New council team unveiled

After more than a decade the Queenstown Lakes District Council now has its own ‘parks team’ back ‘in-house’.

“The team is now on board and undergoing training before officially assuming the new role on July 1,” QLDC community services general manager Paul Wilson said.

With the contract that covers parks, reserves and street cleaning, due to expire on the last day of June, the council had been preparing to return the function of a horticulture and street cleaning team back ‘in-house’. A 14-member team had now been engaged to fill the roles of community gardeners and town custodians.

“By bringing the responsibility back into the council and changing the level of service being delivered, the community will see a significant improvement in the appearance of our main town centres and public spaces,” Mr Wilson said.

The other benefit of having a ‘parks team’ of council employed workers back on the streets was the old fashioned ability to give direct feedback.

The four town custodians - one Wanaka-based and three working at Queenstown and Arrowtown - would all be armed with the ability to deal with ‘requests for service’ on the streets.

“The team will have a really visible presence in our communities. We expect people to feedback information to members of the team who in turn will be able to give direct feedback to the council,” Mr Wilson said.

High visibility clothing and some unique equipment would also make the team stand out. “We have three tricycles, which will be mainly used in the gardens in Wanaka and Queenstown, replacing a four-wheel bike and removing the noise factor and the carbon footprint,” Mr Wilson said. The team also had at its disposal a new street cleaner and street cleaning units.

“All the equipment is unique to local government in New Zealand but then we live in a unique environment,” Mr Wilson said.

The entire team would also be trained in rural fire fighting and civil defence.

The team would be officially on the streets from 5am on July 1.