Community comments

Some teachers ask us to take out our phones in classes to search something up and they can be really helpful for us. I think it’s too far, like most people only are on their phones in breaks, and they’ll still have them.

I understand banning them in classrooms but banning completely doesn’t make sense to me at all. Students generally don’t use them in class anyway, but imagine living out of town and missing a bus without a phone. It’s just safer to have them.

I read with dismay about the fiasco around the contractor that was chosen for the solar job as in the article in Marlborough Weekly. Jamie Lyall stated Council had used this contractor before. Considering the company was only incorporated on 18th November 2022 and only has one director and owner, I would be very in- terested in which other work for MDC Southtec Group Ltd has been engaged in please. The whole think smells very fishy to me indeed and requires more detailed investigation.

In your article last week re the above, it was particularly disappointing to read that with such a very high-power operating cost for the new Blenheim library, ten years in the making, that a proper tailored solar photovoltaic system was not designed into the library, as such has been the case in the new Motueka library, which not only covers its operating costs, but has excess power it can feed back into the power grid.

Best regards,

Martin Loach

How poor a return is that? Motueka system cost just $100,000 more and they got 100% power usage covered and some back! MDC too could have possibly shown an annual profit after 3 years instead of a net loss!

Doesn’t make sense to me – parents ask us to be in touch when we have plans, but then having them banned in schools so we can’t be in touch.

Lots of students use their phone more like a school diary with class schedules, homework assignments and notes just like people at work do.

The fact that a procurement of $150,000, can be made, without going through a proper tender process, is disturbing to say the least, it also hints at nepotism! I was led to believe that any purchase over $5000 had to go through MDC tender process, yet an individual, can spend so much of MDC i.e. Marlborough rate payers' money, without due diligence! And what do we get for our $150,000 just 55% of the power cost covered!

There are many, council owned buildings, with high power operating costs, that should have solar photovoltaic systems installed urgently to help reduce our rates. The Picton library and the new Lansdowne Park complex. And what of Stadium 2000 and MDC main's office? All of these buildings should be looked at with the view to making them power neutral: At the very least, a deal could be struck with Marlborough lines to take any excess power fed back into the grid.

Chris Davies Retired Industrial engineer.