There’s so many people working quietly away at making our communities better places to live, often with little recognition and no pay – which we want to publicly acknowledge and thank for their service with our Community Service Awards.

It’s our way of giving some well-deserved recognition to these unsung heroes of our communities.

Criteria to be eligible is

• The person must be a resident in the District at the time the services were rendered.
• The services for which a person is nominated must be related to activity within our District, or activity directly benefiting the District.
• Awards will not be made where people have been rewarded in some other form for their service by recognition, by presentation of some alternative honour, by organisational service award, or by payment of wages for services rendered.
• Awards will not be presented posthumously.
• An Award may recognise outstanding long term service to a community organisation(s); or
• Any other activity or action which is considered worthy of award by the Community Board.

There will be two awards for each Community Board area, and each Community Board will make decisions for their area.

The awards ceremony will be at our Council meeting in December

Download the nomination form here and send it back to us before 1 October.

Get your hands dirty Coromandel Town

There will be a mass planting of 100 kauri trees this Sunday, 23 August at 415 Albert Street, Coromandel Town. These trees meant to be planted as part of the Coromandel 200 events in June.

The number of trees is the same amount the log books of HMS Coromandel show she took back to England.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions the trees weren’t able to be planted when planned and the organisers now need help to urgently get the trees in the ground, so they're established before summer, to survive.

There’s no need to bring anything, just a willingness to help.

Take note of other projects happening near you

Brophys Beach (Ohuka Beach) - We need to carry out some maintenance on the geotech wall from 1 September – 27 September, followed by a community dune planting day. During this time, the footpath, parking and boat ramp will be blocked off (location outlined above).

Buffalo Beach - Maintenance will also be taking place from Wednesday 26 August (weather permitting) on the Buffalo Beach rock wall as recent inspections have identified some damage and rock movement due to a series of easterly storms and large swells. Work will happen at low tide over 10 days.

Robinson Road boat ramp - A reminder that now the upgrade of this facility is finished that trailer boat parking fees are now in place - tcdc.govt.nz/boatramps.

Community planting days - Dune restoration planting dates for this season can be found here.

Road works - You can view a summary of scheduled weekly roading activities in our district on our website - tcdc.govt.nz/roading.

Whangapoua boat ramp upgrade - Work is schedule to start on site today to address the cracks appearing in the ramp and the fact the two ramps were historically poured at different levels. The new ramp will eliminate these issues, along with the addition of a pontoon (Stage two, scheduled for 2022/2023). All this work will make the boat ramp more user-friendly for boaties.

Kuranui BBQ kiosk - The barbeque kiosk is closed to the public for repairs, however, it should be finished this week (weather permitting).

Whangamata wharf - The gantry and hoist has been removed from the wharf for refurbishment and will be reinstalled by Labour Weekend.

Whangamata boat ramp - The replacement of the fractured pontoon guide pole is expected to be reinstated late August, subject to weather conditions.

Dune erosion - Due to the recent storm events our dunes have eroded on the East Coast. We have been receiving a few enquiries about this. Our Coastal Scientist Jamie Boyle shared some great points about our dunes and why this has happened which you can read here.

Council meetings

Over the past fortnight our Community Boards and Emergency Management Comittee met.

All meetings are recorded and posted online to our Council website or click below to read the highlights from the meetings:

• Emergency Management Comittee
• Mercury Bay Community Board
• Coromandel-Colville Community Board
• Thames Community Board
• Whangamata Community Board
• Tairua-Pauanui Community Board

Upcoming meetings:

• Audit and Risk Committee meeting, Wednesday 26 August in the Council Chambers, Mackay St, Thames.

Hey skaters and scooters

A friendly reminder to our local scooter and skateboard riders to please be considerate of others and keep off street town furniture and paths.

We’ve got some great skate projects and facilities across our district where you can safely ride without disrupting others and damaging furniture - tcdc.govt.nz/skate.

Level 2 and you

Our District is at Alert Level 2.

With the COVID-19 alert level remaining at level 2, we are seeing a number of events being cancelled or postponed. We will be updating our events pages with any postponements or cancellations. This information can be found here.

If you are attending any of the events in our district please remember to keep yourself safe, practice social distancing, good hand washing and utilise the COVID-19 tracking app.

• Translations of essential information are available in 16 different languages on the COVID-19 website
• Up-to-date Alert Level information is on the COVID-19 website
• The COVID-19 Public Health Response (Alert Levels 3 and 2) Order 2020 outlines current restrictions and requirements
• Call Healthline if you have symptoms 0800 358 5453
• Need to talk? Call or text 1737
• Report breaches of self-isolation 105.police.govt.nz
• Get the latest information on the official website or Facebook
• For regular email updates, subscribe here

Road Safety

Thames cycle skills - The free adult cycle skills course is taking place Friday 28 August and Thursday 3 September.

• You will need a road worthy bike and an approved helmet
• Learn what ‘pedal ready’ means
• How to stay safe when your cycling
• What to look for to check your bike
• Designed for adults who can ride a bike

Spaces are limited, call us on 07 868 0200 to book.

Coromandel surf life saving clubs to benefit from $50 billion COVID Response Fund

Four Coromandel surf clubs have been given funding from the government’s $50 billion COVID Response and Recovery Fund (CRRF).

The money is to be used to build infrastructure facilities and will replace funds that were unable to be raised due to COVID-19 restrictions and the loss of traditional funding and fundraising opportunities.

The projects announced this week are:

• Pauanui Surf Life Saving Club - $676,000
• Tairua Surf Life Saving Club - $699,000
• Onemana Surf Life Saving Club - $317,000
• Hot Water Beach Surf Lifesaving Club $120,000

Funding was also announced for two clubs in Tauranga and Port Waikato and to build an Eastern Region Rescue Centre located in Mt Maunganui, to be the hub of Surf Life Saving New Zealand’s eastern region operations.

Our Economic Development update

Our Thames-Coromandel economy has taken one of the hardest hits from the COVID-19 pandemic, fresh data reveals. Click here to read more including the following topics in our latest Economic Development update:

• Infometrics Quarterly Economic Monitor
• Visitor spending hotspots - Marketview July data
• Business sentiment survey - out now
• Free business advisor drop-in sessions return
• Business profile - Driiving Creek Railway
• Kopu marine precinct gets PGF funding boost
• Events update
• Waikato Economic Radar
• Sports organisations offered support
• Visitor Information Centre hours

Microchip Monday and the microchipping service we offer is on hold until we return to Alert Level 1 - tcdc.govt.nz/microchipping.

© Scoop Media