We have so many talented people and achievements to celebrate in the Tararua District.

Congratulations to Barbara Ferguson on receiving a Tararua District Civic Honour and it is with great pleasure to announce we will award another shortly to Charlie Timu who contributes so much to our community also.

We have enjoyed our Tararua Sports Awards and acknowledging so many successes and talented athletes, coaches and administrators. It was wonderful to see David Buick receive the Supreme Sportsperson Award. David is leading the way in his sport and has given so much to shearing. Our congratulations to him and all our winners.

We have also celebrated the Tararua Farm Excellence Awards where we have many great farmers and industry leaders. We were fortunate to have two finalists in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards and congratulations to Waka Dairies for leading the way and taking out so many awards.

It is important to celebrate success and sometimes singing from the rafters about it, is not our strength but we certainly have much to be proud of on a regional and national scale. We love our sport and we are great farmers that produce top quality food in working with our environment.

None of these awards and celebrations are possible without the generosity and support from our business community and we are grateful for their sponsorship. Local businesses are doing it tough right now and really need our local support in return whenever we can.

At Council, we are continuing to consult and engage on Local Water Done Well and seeking your thoughts on joining with Wairarapa Councils to create a new water organisation that is bigger and more focussed, or continue with our current approach that we expect will cost more in the long-run for our customers and ratepayers.

Successive Governments have been trying to improve how local councils deliver water services. The current system is facing higher costs to manage and deliver new service levels, replace old infrastructure, and increase capacity for population growth. Weather events are also becoming more intense, making it harder for the existing infrastructure to cope. Expectations are increasing, and affordability issues are making the case for change.

Engagement so far has been slow and we would like to see and hear more from you on this significant change to how we fund, deliver and charge for water services.