Youth council term begins
The Hurunui Youth Council and Youth Committee met for the first time in Hanmer over the weekend.
It was the first time the 11 council members and six committee members met together to plan for the year ahead.
Members of both groups also met with Mayor Winton Dalley and councillors Julia McLean and Geoff Shier.
Jess Kerr, the new Hurunui District Council (HDC) youth programme coordinator, said it was an awesome beginning to the year. ‘‘It was good to get to know everybody and learn what the expectations were.’’
The committee, which got to ‘‘do all the fun stuff’’, organised youth events for the district, Kerr said.
Hurunui Youth Council coordinator and HDC planner Scott Rose said the weekend had been a good start for youth councillors as well.
‘‘It went well, we had 10 of the 11 youth councillors there and we had time with the mayor and the councillors associated.’’
Rose said this year’s youth councillors were fortunate to be joined by fourth term councillor Sean Ryan.
He said he wanted to see the Youth Council develop and run like the HDC, consulting with staff on projects from a youth perspective.
‘‘It’s certainly important. I look back on last year’s agendas and they were well integrated with the council.’’
Kerr said spending the weekend was a good way to start the new year and the group had got more out of it than if they had ’’spent a couple of hours together’’.
Two members of last year’s Youth Committee also returned, Kerr said, bringing experience and support for the new coordinator and new members.
She said the youth committee was keen to organise accessible activities for Hurunui youth and bring people together by forming connections between the district’s often distant townships.
They were planning a ski weekend as well as the annual Easter Camp and formals, Kerr said. ‘‘If there’s a need, we might do a movie night or a pool party in between.’’
To finish off the year, the Youth Committee were planning a cube party – a UV paint dance party in a tent.
‘‘We’ve done it for the end of exams, so it’s a bit of an end of year wrap up,’’ Kerr said.