Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Premium
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

The Dannevirke man who wants to start a ratepayers' association

By Leanne Warr
Hawkes Bay Today·
17 Jan, 2022 11:31 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

John Schrader and the footpath that prompted his idea to start the Ratepayers' Association. Photo / Leanne Warr

John Schrader and the footpath that prompted his idea to start the Ratepayers' Association. Photo / Leanne Warr

Frustration over a broken footpath prompted a Dannevirke resident to send out a call to form a ratepayers' association.

John Schrader moved to Dannevirke from Wairarapa nearly three years ago and got off to a bad start when he locked horns with Tararua District Council over something he felt was the council's responsibility.

The footpath outside his front gate was broken, even before he and wife Brenda moved in.

But according to the council, it was his responsibility because it was caused by traffic movement.

His frustration over what he felt was a condescending attitude from the council, plus other issues in the community got him thinking about starting a ratepayers' association.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

There had been one in the Wairarapa so he asked around, even contacting the council and asking customer service about it.

"I don't know," was the reply.

"You'd think the council would know that, wouldn't you?" Schrader said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"So I decided to do something about it."

People had been complaining about water supply issues and the three waters reform, but Schrader felt no one was willing to step up.

He said there was a lot of frustration in the community on the water leak at the Dannevirke impounded supply and the water restrictions.

Last week, the council asked people to conserve water.

Dannevirke was moved to level 4 restrictions this month, which meant a total ban on outdoor use.

However, Schrader said it shouldn't have happened.

"This water issue has been going on, not just for one year, not just for two years. What has been done prior to this?

"They've known that every year it's getting worse and worse with droughts and climate and everything else. They should be up to speed and making that a priority instead of saying to everybody 'you're only allowed to use toothpaste water and turn the tap off when you're doing it'.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"It's ridiculous. It just makes me angry."

He felt ratepayers and residents needed a voice so if there was a common issue, such as footpaths, they could approach council.

"A collective voice comes in and says 'let's get this done'."

He said he didn't want to be known as a "stirrer".

"But if you keep kicking the dog and the dog don't bite back, you're gonna keep kicking the dog."

Schrader posted on social media asking if anyone was interested and had already had quite a few positive comments.

Although he was keen to help kick it off, he wanted to hear from others who had more experience in running a committee and would be willing to take over running the association.

"Let's kick this thing off and let's make the council accountable. Things that should be done and haven't been done and all the excuses in the world are not going to cover it. We're going to have a say in what's going on."

Mayor Tracey Collis said she didn't have an issue with anyone approaching the council and talking about their concerns.

"If you took Eketahuna, you've got the community board there, people will take their issues there and come through to council that way.

"And I guess it's how can they utilise the Dannevirke Community Board because that's a direct link as well."

Collis said the council would be looking to consult over the district strategy shortly and was keen to get good engagement.

She said one of the challenges was around health and safety in meetings because of Covid.

"It's how we connect with everybody so what else can we do to ensure that we are connecting in with all ratepayers? We just have to give additional consideration to how we do that."

Dannevirke Community Board chairman Pat Walshe wasn't sure how a ratepayers' association could work given that people could use the public forum at community board meetings or council meetings.

He suggested that if Schrader had "that many ideas" he should stand for council, or for the community board.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay
Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Some roads remained blocked.

17 Jul 06:02 AM
'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues
Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

17 Jul 04:06 AM
Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

17 Jul 04:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP