Hastings District Youth Council – Terms of Reference 2019
The purpose of
the Hastings District Youth Council (Youth Council)
The Hastings
District Council recognises the positive contribution young people make to a
strong, diverse, resilient and inclusive community. The Hastings District Youth
Council is a vehicle in which young people can be actively engaged in local
government planning and decision making relating to their city.
The Youth Council
is responsible for creating dynamic engagement opportunities for young people
to participate in, be heard and be involved in community activities and
government decisions.
The Youth
Council’s objective is to canvas youth opinions on a range of topics, to
then advocate and implement changes on behalf of the young people in Hastings.
Membership
The Youth Council
is made up of 15 young people who live, work, and/or attend school in the
Hastings District. Members can be aged between 15 and 21 years of age.
Youth Council
membership is for a period of one year running from February to December.
Applications can be made to the Youth Development Coordinator to continue as a
Youth Council member for consecutive years.
Recruitment and
Selection of Youth Council Members
Recruitment for
Youth Council members runs January- February each year through local high
schools, youth services and community groups, the Hastings District Council
website and various social media accounts.
All applications
must be submitted via the Hastings District Council’s website. A
shortlist of candidates is created, with those applicants asked to attend a 10
minute interview. The selection panel is made up of HDC Youth Development
Staff, a Councillor, and a young person under the age of 25.
Commitments of
Youth Council members
Youth Council
members are required to
-
Attend a Youth
Council Training and Planning event, held at the beginning of the year. (After
the Council members have been selected)
-
Elect members to
take on leadership positions such as (but not limited to) the Chair and Deputy
Chairperson of the Youth Council for that year.
-
Contribute to the
Youth Council Annual Plan – that details the focus of the group and their
activities for the year.
-
Attend all
official Youth Council meetings – held the first Wednesday of the month
at Hastings District Council’s main offices.
-
Submit formal
reports detailing their actions as a Youth Council member each month at the
official Youth Council meetings.
-
Attend informal
meetings throughout the year to work on upcoming projects – Members will
be given no less than 2 weeks’ notice of informal meetings.
-
Attend Hastings
District Council meetings for presentations as and when required –
Members will be given no less than 4 weeks’ notice of these
presentations.
-
Attend and
support all youth, community and Council events determined in the Annual Plan
and by the Youth Council as a whole.
Meetings:
Official Youth
Council meetings are held on the first Wednesday of the month at the Hastings
District Council, from 3.45 to 5.30pm.
Meetings will
continue as scheduled if they fall in the school holidays. It is expected that
members will attend these meetings unless they tender their apologies.
Informal meetings
will be scheduled when required, depending on work load and upcoming projects.
The Youth
Development Coordinator and a Hastings Councillor (Malcolm Dixon), will attend
all official Youth Council meetings.
Youth Council
Roles and Responsibilities
Chairperson:
-
The Chairperson
chairs each meeting and ensures everyone contributes to the discussion and that
the views of young people from the whole District are considered when decisions
need to be made.
-
Keeps meetings,
projects, planning and submission processes on track.
-
Delegate’s
responsibilities to members, follows up and ensure the work gets done.
-
Acts as the contact
person for the Youth Council for the public, the media, and Council.
-
Represents the
Youth Council at public forums as required.
-
Works with
elected Youth Council members to manage the official Youth Council social media
accounts.
-
Takes action if
members repeatedly do not attend meetings or deliver on actions they say they
will undertake.
Deputy
Chairperson:
-
Works closely
with, and provides support to the Chairperson.
-
Will take over
the Chair’s responsibilities for running the meetings as required.
-
Will represent
the Youth Council at public forums as required.
-
Works with
elected Youth Council members to manage the official Youth Council social media
accounts.
Social Media
Team Responsibilities:
-
Works closely
with each other, the Chairperson and the Deputy Chairperson to actively drive
traffic to the official Hastings Youth Council social media accounts.
-
All posts are to
be deemed appropriate under the official Youth Council Social Media Guidelines.
-
To answer all
comments and questions made on social media accounts in a timely and
appropriate manner.
-
To report
anything of a concerning nature to the Youth Development Coordinator
immediately.
-
To promote the
Youth Council activities, and activities/events and campaigns endorsed by Youth
Council.
-
Submit a monthly
report detailing engagement
Youth Council
members’ Responsibilities:
-
Attend meetings
appropriately prepared, including submitting their official monthly report of
engagements and activities as a Youth Council member.
-
Actively consult
with your schools, community groups, and young people to find out what they
need, want or are concerned about and bring this information to the Youth
Council meetings.
-
Support and
promote Youth Council activities, events and campaigns and those endorsed by
Youth Council.
-
Participate in
training opportunities as they arise.
-
To take up
leadership and teamwork opportunities to ensure Youth Council activities,
events and campaigns are delivered successfully and to determined deadlines.
Meeting
Process:
Formal meetings
are used for:
-
Planning and
scheduling Youth Council projects
-
Discussing issues
that are affecting young people in the Hastings Community
-
Presentations and
consultancy from external parties
-
Decision making
about Youth Council participation and endorsement of community activities
-
Decision making
about Youth Council events or projects.
Decision
making:
Decision making
will follow Council’s basic Standard Order process
-
Someone will need
to move (propose) a decision;
-
Someone will
second the proposal, then;
-
All members will
vote on the decision. If the Majority of members agree with the decision it is
then carried (confirmed) and recorded.
-
If members cannot
agree on a decision, the Chairperson OR Council representative will have the
say.
Quorum:
A minimum of half
of the Youth Council members must attend the meeting for it to proceed, 8
people make a quorum.
Agendas and
minutes
A final agenda
(approved by the chairperson) is to be sent out to all members and Council
representatives at least two working days prior to the meeting
Official agendas
and minutes will be produced by the Hastings Council’s Democratic support
team. Agendas and any attachments will be emailed to members a week before
meetings. Minutes will be emailed to members no more than a week after official
meetings.
Apologies:
If a member is
unable to attend an official Youth Council meeting they must tender their
apologies to the Chairperson or the Youth Development Coordinator no later than
a week before the meeting.
It is expected the
member will still submit their monthly report, detailing their activities
related to Youth Council.
Missing more than
2 official meetings in a row without tendering apologies will result in the
member forfeiting their place on the Youth Council.
Hastings District Youth
Council
Civic Administration Building
Lyndon Road East, Hastings 4156
Phone:
(06) 871 5000
Fax: (06) 871 5100
www.hastingsdc.govt.nz
OPEN
M I N U T E S
Hastings District Youth
Council
|
Meeting
Date:
|
Wednesday, 3 July 2019
|
Minutes
of a Meeting of the Hastings District Youth
Council held on
Wednesday,
3 July 2019 at 3.45pm
Table of Contents
Item Page No.
1. Apologies 1
2. Confirmation
of Minutes 1
3. Facebook
page updates 1
4. General
Business 1
5. July
2019 Report on the Hastings District Youth Council Activities 2
HASTINGS DISTRICT COUNCIL
MINUTES
OF A MEETING OF THE Hastings
District Youth Council
HELD
IN THE Council
Chamber, Ground Floor, Civic Administration Building, Lyndon Road East,
Hastings ON
Wednesday, 3 July 2019 AT 3.45pm
Present: Chair: Kate Allen (HGHS)
Councillor
Dixon – Council Liaison
Kathleen
Steffert and Eva Harper (HGHS); Ondre Hapuku-Lambert, Sophie Jones (Media
Engagement) (Karamu High); Gurjas Sekhon and Louis Gaffaney (St Johns
College); Ashleigh Keenan (Sacred Heart); Charliot Miller (Deputy Chair)
(HNHS); Janicka Tei (Taradale High) and James McPhail (Media Engagement)
(Lindisfarne College)
IN ATTENDANCE: Youth Development Coordinator (Angela Hughes)
Open
Spaces Planning Manager (Rachel Stuart)
Electoral
Officer (Jackie Evans)
Registrar
of Electors, Electoral Commission (Michelle Jaggard)
Committee
Secretary (Christine Hilton)
1. Apologies
|
|
Sophie
Jones/Charliot Miller
That
apologies for absence from Pelerose Vaima’a
(HGHS), Oscar Malpas (HBHS); Boston Wynyard (Karamu High) and Daisy Hill
(Iona) and apologies for lateness from Ondre Hapuku-Lambert and Gurjas Sekhon be accepted.
CARRIED
|
2. Confirmation
of Minutes
|
|
Kate Allen/Sophie Jones
That the
minutes of the Hastings Youth Council Meeting held Wednesday
12 June 2019 be confirmed as a true and correct record and be adopted.
CARRIED
|
3. Facebook
page updates
There was no
discussion under this item.
4. General
Business
There was no
discussion under this item.
|
5.
|
July 2019 Report on
the Hastings District Youth Council Activities
|
|
|
(Document 19/652)
|
|
|
Revitalisation
of Albert Square
The Open
Spaces Planning Manager, Rachel Stuart, addressed the meeting. She
displayed an aerial view of Albert Square and updated the Hastings District
Youth Council (YC) members on her discussions with the landowner about the
development of this area. The landowner had been receptive to the ideas
that were being proposed.
Rachel would
come to each YC meeting and welcomed any further ideas and would report back
to the members on developments.
Monthly
Reports
Only one YC
report had been received this month - from Charliot Miller (CG-14-33-00149).
Proposed New
Youth Council Logo
The Youth
Development Co-ordinator, Ang Hughes, advised that the logo concepts had been
delayed and were not ready to be considered at this meeting. They were
due to be available on Friday, 5 July and Ang would then email them to
members for comment via the YC Facebook group.
1737
Need to Talk Helpline
The Youth
Development Co-ordinator, Ang Hughes, spoke to the information that had been
sourced from the Ministry of Health website (CG-14-33-00151) and
information about the 1737 Helpline (CG-14-33-00152). Ang had
also spoken to Sharon the Clinical Director of the 1737 Helpline regarding
the background to the establishment of this service and the name.
Ang had passed
on concerns raised by young people regarding the delays in having someone
answer calls to this helpline. Sharon had asked Ang to pass onto the YC
and other young people - please don’t hang up if they experience delays
when calling this helpline.
The Council
Liaison, Councillor Dixon, reported that this matter had been raised by the
YC representative on the Hawke’s Bay Health Consumer Council, Daisy
Hill. The Health Board will follow this up and provide feedback to the
YC, via Daisy.
2019 Youth
Council Annual Plan
The YC members
went through the Annual Plan entries for dates in September to December 2019
and discussed whether they wanted to be involved in activities that were
happening on those dates.
· 10 September (World Suicide
Day) – YC members would like to learn
how to talk to other young people who were having problems and needed
support.
· It was suggested that:
v a
letter be sent from the YC to schools regarding the Youth to Youth training;
v people
could also attend community training workshops in the evenings (in Hastings,
Flaxmere and Havelock North).
v Daisy
Hill could raise this with the HB Health Consumer Council as they may be able
to assist with the training side of this event.
· 12 October (2019 Council
election) – Council’s Electoral
Officer, Jackie Evans, and the Registrar of Electors from the Electoral
Commission, Michelle Jaggard addressed the YC and responded to questions from
the meeting.
· The meeting was advised that:
v if
the YC wanted to hold any election related events care needed to be
taken. Council resources could not be used, including the YC
Facebook page (unless the YC was only encouraging people to vote at the
election).
v they
needed to be fair and invite all candidates to any event.
v Michelle
Jaggard could come to schools and speak and also remind students to fill in
enrolment forms (if they are 17 yrs old now) or they can go to the vote.nz
website to enrol.
v this
was still a postal election process.
v people
enrolled by 16 August will get packs sent out to them. If not enrolled
by then, they will need to cast a special vote – this can be done at
any council offices in the district or via an election van that will come out
to schools.
v Michelle
asked for ideas to help make young people aware of the election process and
encourage them to vote.
Given the work
involved in holding an election related event, due to the constraints that
would be imposed on the YC members in doing so (as outlined above), the YC
unanimously decided not to hold any events for this election. However,
they would use the YC Facebook page to promote enrolment and voting in the
election and some of the Meet the Candidate evenings that were being run by
others.
Ondre
Hapuku-Lambert and Gurjas Sekhon joined the meeting during discussion on Item
5.
Charliot Miller left
the meeting at 4.37pm.
·
19 September (Talk Like A Pirate Day
– partnered with Canteen)
·
A letter to be sent out to local schools to
background what was planned and that it was in support of Canteen.
· 28 September (Relay for Life Mental Health) – YC decided not to undertake any events in relation to
this activity.
· 11 October (Coming Out Day – in support of LGBTQ community) - YC decided not to undertake any events in relation to this activity.
· 16 October (World Food Day – partnered with Multicultural
Assn) – YC to contact the Association
and see what they are planning and assist if possible.
· 31 October (Halloween) – YC
would discuss on Facebook page.
· 8 December (Schools Out) - YC
decided not to undertake any events in relation to this activity.
· It was suggested that during the warmer weather the YC could look
at holding an outdoor movie or an alternative event at Albert Square.
The YC decided
to hold a Quiz Night on Friday, 27 September – members would be
responsible for organising the venue, questions, tickets and promotion etc.
YC members did
not want to prepare a submission to the Climate
Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, but decided
to support the submission by the Kapiti Coast’s Youth Council.
|
|
|
Eva Harper/Ondre Hapuku-Lambert
A) That
the report of the Youth Development Co-ordinator titled “July
2019 Report on the Hastings District Youth Council Activities”
dated 3/07/2019 be received.
B) That the Hastings District Youth Council members review the
proposed new logo concepts which will be circulated and provide feedback to
the Youth Development Co-ordinator.
C) That the Hastings District Youth Council continues to work with
and provide feedback to Council’s Public
Spaces Planning Manager, Rachel Stuart, regarding the redesign of Albert Square.
D) That the Hastings District Youth Council members continue to
support the 1737 Need to Talk helpline, given that their concerns regarding
the current delays young people have been experiencing when calling the
helpline have been raised with that organisation.
E) That the Hastings District Youth Council support the following
projects remaining in its 2019 Annual Plan as discussed at its 3 July 2019 meeting.
·
10 September (World Suicide Day)
·
12 October (2019 Council election)
·
19 September (Talk Like A Pirate Day)
·
16 October (World Food Day –
partnered with the Multicultural Assn)
·
31 October (Halloween)
F) That the Hastings District Youth Council support the Kapiti Coast
Youth Council’s submission to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon)
Amendment Bill.
CARRIED
|
The meeting closed at 5.20pm
Confirmed:
Chairman:
Date:
REPORT TO: Hastings
District Youth Council
MEETING DATE: Wednesday 7 August
2019
FROM: Youth Development Co-ordinator
Angela
Hughes
SUBJECT: August
2019 - Report on Hastings District Youth Council Activities
1.0 SUMMARY
1.1 The
purpose of this report is to update/inform the Committee/ Council about the
activities of the Youth Development Coordinator in relation to Youth Council
business since the previous month’s meeting.
1.2 This
report concludes by recommending that the Youth Council considers and receives
this report.
2.0 BACKGROUND
2.1 New
logo for the Hastings Youth Council – project is on hold currently,
pending a review of the Youth Council’s aims and objectives. The
rebranding of the Hastings Youth Council needs to coincide with any potential
changes being made to the program, to get the most impact.
2.2 Albert
Square Redesign Project – Council’s Public Spaces Planning Manager,
Rachel Stuart, has been meeting with community stakeholders to gauge interest
and potential uses for the space. Albert Square will not be a “youth
specific” park but rather a community park that takes on board youth
opinion in the design.
2.3 1737
Need to talk service. Still attempting to obtain official statistics from the
service but as yet have had no luck.
3.0 CURRENT
SITUATION
3.1 Youth
Council members will be asked to submit their opinions to a Youth Council
review in the upcoming months.
3.2 Albert
Square Redesign update: If there is an updated design, Angela the Youth
Development Coordinator will obtain it and share it at the meeting. Rachel
plans to attend the September meeting with an update on the project.
3.3 Angela
is working with the Suicide Prevention Fusion group to ascertain whether
Suicide Prevention workshops can be held in local high schools to coincide with
Mental Health Awareness Week in September.
3.4 Directions
Health Service will be hosting an event in the CBD aimed at raising awareness
of how hard it is to navigate the mental health system as a young person. The
Youth Council has been invited to contribute if they can do so. The event will
be at lunchtime on Tuesday, 10 September (during term).
|
4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS AND REASONS
A) That the report
of the Youth Development Co-ordinator titled “August 2019
- Report on Hastings District Youth Council Activities” dated 7/08/2019
be received.
|
Attachments:
There are no
attachments for this report.
