Cr Vandervis advocating ways to ease COVID-19 side-effects in Dunedin

Sidelined and silenced by Dave Cull then by Cull's handpicked Mayoral successor Aaron Hawkins, Cr Vandervis - who had by far the largest number of first-choice votes for mayor, by the way - uses social media.

Voters are able to see despite the silencing machine he is not dozing in a comfy Council chair. From comments I have seen online they draw their own conclusions, such as who in City Hall is a marshmallow chainsaw and who isn't.

From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Friday, 20 March 2020 at 9:39 AM
To: Sue Bidrose
Subject: 3 x Notices of motion 

Dear Sue, 

To help reassure our Dunedin citizens I believe we need to move with urgency to confirm the following recommendations to help stem the tide of personal fears, business failures, unemployment, and financial defaults that are now inevitable.

To help ease Coved-19 effects, please include the following 3 Notices of motion in the full Council agenda of 31/03/2020: 

1 – that Council cancel Rates Non-payment Penalties [currently 10%] for the next 12 months to give our citizens an opportunity to defer rates expenses if hardship is claimed.

2 – that Council defer non-essential DCC projects for 12 months but continue with infrastructure projects, especially drainage, to keep local contracting businesses going.

3 – That Council reprioritise the Annual Plan budget: change to ‘Zero Rates Increase’ this year and to ‘Cover Rates Deferment for struggling families and businesses’, to be afforded by deferring non-essential projects including: George st surface treatments, University precinct surface treatments, and Waterfront development.

 Regards,

Cr. Lee Vandervis

[Electronic scanned signature attached]