Submission Due Tomorrow

From 10.30 thursday the council will be sitting to hear submissions and the courthouse reclassification of reserve

Council Seeks Mediation in Courthouse Dispute

http://www.rangdc.govt.nz/

Rangitikei District Council resolved at its Council meeting on 27 August 2009 to seek mediation

with Bulls & District Enterprises (BDE) in relation to the old courthouse in Bulls.

Mayor Chalky Leary said ‘There has been a lot of misinformation circulating, and we really want

to people to be aware of the facts.  Letters to the Editor are opinions, but often people believe

them to be factual.  Council is guided by the requirements of the Reserves Act in this matter.’

To clear up some of the misinformation, Council advises:

    * The courthouse was vested in Council, as a reserve, to be used for community building

purposes.   The Council leased the property to BDE, and the original use of the building complied

with the requirements of the Reserves Act.  Over time there has been a change in the tenants that

BDE subleased the building to.
    * The Reserves Act requires rental to be used to benefit reserves.  BDE have not used the

income in this way – whilst the community has benefited from BDE’s work, it is not lawful in

terms of the Reserves Act.
    * Council resolved to terminate its lease with BDE because agreement could not be reached

with BDE to comply with the law.  Council had not been able to correct the matter earlier,

because BDE had a sublease in place with Scully’s Lavender, which they were entitled to rely on.
    * Council has been endeavouring to resolve the matter since October last year, when BDE

sought approval to enter a new lease with Scully’s Lavender.  It regrets that BDE has brought

legal proceedings.
    * Council recognises the value of the Scully’s Lavender & Gift Shop to Bulls.  If the reserve

classification was altered to historic reserve a commercial enterprise could tenant it.  (The

Minister of Conservation is required to approve such a change.)
    * However, the income from the tenant would have to be paid to Council’s reserve fund.  That

fund is separate from general rates, and can only be applied to reserves.

Bulls and District Enterprises does a great deal for the community in Bulls.  Council hopes to

resolve this matter by meeting with BDE and working through a mediation process.

Mum to the Rescue 

By SIMON WOOD - The Dominion Post  24/04.2009

While other parents are cooking dinner or running errands, Sian Nichols will be ditching her children at the sound of a siren and rushing off to fight fires.

The mother of two youngsters is one of a growing number of women stepping forward as volunteer fire brigades become more stretched.

Attracting fulltime mothers is one of the solutions the Fire Service is looking at to alleviate a shortage of volunteers during working hours in small towns.

Resources are especially thin in remote communities in Northland and the East Coast, with some stations running with fewer than half the volunteers they should have on call during the day.

"There are stations where it's becoming really dire, particularly during the day, because people are travelling [away from town] for jobs," service spokeswoman Heather Clark said.

"It's about coming up with ways to address that."

Ms Nichols, who has begun training at Bulls, volunteered because she wanted to help in her community.

The Bulls station has 18 volunteers 10 fewer than its complement allows for.

Once Ms Nichols completes her training she will be on call while her children, Ffion, 5, and Rhys, 4, are at school and kindergarten.

During holidays, the brigade has reached an agreement with a nearby creche.

"I can just drop my kids off there if I need to," Ms Nichols said.

Other stations are experimenting with ways to make volunteering more attractive.

At Northland's Te Kopuru station, volunteers come to the station to look after children when mothers are called out to jobs.

Inferno guts Bulls house

By BRONWYN TORRIE - Manawatu Standard 17/04/2009

Neighbours frantically banged on doors of a burning defence force house in Bulls to see if the family of four were trapped inside.

Two men, who did not want to be named, rapped on the front and back doors of the Hudson Ave house and yelled through the windows but it was too hot to enter.

No one was in the house.

One of the men, who lives next door, had just got out of bed to eat breakfast yesterday when he saw the lounge and parents' bedroom ablaze.

He had lived next to the family with two young children for two months.

Another next- door neighbour woke to the crackling sounds of the blaze.

The woman, who did not want to be named, looked out of her window and saw flames licking the side of the house and out of the collapsed roof.

"I started to panic . . . I came outside to see the house fully on fire."

By the time two Bulls volunteer fire appliances arrived about 7.30am the blaze had taken hold of the house, chief fire officer Brian Carter said.

Mr Carter saw a big plume of smoke from the fire as he drove towards the blaze.

"Our main panic was the fact that there were people living in the place and there was no evidence of them."

He eventually tracked down the parents and spoke to them over the phone.

The mother was in Turakina with the two children and the father was in Linton, Mr Carter said.

"They're distraught . . . they've lost everything."

A fire appliance from Ohakea Airforce base attended the scene. All houses on Hudson Ave belong to the defence force and are occupied by Royal New Zealand Airforce staff, spokesman Andrew Gordon said.

It took two hours to douse the fire and the cause is under investigation. Mr Carter said about 80 per cent of the weatherboard house was structurally damaged in the blaze, and parts of the concrete tile roof had fallen in.

Bulls Youth Group Formed

Submitted by Tyrone Barker

From the Bulls Vision meeting earlier this year, I was asked to see if I could get a sub committee together, to look after the "Bulls Youth"
A committee has been formed with myself as chairman,Erena Hill Jnr & Felicity Barker as Deputy Chairpersons, Stacie Holland & Gail Wood Secretaries, Neil Curgenven Treasurer,& committee members Lisa Yeates, Kim Holland, Puala Bundle, Jo Mead, Emma Lewin, Courtney Bundle, Margeret Robinson, Dave Fraser, Toni Nicholson. Toni is also the Ohakea Base Welfare Facilitator.
For our first project we are going to have a teenage rave at the Bulls Rugby Clubrooms on 13th December following the Chritmas parade and family day at the Domain. This is open to High School aged teenagers.

Rangitikei Business Award 7th Nov 2008

Bulls business with 4 of our businesses winning awards.  Congratulations to Pritchards Joinery, Bulls Medical Centre, Central House Movers and The Mothered Goose. Judged by Massey University these awards were a night of celebration, and the place was buzzing with energy and anticipation prior to the announcements, and it was great to have shared this night with all the people from Bulls who attended.  It was amazing moment when Central House Movers was announced as the Supreme Award Winner for 2008.  It was a fine affair, and I would also like to congratulate the Rangitikei District Council, Vicky Dombroski and her team for putting on a topclass event.  I would have to say that this was one of the best functions that I have been to all year.  Ginette McDonald was so much fun and a great choice for the evening.  To those who didnt win awards, you have to be proud of the fact that you entered and were part of this and the things that you have learned from the experience.  I know there will be a lot of celebrating with staff etc.  Staff were highlighted in the acceptance speeches, in that they were very much a part of their success in business.  Well done all of you.

Smoke Alarms For Bulls Houses

The Bulls and District Lions and the Bulls Volunteer Fire Brigade are currently installing smoke alarms in Bulls.So far this project has installed alarms in the Northern sector of Bulls which is the Marton side of SH1/3.We are currently working on the Western side and we hope to have this area covered by April 2009.This project will have alarms installed in all private dwellings,with one each bedroom and hallway.There is no cost to the home owner as the Lions and Pub Charity have covered the cost with assistance from the Bulls and District Enterprise (Inc).