors.
• The HDC can look at the District Plan and make provision for the proposed ideas.
• Private enterprise should be encouraged to have input at any time and at whatever level they wish to be involved.
• A question was put to Dave Ingle about the effect of the proposed exploration programme on the proposals. His reply was that would depend on the exploration results and implications would be considered as they arise.
• There was a concern expressed about where funding would come from. The general consensus was that there is plenty of opportunity to attract outside funders and/or private investors.
• Comment was made that there was no expectation that NWO / HDC would be solely responsible for funding.
• Comment was made that NWO owns a lot of the land.
• It was noted that some of the proposals may not be actioned until some time in the future.
  

It was acknowledged that there was a need to sell the vision to other Councillors, particularly those from outside the Waihi Ward who haven’t worked through the development of the ideas with the WCCC and who will need to gain an appreciation of the benefits for their parts of the District.

There was a discussion around how the presentation should be made to Council. Whether it should be made to the Planning and Finance meeting (to be held the next week) or whether it should go to the whole Council (who meet on the last Thursday of every month. Comment was made that any item to be discussed needs to be on the agenda the week before the meeting).
This was followed by a discussion whether the Council or the initial Community group should receive the presentation first.
It was agreed that presentation will be made to the group who attended the meeting on 19 May 2003. This meeting is to be held on May 31 2004. (The venue has now been decided as the Salvation Army Hall that we know and are supported by so well.)

The WCCC will meet on 14 June 2004 to discuss the feedback received and make any necessary amendments. The presentation will be made to a full Council meeting of the Hauraki District Council on 24 June 2004.

It was suggested we make sure that all Councillors be invited to the meeting on 31 May 2004.

It was agreed that after the presentations to HDC and NWO there will be a full Public meeting held at some stage in the future.

4. Process from Here - To Do List

• Tim and Sharon organise a meeting with Tui, Tessa and Collette for input into the presentation.
• Tim and Sharon to prepare a written summary of the proposals to supplement the PowerPoint presentation as a hand out to attendees at the meeting on the 31 May.
• Tim and Sharon to invite those who attended the 19 May meeting 2003 plus anyone who has become involved in the WCCC process since then to the 31 May 2004 meeting.

5. Next Meeting

A Community meeting will be held at 7.00 p.m. on 31 May 2004 the Salvation Army Hall Seddon Street Waihi.

Our next WCCC meeting will be @ 7pm on Monday 14 June 2004. At this meeting we will review the outcome of the community meeting and plan towards the presentations to HDC and NWO


Meeting finished: 10:00 p.m.

Tim and Sharon