The Methven Community Board held its final meeting for 2023 this week, so it’s timely to look forward to the festive season and say Happy Holidays everyone.

Methven is the centre of our world and those who live here are proud of their town and work hard to make it an attractive place, whether that is volunteering time and skills, or building a business that provides goods and services that are needed.

Our patch is a popular place in winter and summer, and it’s good to see visitor numbers building again. Some might be tempted to take the inland route because of a Council promotion that is all over social media at the moment, inviting visitors to explore our space – whether they want to soak in hot pools or find an adrenalin fix on a mountainbike!

Some will be visiting family and they will see how Methven has changed and grown, and has an exciting future.

The community board has an important role to play in making sure Methven has the infrastructure to cope with that growth and road cones around the town mean that work is in progress, whether it is water pipes being renewed or new footpaths laid.

Now it a good time to tell Council the value of our community board as there is a representation review under way. The review is asking people to be vocal about how they wish to be represented locally, ahead of the next local government elections in 2025.

The review includes topics such as the number of local councillors, wards, Maori representation and boundaries for the Methven Community Board. The community board will be making its own submissions on the review, and we think there is much to be gained from the board’s continued existence – I encourage you to make your own thoughts known in a survey that is open until 17 December.

It’s a challenging job at times – we must meet high public expectations while delivering services in an efficient way and keeping rates low. Our community board is an important link to Council and helps inform their decisions on the issues that matter to us.

Like drinking water. It was a monumental occasion to see Methven’s new water membrane plant up and running earlier this year – that means the end of boil water notices when the river is in flood – and two new reservoirs will help manage peak demand in summer and winter.

Enjoy the holidays! Come up the road and visit us.