Napier’s citizens’ assembly experiment has begun.
More than 600 Napier residents put their names in the hat for 40 positions on the art deco city’s first-ever citizens’ assembly.
A citizens’ assembly is a group of people reflective of the community they live in, brought together to discuss and deliberate on important public questions for their area, town, or city.
Napier’s first citizens’ assembly will discuss the plans for the future of the city’s aquatic centre.
The assembly has a budget of $100,000. This includes the $800 participant fee that each member of the assembly will receive, advertising and promotion, facilitators’ fees, venue hire at the War Memorial Conference Centre, catering, printing of resources, delivery of invitations to join the assembly to Napier households, bus hire for the tour of the aquatic facilities, video works, New Zealand sign language communicators and the sortition process.
The group will meet over the next three Saturdays to answer the question “what type of aquatic facility would best meet the needs, values, and priorities of the Napier community and where should it be located?”
A Napier City Council spokesperson said the council will then “endorse” the assembly’s decision and put it before councillors ahead of a formal decision.
Part of the assembly is Alistair Withers, an orchard foreman who lives near the current aquatic centre and visits two to three times a week with his son.
Withers sees that most of the facilities are used by low socio-economic people who live in the area.
“That’s what you see the most down there and it’s good to see, but if we can bring more people into pools and create more funding instead of taking it out of ratepayers then that’ll be great,” he said.
Withers was initially sceptical that the council would listen to the citizens’ assembly, but hearing from council members on Saturday eased his fears a little.
“It’s a bit nerve-wracking when you’re advocating for the rest of the public, you still want that information getting out to them as well,” he said.
Withers said speakers at Saturday’s meeting spoke of the importance of the balance of leisure and play, which he called exciting.
“I know that if there’s playing and leisure for kids at the pool, they’re staying out of trouble,” he said.
Joining Withers on the assembly is nurse Karen MacKenzie, who moved to Napier from Ireland in 1991.
MacKenzie joined to give back to the community, and was interested in the process.
“I think it’s nice to have the community involved with a decision that has been a bit contentious,” she said.
“I imagine the assembly will make some contributions to the notion of what the future of the aquatic centre might look like.
“It won’t probably solve all the issues, but already we’ve got quite a lot of ideas with the location, the cost, and the impact on ratepayers.”
Daniel Penny, a 16-year-old Taradale High School student, joined the assembly to ensure the city’s youth were heard.
The minimum age to join is 16.
“I believe there’s lots of potential in the aquatic centre,” Penny said.
Pennyintends to remain in Napier to work once he has finished his schooling and studies.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier.