What’s been happening...

Jobs for Heretaunga celebration

At the end of June, council joined with the community and contractors to celebrate the completion of a number of roading upgrade projects around the district over the past year, and the employment opportunities that were enabled by Central Government funding.

Held at Waipatu marae, where a major safety project has been underway on SH51 to improve the road, lighting and footpaths, it was an opportunity to acknowledge the work that was enabled through government shovel-ready funding received in August last year.

A key component of the funding was the commitment by both government and council to address rising unemployment numbers due to the COVID-19 crisis.

As such, council partnered with MSD to create local employment opportunities for people who had been displaced, either temporarily or permanently, due to their place of employment being impacted by COVID-19 and/or the Government’s response to it, through its “Jobs for Heretaunga” initiative.

With the funding, improvements have been made to footpaths, the iWay walking and cycling network, and various other safety projects, including on SH51 at Waipatu, which was a joint project with Waka Kotahi NZTA.

Contractors Fulton Hogan, Higgins, ACL, Proseal, Russell Roads, Dodge Contracting, McNatty Construction Ltd, Topline Contracting and Downer had contributed to the projects that were spread across the district, Waipatu being the biggest.

In total the Jobs for Heretaunga project created 48 new jobs.

Overdue fees for children’s library cards dropped

Grab the kids and get them a library card – as of last month overdue fees on children’s library cards are no more.

The removal of children’s overdue charges has come about through the Long Term Plan process and is just one way Hastings libraries are seeking to enable and encourage public access to the rich source of information and learning that the libraries provide.

Hastings libraries routinely welcome over half a million visitors, issue over 600,000 items, host over 110,000 hours of public internet and wifi, and run over 700 events and programmes annually at the libraries in Hastings, Flaxmere and Havelock North.

Parents and caregivers are encouraged to make sure their kids have their own card to use for their items as adult cards will still incur overdue charges.

Get along to your local library, sign the children up for membership, and check out what’s new, and what services, programmes and resources are on offer.

Find out more at www.hastingslibraries.co.nz

New cemetery database

A new database is making it easier to locate people and plots across all four Hastings cemeteries administered by Hastings District Council.

With more than 57,000 records, the cemetery section of the Hastings District Council website is one of the top 10 most visited pages, and with this new specialist cemetery software people will have easy access to even more information.

The system provides satellite maps of the cemeteries at Hastings, Havelock North, Mangaroa and Puketapu, which accurately show the locations of the plots.

With your smart phone you search the person you are looking for on the database and then use GPS in conjunction with Google Maps, which will walk you directly to the grave. You can also download and share directions with others.

As part of the rollout of the new technology, all the photographs of the plots are being updated in the system to help with identifying plots, and this process is ongoing.

Find out more here.

28 July 2021

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