Latest news with #ORC
San Francisco Chronicle
8 hours ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Orchid Island: Q2 Earnings Snapshot
VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Orchid Island Capital Inc. (ORC) on Thursday reported a loss of $33.6 million in its second quarter. The Vero Beach, Florida-based company said it had a loss of 29 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for investment costs, were 16 cents per share. _____
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
‘Enduring' solutions important, councillors say
The Otago Regional Council building on the corner of Broadway and MacLaggan st. PHOTO: ODT FILES Resource management reform should produce "enduring, consistent and stable" solutions, Otago regional councillors say. The Otago Regional Council this week approved wide-ranging submissions on infrastructure and development, the primary sector, and freshwater management ahead of government reforms of the Resource Management Act and the national policy statements and standards that sit under it. Cr Tim Mepham said he was hopeful the council submissions would help to shape the new national directions. "But I definitely have concerns for our environmental management and the future of our freshwater quality. "I'm pretty happy with the comments that have been made in the submission in regards to the need for cross-party agreement because with the political cycles, to-ing and fro-ing, it doesn't create a lot of certainty." Cr Alan Somerville agreed. "Finding some enduring, consistent and stable solution to all this, so there aren't always changes, is very, very important," he said. The submissions demonstrated the value of local government and bringing together a diverse set of views around the council table, chairwoman Cr Gretchen Robertson said. "We listen to each other, just as we have again today and generally, we do come up with solutions that we all agree with — sometimes we don't, though, and that's fine as well." As well as the direct points the submissions made, the submissions made a "broader point" about the value the regional council provided "in partnership with central government and with mana whenua and with our communities", she said. The council submission on infrastructure and development national directions said infrastructure "in particular" needed a stable regulatory environment to drive investment. However, the submission on the primary sector also addressed the "need for enduring solutions". "Without broad political support for the proposals, there is a risk that future governments will reverse this reform, undermining the commitment of communities, industries, agencies and local authorities to plan their future and buy into actions that achieve the desired outcomes." The council supported moves "to better enable quarrying and mining". Its submission on commercial forestry had been drawn up with community concerns in mind, it said. "ORC is aware of the concerns that exist within Otago's communities about the conversion of large tracts of pastoral farmland into commercial forestry and how this may affect Otago's rural communities." The council submission on freshwater management said "three large overhauls" of freshwater policy — in 2014, 2017 and 2020 — "put considerable financial strain on councils and ratepayers and have disrupted planned or ongoing initiatives". The council also said it did not have a consensus view on whether the controversial concept of Te Mana o te Wai should be retained as the fundamental concept underpinning the national direction for freshwater. The council decided to finalise its submission on "going for housing growth" — a reform package designed to free up land for development and remove planning barriers — after staff had spoken to Otago's district and city councils.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Opinion: community wellbeing about more than roads and water
Because of climate change, South Dunedin needs several billion dollars spent on it, either in costs that will be borne by those who live there, or in prevention by many more of us who don't. It's critical that whatever is done, the wellbeing of the nearly 10,000 people who live there is considered as much as the money. Our sense of home and shared spaces is bound intimately into our health — physical and mental — and our opportunity for fulfilled lives, individually and together. Perhaps some of this money might have been saved if at every local body election, the electorate hadn't swung hard at the "keep rates low" target; meaning maintenance and smart upgrades were constantly deferred. It's the "wicked cycle" of voting, electing, feeling like not much is happening, building frustration, diminishing trust, lower turnout, curdling into resentment about councillor pay and public expenditure for others (some loathe the stadium, others think DPAG should charge an entrance fee), while the deferred maintenance mounts up. Partly, it's that most of us don't understand how much decision-making is out of councillors' hands, to a degree we'd never put up with in central government. It's hard to get stuff done in local government. But the thing is, we live here together. The four wellbeings — social, economic, cultural, and environmental — baked into the Local Government Act really matter. Do the bus routes make sense and is there a stop near yours? Are there speed limits outside your children's school? Does your significantly older community have an immensely popular swimming pool for physio, exercise, connection? Are there playgrounds near your children's home, do your kids adore reading time at the library? Is there an arts / film / music festival? Fireworks at New Year? These are the places where we come together and are Dunedin, and what makes Dunedin a great place to live. Yet here we are again, with government looking to remove the four wellbeings in favour of roads and water, which are somehow neutral of quiet neighbourhoods, accessible parks, safe schools, community, belonging. As if we were not people but units. But if the DCC or ORC don't take care of this ... who will? If you would like to support the mission's work with a donation, please visit and search for the Methodist Mission.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Climate
- Otago Daily Times
Debris on river a flood threat, council hears
Debris piled high enough to cover cattle in the Waihemo River is an imminent flood threat to the area, the Otago Regional Council has been told. Waihemo farmer Jim Thomson's property is spilt by the Waihemo/Shag River. Mr Thomson is the Waihemo ward representative on the Waitaki District Council and an approved RMA hearings commissioner. He said he was speaking as a concerned ORC ratepayer. At the ORC meeting in Oamaru yesterday, he told the council he has seen the river deteriorate "badly" over the past five years. "There's been no maintenance, no spraying for weeds and in actual fact, now seeing the results of previous spraying which was excessive, large willow trees are now dead and falling over and will, I suggest, end up in the river during the next large flood. "The lack of that maintenance, as I say, is going to affect future flood events. I know historically the floods in the Waihemo peaked at 440 cubics and during my 12 years there it was at 298 and that was scary enough." Mr Thomson suggested the issue could be traced back to the "travesty" of the Otago Regional Plan Change 7, which implemented the same irrigation rules for all Otago, with no recognition of the different weather between central and eastern Otago. "However, 75 years of rainfall records in my district show an 800mm variation, in that rainfall. As low as during the 1998 drought of 286mm but as high as 1100mm in the last two years. "I haven't turned the irrigation pump on because Mother Nature has done it for us but in actual fact, that will show as a non-use and will result in the reduction of water allocated to me." He suggested a solution to prevent trees being an issue in floods was to, at the Maheno area, remove the debris and the alluvial deposits between the rail and road bridges in the Kakanui and allow the water to flow where it wants to. Failing to do so would mean ratepayers would face more flood events in the future, he said. "I would challenge some members around this table as to whether they have served the whole community or been caught up in spheres of specific local interest. "Local and regional government would have more effect if we engaged with the practical people in our communities. Let's be proactive rather than reactive. "I would like to urge the council to continue to engage with practical people dealing daily with issues in our community for far better outcomes in the long term. Let's engage, educate and empower our communities to achieve outcomes, rather to try and impose and enforce upon them." Moeraki representative Cr Kevin Malcolm asked what would prevent the issue from being an imminent threat. "Well, the first thing is the clogging of the river with lupins, gorse brush," Mr Thomson said. "When I arrived, I sprayed up from the river banks. I also farm in a way that the areas that are flood plain will have temporary feeds in and I normally set back 10 to 15 metres to make sure that stock don't have access to the river. "But over time, with the neglect last year, I actually sent Cr Malcolm a photo of where I shifted the fence up and put two year old cattle in to try and break down that debris and you couldn't actually see the cattle in amongst it."
Otago Daily Times
18-07-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Hollyer's hoping for ORC seat
Queenstown's Matt Hollyer, who's seeking election for Otago Regional Council. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Queenstowner Matt Hollyer's hoping to enter politics. The 51-year-old, who's lived in the Whakatipu for the past 30-odd years, is announcing his run for Otago Regional Council (ORC), standing for one of four seats in the Dunstan regional constituency. While much of his background's in tourism, Hollyer's been more sharply focused on conservation over the past five or so years, and it's sparked his desire to help "on a larger scale". His experience includes management roles at Tourism Holdings Ltd, almost 15 years as Shotover Canyon Swing's general manager, and six years as Destination Queenstown's board chair. Since 2019, he's been AJ Hackett Bungy NZ project and innovation manager and, since 2020, ops manager for GSD Workforce, a subsidiary of Bungy, created during Covid to support community conservation groups through Jobs for Nature funding. He's also been ops manager for Southern Lakes Sanctuary since mid-'21 and has been working with ORC, including through the Catchment Action Plan (Cap). He also helped "get the ball rolling" for a targeted ORC rate to assist large-scale conservation projects throughout Otago. "I realised through Covid when we got involved in helping out community conservation groups there are awesome people that are making a great difference to the environment, but it's all boot strapping. "It's sausage sizzles and trying to keep themselves ... volunteering, but you really need to have scale ... to actually make a big difference." He believes there's huge opportunity for ORC to work more closely with community groups and businesses "for the good of everybody". "What I've seen with the people and the engagement they're trying to do through the [Cap], the connections they're making and wanting to [build] with the community, I think is really impressive. "Now it's about starting to deliver that stuff ... we can do better, we can make a difference, and if the community works together, that's possible." Hollyer also thinks should the regional deal eventuate, involving Queenstown and Central Otago district councils and ORC, it's important to have local voices around the ORC table. "I think I can bring a really good understanding of tourism, and what it takes to get conservation projects done." He notes, too, Queenstown, in particular, has a "big responsibility" as it pertains to the headwaters. "What we do up here, that goes into the water and ... goes into much of Otago. "We need to step up and acknowledge that, and get better connected with the whole region." Nominations trickle in As of yesterday afternoon, Glenorchy's John Glover remains the only official Queenstown mayoral candidate, while first-term councillor Melissa White's officially seeking re-election in her Arrowtown-Kawarau ward. Fellow first-termer Gavin Bartlett's again been nominated for the Queenstown-Whakatipu ward, as has local lawyer Stephen Brent, who's seeking election for the first time. Nominations close on August 1.
