Just in time for the busy summer season, the Wairoa District Council has appointed two new Bylaw Enforcement Officers to assist with animal control, bylaw enforcement and monitoring freedom camping.

Johanne Tew originally from Western Australia relocated to Wairoa 12 months ago after spending five years in Gisborne running a small farm.

“I have an extensive background working with animals, stock and dogs with running my own farm. I love living in Wairoa, it’s one of the coolest places I’ve lived in.”

“I know what it’s like working with Council officers. It’s going to be interesting being on the other side of the fence. The Council officers who use to come to the farm to talk to me about my dogs and stock were always respectful and understanding and I want to bring that sort of approach to my work at Council and with the people of Wairoa,” says Ms Tew.

Wairoa local Violet Hammond is looking forward to the new opportunities with working for a Council. “I’ve been in the hospitality industry for the past 19 years and I was keen to look for new challenges. When the opportunity came up to work with the Wairoa District Council I thought it would be good to make the change.”

“Being a local has its advantages too; I already know much of the community and have some really good relationships. I’m really enjoying working with the guys at Council and I think this new role will allow me to work more with the people and community of Wairoa,” says Mrs Hammond.

Ms Tew agrees with the importance of local knowledge, “it’s great that I’ve been able to start alongside Violet, she’s got a lot of local knowledge. For example, we might get a call out to an obscure place out in the back blocks of Putere, and while I might be still trying to find the location on the map, Violet will already know where it is, how to get there and who the people are we will be meeting. I’m looking forward to developing that sort of local knowledge and developing connections with more of the community.”

Regulatory Manager, Helen Montgomery, says “it was important for us to make sure we had a full bylaw enforcement team in place before the busy summer season, particularly given the recent approval of our new freedom camping bylaw.”

“Part of their responsibilities will include the monitoring of freedom camping throughout the district; the new bylaw which is formed under the Freedom Camping Act will allow us to issue infringement notices and fines to anyone breaching the bylaw.”

“It’s important that we don’t have the same situation that we had last year at Oraka and having a properly resourced enforcement team goes a long way to helping us to address issues like this.”

“I’m pleased with how Johanne and Violet have settled in and I’m confident that they will be a great addition to our team,” says Ms Montgomery.

For more information:

Helen Montgomery
Regulatory Manager
Wairoa District Council
(06) 838 7309

7 January 2019

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