Contact Your Councillor

This election has so far been the most digital and social on many levels. 

You can engage with me on Facebook, Twitter, I have my own Blog, I am listed on websites as representatives for constituents and sectors, and you can even Google my name. 

But you can still always get hold of me the old fashioned way.

It doesn't matter what medium we use, as long as we have a conversation.

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Whangarei District Council      

     

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Why am I standing for Council?

Why am I standing for Council?

We have challenges and many opportunities.

We need people that recognise opportunities and will act, instead of forever dithering around.

We do not have the luxury to waste opportunities like “Hundertwasser” and subsequent Hotel development and the “Cruise ship” opportunity. If we dither we lose. (remember the Kelly Tarlton proposal for the Bay ?) We need action, create jobs and built our economy.

We need to do more with less, sharpen our pencils, improve our services, encourage sustainable development, look after small communities, grow the pie and be more “enabling”

Develop and look after our infrastructure and environment to create a District where everyone can prosper. We’ve done lots, we need to do more.  All about balance.

I have a passion, understanding and energy  for this process, experience with the system,  a significant network, commitment and a track record of achievement.

To achieve better outcomes I need your vote for positive progress!

Whangarei Leader insert - Election Campaign 2013

I’m standing for re- election to represent the Hikurangi/Coastal Ward with more determination than ever.

Being on WDC is a commitment. Moving our District forward is a requirement.

We all know our social statistics are not the best and our infrastructure needs are costly. With a capped debt level we need to” grow the pie” in order to meet our demands.

Our businesses are straining, our job opportunities limited and yet the district is brimming with potential.

There now is a choice to stand still or to move forward in a positive direction. I believe Council should be more enabling for smart growth and job creation. We also have to learn to do “more with less” and integrate technology more in our sometimes ancient processes.

Integrated environmental thinking, working on our unique opportunities and working as one team on Council will make a positive difference.

Look at our opportunities; Sub-tropical climate, close to Auckland, great coastline, productive farming, shake free, great sporting facilities plus some great infrastructure!

Now we need a team that will move forward without dithering. We have choices that will either move us forward, or, be “possums in the headlights”.

If we want jobs for our children, better education and other services we need to realise we have to provide an environment that people want to live in and move to.

We currently have a number of choices that could “kick start” our economy.

The “Hundertwasser” centre, the needed 4 star” Hotel development” and “Cruise ship” market are just some areas where we should get on with the job. Remember Paihia rejecting “Kelly Tarlton” from their waterfront?

Our expenditure, as set out in our LTP, is balanced and enabling. We should stop dithering!

I have a track record of success in business, governance roles in decades of community organisations, innovation, marketing and achieving results plus a wide network of people and businesses throughout NZ.

In Council however you need the right team players to make progress. The lessons learnt in my first term will enable me to do more for you and our District.

If you want positive progress, please vote for Jeroen Jongejans

Councillor's Corner - August 2013

With elections coming closer, a little reflection upon what has happened in our district in the last 3 years Roading has had a lot of activity, the Spedding road link, the Porowini Ave extension, the new Lower Hatea River crossing all have assisted in reducing congestion.

Significant expenditure on waste water works, upgrading of the Kioreroa waster water plant plus the Hatea and Okara pump stations preventing uncontrolled waste water spills.

Smaller items, but important nevertheless have been the John Street car park refurbishment, revitalized town basin, the heritage art trail, the Hub and the Canopy bridge.

With the completion of the new bridge the construction of the walk/ cycleway around the inner Harbour is now under construction plus seven new sportsfields are under development including a needed third turf for Hockey.

Last year our Capex spend was 90% on hard infrastructure, 10% on soft which includes social infrastructure such as parks and community services.

After successfully hosting the RWC in 2011 we now also have 4 games in the under 20FIFA World Cup games.

On a local level we have had road and safety improvements, the Sandspit ownership transfer,walkways upgrades and the Tutukaka Marina boat ramp reconstruction to name a few.

But there is more that needs to be done, the car parking issue around the boat ramp in summer, the construction of more walkways ( including making access to the Mermaid Pools safer, with appropriate signage to acknowledge history and safety issues), the sea wall and skatepark in Ngunguru , and progressing the cycleway proposal from our Ratepayers association.

Our submission on the recreational and commercial fishing limits focusses on the importance of fishing on our coast, and the need to get balanced proportions in cuts if needed from both sectors.

The economic benefit and opportunity from an enhanced fisheries in the sport sector is too often overlooked, the value to our economy of a fish caught by a visitor compared by the commercial sector is many fold more and should be better acknowledged and taken into account when we are just looking at the economics of this proposal.

With larger planes (Q 300) now flying twice a day into Whangarei, which will increase from February to four times a day, we are getting better connected to the rest of the world with prices coming down to a more realistic level .

The next three years will see the completion of our Integrate Transport Strategy, continued waste water plant upgrades, water projects to ensure drought resilience, the Town Basin car park to park conversion, upgrades of coastal structures, CBD "sense of place" improvements and a lot more positive projects.

The Tutukaka Coast PolarBear festival organized by Tutukaka Coast Promotions has been very successful and no doubt this annual event will grow bigger every year. The timing is fantastic, when business activities are at a annual low, this event injects a "taste of summer" and a strengthened community.

Well done to everyone involved!

Councillor's Corner - March 2013

As reported in the last Focus, local government reform is underway like a bullet train!

Options are widely publicised in local papers and websites, half ways of April submissions are due and from there a proposal for reform will be formulated.

We can all submit on that and then....a final proposal will come forward which, if demanded by 10% of people may become the final proposal where we can all vote for or against...

And if that is not enough you can also look forward to local body elections in October, however, before that you can also submit on next year’s Annual Plan!

The draft Annual Plan was adopted in March by Council, you have until the 26^th April to put in a submission on this plan, hearings will be in May and adoption of the Plan end of June.

There is a “highlights” document which is a very readable 8 pager which sets out recent events, changes from the “Long Term Plan”, the key projects, capital program and proposed amendments.

You may see this in the next “Report” or pick up a copy from WDC 

Having been around the Council table for just 2.5 years I do think this is a responsible plan which focuses on debt control, infrastructure and managed growth, balancing all the needs and wishes of the various sectors in our community!

I’ve also learned that the volume of paperwork we read through per annum has a metric volume equivalent, ie for every year another stack of 1 m high paperwork for our entertainment!

It is about time we get some I Pad’s organised as this will save lots of trees and $$!...however, councils are like big ships, they move slow and it takes time to correct their course, in particular with numerous people at the helm, all wanting to go in their direction...

On a local note it was great to see the upgrade of the “War memorial” in Ngunguru, Ken Friend and his team did us all proud and this month’s ANZAC day will be even more special for it.

Whilst this summer has been much better than the last one, the easterlies have still been blowing out of proportion battering our coast with most of the Highs hanging around Wellington...not surprising with all the hot air in that place!

Regardless of that, the car and boat trailer parking in Tutukaka is still an issue, a good summer would see the whole” public green” constantly converted into a car park, something we still intend to address...maybe something for a submission to the Annual Plan, as would be the safety issue around access to the Mermaid Pools and associated dangers..

There will no doubt be many more issues, always good to put them on the table, this “Annual Plan” is once again an opportunity to voice your concerns and support for matters that are important for you!

Thanks to ANZAC’s and others we have this opportunity, don’t take it for granted!

Councillor's Corner - December 2012

Another year has passed, one that has made a great impact with earth quakes and tsunamis, financial turmoil, political instability, elections and a reorganization of the world as we know it.

At the Whangarei District Council we can look back at a year where a great number of projects were successfully finished.

Roading projects were finished and the new bridge has started, wastewater improvements are ongoing, town basin and our new art gallery and information center to name just a few, plus new strategies are in place for extension of the Mall, car parking, cycle and walkways and inner city development.

The Long Term Plan is about to be finalized and from March onwards we will be looking at submissions to this plan.

Nothing ever moves fast in the “Council” world, most decisions are compromises and come to fruition many years later, but we do get the odd fast results.

Looking back at the last year in Council I can report that sometimes I can be happy with progress and the shared vision, other times I wonder how much more hair I can loose and how much greyer I can get…I can tell you it can be quite a roller coaster ride and patience, whilst a virtue, can at times be found with great difficulty…

But at least when you sit around the table you have the opportunity to have a certain amount of influence about the outcome.

Not always straight forward, take the plan to have most of our “noisy” outdoor motor sports moved to one site in Hikurangi. We have a good bit of land there, and we need in the next decade “plan” for the inevitable shift of these activities.

However the increased traffic and possible noise pollution is not attractive to those that live nearby on Gomez Road, very understandable. Long term alternatives are not easily found, so if we can allay some of the negatives we might make some progress.

There is a cost associated with this and we need to make sure that the final outcome is one we can all live with, so a bit of give and take from all parties involved in the process…Democracy at work!

Sometimes we see this process as a hindrance and a negative, we even take it for granted…In other parts of the world people give their lives for this very process, and on that note it is sad to see a low turnout to our elections, more people didn’t vote than people who voted for the new government..

Our process may be flawed, but it is a hell of a lot better than even a benevolent dictatorship….even though sometimes….

For the next month our priorities will be elsewhere, let’s enjoy the coast and make the most of the holiday….after that there will be much more of the same, if we are lucky!

For those in business, let’s hope it is a long dry hot summer so we can survive the next winter!

Best wishes for the Christmas/New year period

JJ

Councillor's Corner - November 2012

A surge of activity before the Christmas break, or rather, the handbrake is being pulled on a significant amount of planned expenditure!

All the great plans we have dreamed up are being delayed in order to keep the debt levels to the level we have committed ourselves to.

The lack of property sales which were planned and subsequently the lack of cash has meant an adjustment to activities.

We probably didn’t get it quite right on the property sales front. What we thought as a Council (and our valuers) what the value of the property portfolio is, was not agreed to by those who wanted to purchase and their valuers.

The balance in looking after maximising the value for the ratepayers and  what the market is able to pay have not matched up....

As a result we go to arbitration to have the values set by an independent party which will take place in April and as a consequence of this property sales have been put on halt.

As a Council we have cut spending, however  the” let contracts” plus the highest priorities are still happening, the others have been delayed. We will still be spending over $50 million in Capex this year, which is in reality the level we have been spending on average in the last 5 years.

On another note, after 2 years of consultation and research we finally are in a position to alter the designation of the property 8-10 Dent Street to be able to offer the site for a Hotel development, a bit of infrastructure which is very much needed in the Whangarei District...

At least this door has been opened, no doubt it will be some years before anything will actually happen! One thing I am learning at Council, nothing goes fast!

Property owners on the Coast will have received their latest QV which will be used by Council to set your rates. Whilst a lot of residential properties have gone down about 10%, the commercial sector has gone down 7% and industrial a whopping 26%.

As the general rates collected (approx $47 million) are set in “silo’s”, (Residential 61%, commercial 29% and rural 10%) the fluctuations with the QV are set within these sectors.

In other words, just because your QV has gone down, that doesn’t mean your rates will go down!

Worst effects will be on commercial, where in that sector industrial has gone down more that 27%, the result will be that commercial will have to go up to compensate for this and achieve the same 29% of the general rates contribution!

If you are unhappy with your QV make sure you address this before the 20^th December with Quotable Value (0800 787 284)

On a brighter note, the sun is out and the summer is coming! A long Indian summer is my wish for the Coast, we need one after the last miserable 12 months!

Enjoy!

Councillor's Corner - April 2012

Debt and Progress?
The flurry of submissions to the 10 year plan is over, next time for deliberations and decisions...

For ratepayers it is important to know what is happening, how much we will spend and what the priorities are. No doubt you will have made your views known with your or your community’s submission!

Looking back, the debt has significantly increased in the last decade, we are now no 7 in the list of all 67 councils in NZ.

This is not always comparing apples with apples as some districts have invested heavily in infrastructure such as roads and sewerage whilst others may still face those costs.

The plan is to cap the debt for the next 10 years and keep them well inside the policy limits....watch this space!

Our debt per capita is no 17, our rates per capita are no 44 from the top.

Increases over the last decade were on average 10%, the new plan is planning to have them kept at 3.5 % per annum.

Over the next 10 Year the WDC is looking at spending close to $496 million in capital works, most on transportation, waste, drainage and water plus Parks and Recreation.

We should get our share of this on the coast as well, walking tracks, coastal structures etc that are an important part of why we live here!

The news is looking good for the District, with the NZ Refining company expanding and renewing and thereby creating up to a thousand jobs, the Oracle America’s Cup team stationed around Bream Bay, the inner city improvements with a new focus on “the water heart” and ongoing road improvements to our coast we may be in a better position to attract visitors (= business and jobs) to our coastal paradise.

But we will need to do better still, I’m worried to see the increase in “for lease” signs in downtown Whangarei, businesses are still struggling, no one is having an “easy” time!

All we need is to get a “normal” summer next year, I, for one, am truly sick of the swells and the easterlies that have been pounding our shores, seemingly relentlessly....if only council could fix that!

Councillor's Corner - November 2011

The Waikato Anchor Ceremony
On 20/11

In the year  2011

@20.11hrs an historic event took place in Tutukaka

Sunset at 20.11hrs we gathered to welcome the second anchor to the foreshore of Tutukaka, opposite her counterpart of the ex HMNZS Tui.

11 years since we brought the Waikato down to final resting place, 11 years ago the anchor was dropped for the last time!

A few months ago the anchor was lifted from the sea to commemorate the sinking of the ex HMNZS a decade earlier.

Whilst we managed to get the anchor of the ex HMNZS Tui out in time for her 10 year celebration, the Waikato’s anchor proved to be more elusive! So not in time for the 10 year celebration, but in time for another audacious date! (20/11 2011,20.11)

With the help of tech divers , the RNZ Navy, Tutukaka Coast promotion volunteers and Total Marine we finally priced her of the seafloor a few months ago.

After hours of grinding and polishing she was lifted in place, welded up and got her coats of Penatrol, which will keep her looked tanned without oxidizing away.

Looking back a decade ago the world was a different place, and so was Tutukaka.

The vision of these projects to create the “Dive Capital” of NZ paid off, but since that time other communities got into the sinking act as well. The frigate “Wellington” went to Wellington, the “Canterbury” was about to go alongside the Waikato (“brothers in arms”), however government interference saw her placed in the Bay of Islands.

I wonder if in the future there will be more ships made available for conversion to artificial reefs, unless a “Rena” takes place, it will be unlikely.

The cost of the Waikato project was close to $800,000.00 without financial assistance from Government.

In Australia all costs are met by the government, making the difficult project a lot easier!

If you ever managed to dive any of our Tutukaka wreck you no doubt will be impressed. The committee that got the project underway had to sign a personal guarantee to a loan of $50,000 from WDC, this was covering a shortfall due to thefts of a lot of the metal that was taken off the ship to pay the bills….

A few years ago we managed to pay the debt of……whilst it was a pain, this downside has always paled into insignificance compared with the excitement of sinking a ship with a team of friends: Sonny Wellington, Peter Vink, Malcolm Pullman, Andy Britton and Jeroen Jongejans will forever carry a big smile of their face when they think back….the risks were great, however the rewards and exciting memories are  even bigger!

There is nothing more motivating in life when someone tells you it can’t be done…..we never took NO for an answer!

Councillor's Corner - August Focus 2011

Rugby world cup arrived in Whangarei! Paint the town Red!

On the 8^th of September,  the “Hub” will be opened and within this new Hub there is the (now double in size) Whangarei Art Museum and new downtown information center plus the new bus stop.

First exhibition in the new WAM building will be “All Blacks, Hard on the heels” from Peter Bush, acknowledged as the world’s best and most accomplished photographer of Rugby.

Also the new art and heritage trail, the new cover on the Victoria Street Bridge canopy, extended walkways and soon a number of options will be presented for the Town Basin park area.

In the next three years the focus will be on the development of “Sense of Place” in the Town Basin and CBD, connecting both with extended malls and canopies, smarter parking and better walking lanes.

The entrance to the city from various roads will also be improved to make our district more welcoming and inviting, rather than just a toilet stop to drive past!

Regarding these upgrades, our Tutukaka Coast will not miss out. Significant upgrades of the information about the Tutukaka Coast and the activities, walkways, accommodation and transport options will be available in both information centers

 From a clean up around our stonewalls in Glenbervie, we are also included in terms of repetition of the welcoming theme along our tourist route with a variety of flags, the improvements of the Tutukaka Boat ramp facilities, the walkway from Matapouri to Whale Bay etc

Besides all these obvious improvements the wastewater treatment still carries a high priority and electronic equipment recycling will now be available as well.

The www.wdc.govt.nz site has all the updates on things like the new proposed  Parking Strategy and the “leader” is always full with other WDC updates.

All and all this month is an exciting and early start to our summer. Games are in Whangarei on the 14^th and 21^st of September, the finals in Auckland on the 23^rd October.

We can expect lots of international visitors on our coast, let’s all make them feel welcome and give a great time to remember.

Councillor's Corner - July Focus 2011

No doubt you will all have been aware of the 2011-2012 Annual Pan proposal that will determine the planned service levels for the year ahead. Those of you that are interested in this stuff will have made submissions, those that aren’t will just have to live with the outcomes!

This assumes that making a submission will have an impact…well, sometimes it does, and it most definitely raises the level of awareness of councilors to our issues. Thanks to those in our community who made submissions and spoke to them, we now have some good results coming out of this process.

The major wins will be the $150.000 for the Tutukaka boat ramp improvement and widening that should start of soon….we will be able to have 2 boats loaded and unloaded at a time, making the process twice as fast….as long as people can back their trailers in a straight line!

The other win is the Ngunguru foreshore protection, $500.000 has been set aside to look at our and 2 other foreshores and start some of the urgent work to protect  and enhance the Ngunguru waterfront.

All going well the  footpath in Shoebridge Crescent will be started soon (I know, it was supposed to be there already…storm damage repairs keep on getting priorities) and an upgrade on the walking track from Matapouri to Whale Bay is on the cards…to be started soon…and so it should be!

The Ngunguru Sandspit is still on the agenda, and Anneke Muilwijk’s  art exhibition in the old Library in Town showed a snapshot of a community that is determined that this is not forgotten!

The consultation on the “Hundertwasser” proposal is generating a good bit of discussion…isn’t that the purpose of any “artwork”?

Preparations for the RWC 2011 are in full swing, this should be able to give all businesses a bit of a boost at a time when they need it most.

Upgrades in the I-Site and on our entrance way into Town may flow on with more visitors on the Twin Coast Discovery route and bring more visitors to Whangarei and our Tutukaka Coast. In Northland we have the lowest GDP in NZ and are winners in all the wrong statistics. I will be working within WDC to drive economic development, become more “enabling” for those that want to set up or enlarge a business, improve facilities and get better outcomes for our community….Whenever we feel like things are not quite what we would like let’s spare a thought of the tribulations in Christchurch… with all our challenges our glass is still more than half full!

Cheers,  

Jeroen