Pahiatua's Town Square upgrade showing the signage.
A look back at the origins of Pahiatua on Track Inc.
Pahiatua Community Board agreed in 2004 to take a proposal to the community that the board be disbanded and replaced with a Community Committee. The rationale behind this decision was the fact that community boards, as members of Local Government New Zealand, are unable to apply for external funding and had to depend solely on the annual grant from Tararua District Council.
The board felt they were missing many opportunities for funding that are available to organisations with a legal status such as incorporated societies and trusts.
A public consultation meeting was called and about 40 people attended the meeting, held at the Pahiatua Service Centre.
After much debate, the decision was put to the vote and ratified - and so Pahiatua's Community Committee was formed.
Then began the drive to form a committee that could represent the people of Pahiatua and surrounding rural areas. Nominations were called for and a number of locals came forward, some from the now-defunct community board, and some fresh new blood to form a solid core group to take this forward.
The name Pahiatua On Track was chosen, a constitution drafted and members signed up, and an application was made to the Incorporated Society Register and was duly granted.
Pahiatua on Track has been functioning successfully for the past 17 years and now the time seems right to look at changing the name to better reflect the aims and aspirations of the group, aligning it with both Explore Pahiatua and the new business group that is in the process of being set up.
The aim is uniformity, bringing together these three separate identities to work together for the benefit of the whole community.
A drive is under way to attract new members to the committee and to this end, nominations are being called for the board at the Annual General Meeting. At this meeting also, a decision will be made about the rebranding of the Community Committee to better reflect the aims and aspirations of the group.
Councillor Alison Franklin is assigned already to the committee to represent Tararua District Council and in that capacity, she has agreed to take on the role of reporting meetings in the Bush Telegraph following each monthly meeting.
"It is important that the committee keep the public up to date with the many projects carried out currently by Pahiatua On Track, and our local newspaper is by far the best platform to share the organisation's goals and aspirations with the community at large," said Alison.
Current chairwoman Louise Powick is very keen to see a direct connection between Explore Pahiatua, the new business group and the community committee.
"We are all focused on the one end goal and that is working together across the three groups to ensure that our community is well served, while being kept informed of all activities. This is something that hasn't really happened in the past and we are very aware of how important it is to our residents," Louise said.
The next big project is the annual Christmas Parade, which this year is being completely revamped to be a twilight event. By shifting the event to the evening, Pahiatua won't clash with any other districts' parades. A twilight food market is being planned, making use of the newly upgraded centre gardens with stunning lighting and wide open spaces, a children's concert and other entertainment.