The fire alarm system in the replacement Raglan Wharf building is not connected to a monitoring service and the fire brigade. At the February meeting of the Raglan Community Board, Mr Ashby queried whether the wharf building had been issued with a code compliance certificate. At the March meeting of RCB on Tuesday 12th March, Board members were amazed to learn that not only did the building not have a Code Compliance Certificate, but the reason for the non compliance was that the fire alarm system was not connected to the brigade.
The wharf building burnt down in a disastrous fire in April 2010. Right from the early design stages, the Raglan Community Board insisted that the building have a fire alarm system and a fire design. Board Member, Barry Ashby said he was shocked that the Ngaruawahia based Council had opened and tenanted the Raglan Wharf building without a fully operational fire alarm system. He asked Mr Whittaker, the Council staff representative to give urgency to connecting the alarm and to give the Board regular updates on progress. The other Board members supported Mr Ashby’s statement and request.
It is understood that the alarm can not be connected as Telecom contractors Chorus and Gen-i need to provide additional connections to the building. To allow itself to tenant the building, Waikato District Council issued itself with a ‘Certificate of Public Use’. The non-compliant building was officially opened by Waikato District Mayor Sanson on 6 Aug 2012 assisted by WDC Chief Executive Gavin Ion
Well I think is terrible and it sounds like the Waikato District Council are a law unto themselves:(
WDC doesn’t seem to understand that they have to follow their own rules and policies. The museum building is another case where they still have to comply with the conditions of the original consent that they issued to themselves via the independent commissioner. i.e. They have to complete a car park with improved traffic entry south of the museum.
Another example of why WDC needs to follow Thames Coromandel and localise decision making. Who’s interested in making this an election issue and getting candidates to support it in the August-October elections?
I sometimes think that the Community Board has no role, then something like this comes up that would have remained hidden without the Raglan Community Board actively pursuing it.
Yes, I understand it takes persistence to act for the community and reassure residents that the council is representing our best interests. Its not an easy task the community board members have.