Community coordinator to support fundraising events

Fundraising groups throughout Rodney and the Hibiscus Coast could get a boost in future, thanks to a new regional role created by real estate group Harcourts Cooper & Co.

The company has appointed Hiria Kayes as its community relationship coordinator to support and help with events in the area covered by the seven new branches it acquired last year – Orewa, Whangaparaoa, Silverdale, Millwater, Warkworth, Snells Beach and Matakana.

Kayes, who lives at Manly, will liaise with local agents and organisations to support and help with a range of community fundraising events.

“We can support an event in a number of ways – sometimes it can be with money, it might be our time or with equipment, such as gazebos, or with our Coffee & Cone ice cream and coffee truck,” she says. “It will be a real privilege to cover the northern Auckland region, and meet and assist the people that really work so hard to provide events and raise funding to enrich communities.”

Some of the organisations already being assisted in the region include Harbour Hospice, Youth in Transition, Silverdale Rugby Club, Saving Hope, the Orewa Bike Cruise, Run Orewa and Women’s Centre Rodney.

Kayes joins a team of four – plus casual staff – who make up the Harcourts Cooper & Co community team, which has existed since 2013 and has raised more than $6 million in that time.

Cooper & Co managing director Martin Cooper says the company’s growth will see an increase in its community fundraising, which already supports more than 400 events each year.

“As a company, we have always believed that you give back to those who support you, and I believe we have the largest community outreach programme in northern Auckland,” he says.

“We are thrilled to be bringing the team to the Coast and Rodney, and Hiria is the ideal person to engage with all the communities we operate within.”

Anyone interested in seeking support for a community group or event should visit www.cooperandco.co.nz/do-youneed-some-help or contact their nearest Harcourts Cooper & Co branch.

Call for better boat safety around divers

An Auckland boatie is $16,000 out of pocket after he struck a diver after failing to properly take account of a dive flag, or slow down to five knots in the 200m vicinity of the dive flag.

Shaun Hollinger was sentenced in the Auckland District Court under Maritime Transport rules for operating a vessel in a manner which caused unnecessary danger or risk to another person.

Hollinger was ordered to pay $10,000 in emotional harm reparations, $2429 in consequential loses and was fined $3600. The incident occurred near Hauturu Little Barrier in January last year, when Hollinger was skippering the Rain or Shine, a 5.4 metre recreational vessel.

Another recreational vessel, the AWOL, was also in the area with seven people on- board and some of the passengers were diving.

Maritime NZ’s general regulatory operations manager, Jason Lunjevich, says the skipper of the AWOL erected a diving flag to warn other vessels there were people in the water.

“If a diving flag is erected, other vessels within 200 metres of the flag need to slow down to five knots,” he says.

“This is to protect divers.”

After initially seeing the dive flag, the Rain or Shine did slow down from 18 knots, but it was still travelling through the 200-metre five knot area at speeds of between 10 to 13 knots – more than double the permitted speed of five knots.

Witness reports describe how passengers on the AWOL tried to make the skipper of the Rain or Shine aware that there were people in the water.

However, they say there was no change in speed, and shortly after they heard a bang and a diver surfaced beside the Rain or Shine yelling for help.

The diver suffered cuts to his head and concussion as a result of the impact.

“This was completely avoidable and needlessly put a diver at serious risk of injury,” Lunjevich says.

“We are still in our busy period for recreational craft users and diving, and we do not want to see repeats of incidents like this.

“If you see a dive flag, you must slow down to five knots and keep an eye out for people in the water.”

Work reduces risk of power outages

A significant slip near two Transpower towers carrying electricity to Northland has remained stable, with no further land movement. The slip is located about 10km south-west of Wellsford and impacts one tower on the Henderson to Marsden 220kV line and one tower on the Henderson to Maungatapere 110kV line.

Last week, Warkworth residents were being advised to take precautions in case there were unplanned interruptions to power when the 110kV line was taken down. This was done in case the slip advanced causing it to fall onto the 220kV line, as this would have resulted in an extended outage to areas from Warkworth north. The 220kV line was being relocated last week to bypass the tower in the impacted area, an interim step to improve security while Transpower worked on a permanent solution.

Transpower general manager grid delivery Mark Ryall says that while there is still a very small risk of an extended outage due to the slip advancing, an outage during the construction of the temporary bypass would most likely be caused by lightning or other equipment failure.

“Depending on the cause, we would expect to be able to restore power relatively quickly – a few minutes to a matter of hours,” he says. “In the unlikely case a tower was to fail due to the slip, then we envisage at this stage having a circuit available within 48-72 hours. However small this risk, we continue to encourage residents in the region to be prepared for an extended outage.”