Latest news with #Petley
Scoop
14-07-2025
- Business
- Scoop
South Waikato Mayor Condemns Decision To Close Local Education Provider
South Waikato Mayor Gary Petley has expressed his 'extreme disappointment' at the planned closure of the District's Toi-Ohomai campus in Tokoroa, after just two years in operation, and vowed to seek ways in which his Council can step in to fill the void going forward. Petley said news of the trades training centre closing at the end of the year was a huge blow to a community that already ranks among the five-most deprived in New Zealand, and which has one of the highest Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) rates recorded nationally. 'This is a short-sighted and lazy decision driven by Te Pūkenga's (the national network for all the country's 25 polytechnics) need to find $9m in savings. They are taking the easy way out, rather than finding other ways to achieve operational savings and to become sustainable, and it's come at the detriment of the people of South Waikato. "As it stands, our data from the recent Long Term Plan shows 23 percent of the 15-24 age bracket in our District fall under the category of not currently being employed or in the education or training system. 'There is no shortage of research and evidence that tells us a critical factor in efforts to lift people out of those statistical categories, and out of deprivation, is to invest in education. 'My Council has made a strong commitment through its Long Term Plan 2024-2034 to have all our young people either working or in employment, and that remains a non-negotiable if we are to improve the lives of people in our community.' Without the presence of a local training provider, people in the District face the prospect of travelling an hour or more to a campus in Rotorua, Tauranga or Hamilton, with limited public transport options currently available to those regional centres. In addition to the concerns around a lack of education opportunities, Petley said the Toi-Ohomai closure would have an immediate restraining impact on a local economy already reeling from the recent loss of around 150 jobs at the Kinleith Paper Mill. The District had nearly double the New Zealand average unemployment rate from March 2022 to March 2023. 'This will impact existing businesses here and businesses looking to relocate to the District, which would create new jobs. It was a big selling point that we had a campus here for trades training,' Petley said. 'By removing this critical service, you are condemning South Waikato people to another generation of poverty.' Mayor Petley said he will be using his strong relationship with local MP Louise Upston, who is also the Minister for Social Development and Employment, to elevate his concerns, while work was already underway to see what Council can do to fill the void internally through existing initiatives like the WORKit Programme More information on the demographic profile of the South Waikato District, its challenging levels of deprivation and statistics relating to this can be found here.
Scoop
25-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
South Waikato District Confirms Participation In Waikato Water Done Well
The South Waikato District Council has today approved to become a founding shareholder of Waikato Water Done Well. Waikato Water Done Well will be a Council-Controlled Organisation (CCO) jointly owned with six other local councils and will deliver drinking water and wastewater services in accordance with the Government's Local Water Done Well reform. Council will retain the management of stormwater activity and continue to deliver stormwater services. Following the full Council meeting on 25 June, South Waikato Mayor Gary Petley acknowledged the magnitude of the decision. 'This is one of the biggest decisions local councils across the motu have been asked to make for some time, and the amount of work that has gone into it reflects that,' Petley said. He also acknowledged there were a range of passionate viewpoints on the issue. Council was presented with the 54 submissions that were made as part of the consultation process. "Some of them raised valid concerns about the plan but could not directly address the criteria which our Water Services Delivery Plan must meet for approval,' Petley said. 'As a Council it's our job to make decisions in the best interests of the 25,000-plus who call the South Waikato home, and from the comprehensive work undertaken on this topic, it's clear that joining Waikato Water Done Well was the right option for us,' he said. All Councils participating in the establishment of Waikato Water Done Well will gain from the CCO. Some small Councils will gain the benefit of greater cashflow and the ability to attract and retain in-house expertise as well as savings from having a larger footprint in the market. Councils will also have greater borrowing capacity to fund new infrastructure. Participating councils will transfer their assets to the new entity and will have control of all the assets through the Shareholders' Agreement. Under the Government's Local Water Done Well reform, all Councils across New Zealand are required to submit an approved plan to the Department of Internal Affairs by 3 September 2025. Notes: The seven councils that signed the heads of agreement to set up Waikato Water Done Well in December 2024 are South Waikato District Council, Hauraki District Council, Matamata-Piako District Council, Ōtorohanga District Council, Taupō District Council, Waipā District Council and Waitomo District Council. Most shareholding Councils will have made a decision by the end of the week. Taupō District Council will be going with an in-house service delivery model and will revisit their decision to become part of the WWDW family for services in two years' time. Waikato Water Done Well was identified as the South Waikato District Council's preferred option on March 26 this year. Consultation with the community was conducted between 14 April to 12 May. There were 54 submissions in total – 53 online and one paper submission. Of these, seven were in favour of Council's preferred option and 46 opposed, with one submission unclear. Once all councils ratify the Shareholders Agreement, the CCO will be established and the transfer of assets will commence. The transfer of our assets is expected to be completed by 1 July 2026. This is also the date the CCO is expected to start providing services to the first three shareholder councils.
CBS News
06-03-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Mysteries of the Deep: An independent researcher's effort to uncover Lake Tahoe's unknowns
LAKE TAHOE — One independent researcher is working to uncover the secrets hidden at the bottom of Lake Tahoe. Instead of a submarine, he's using a custom-built rover. The mysteries of the deep stem from a garage 50 miles away in Pollock Pines. NATS – "The big thing behind this camera is that we can upgrade it in the future." Chase Petley wears a lot of hats — engineer, explorer and visionary, to name a few. Today, he's focused on one mission: preparing this rover for its first dive. The goal is to find out what's at the bottom of Lake Tahoe. "You can't wait for someone to give you the answers to the questions," he said. About 15 years ago, when those questions had no answers, he set out to find them. Why? He did it out of pure curiosity. What began as a simple hobby soon became a passion. From dropping a wooden box with a camera inside to now building this rover, Petley's come a long way since asking that first question. Now he has pictures and videos from the bottom of the lake with new discoveries. "We were told there wasn't going to be much life at the bottom of Lake Tahoe, but it's hard to actually go down there and get a camera shot without something alive in the video — shrimp, fish, large fish," he said. Lake Tahoe is about 1,600 feet, but Petley said that a massive crevasse between two fault lines suggests the lake could be much deeper. Also, there's a mystery behind a giant rock that is in the middle of the lake – and is about 400 feet high – but is too deep for anyone to know about. Petley said the discoveries below are endless, but his journey wouldn't get widespread support without exposure. "My part in this whole journey is the media, so I'm documenting everything he does," said documentary filmmaker Michael Cheeseman of Erwin Street Entertainment. Cheeseman is far from his Los Angeles studio but this story is worth the trip. Once he heard about Petley's story, he wanted to help share it. "As soon as we started filming, we were like now we can really start seeing what he's doing and evolve that story," Cheeseman said. Now they are a team, one building the rover and the other making sure the world sees what it finds. Their Instagram page, Mysteries of the Deep, has reeled in more than 55,000 followers. It's clear they're not the only ones interested. "You can't wait for someone else to give you the answers to the questions so hopefully we can inspire that in other people," Petley said. That is a sentiment he said is equally important as the discoveries they find. "I think it's important that we get people out there exploring and showing us the little bit of our planet that hasn't been explored yet," he said.
