At today's Strategic Planning and Policy Co-ordination committee meeting, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry senior officials outlined to councillors the possibility of using aerial spraying to eradicate gypsy moth. The presentation covered a background on the asian gypsy moth, the incursion in Hamilton, what action has been taken to date in response to that, and what would likely be invo... more...

Hamilton Theatre Services has secured Sonja Radojkovic to perform a one off piano concert at the Wel Energy Trust Academy of Performing Arts in August. Hamilton Theatre Services manager Richard Sutherland says Sonja is a first prize winner in many national, republic and federal competitions. "In 1993 she took the first prize in a field of 57 performers with her performance of the Rhapsody o... more...

Hamilton City Council has closed a small section of river side walkway along side Awatere Avenue because of high river levels. The Waikato River is presently at 13.8 metres, as measured at the Victoria Bridge in the city. The increased flow and depth of the river is as a result of normal high-level power generation through Waikato River hydro system. Hamilton City Council has put up s... more...

Hamilton City Council's draft public arts policy is now available to the public to make submissions on. Social and community committee chair Pippa Mahood says it is important people have an opportunity to comment on the draft. "This policy is about setting the city's direction for public art and it is therefore vital that Hamilton understands and supports that direction. There has been a... more...

Hamilton City Council will begin installing new gates at Hamilton Lake this week to improve night-time security. The specially made gates will be placed at the Pembroke Street/Ruakiwi Road entrance way next to the stone gateway. Council currently closes part of the roadway through the Lake Domain each evening, with gates closing half an hour after sunset and reopening again in the morn... more...

The increase in rates for Hamilton city ratepayers will be less than originally announced for the current financial year, due to an unexpected surge in city growth just prior to the end of the last financial year. Council had previously announced an average increase in rates to existing ratepayers of 4.55 per cent, however this figure has now been amended to 4.4 per cent. The reduction i... more...

Council is seeking the public's help to track down the source of white foam discharging into the Waikato River at Braithwaite Park in Pukete. Acting water, drainage and refuse manager Richard Bax, says he wants people to call in as soon as they see the foam, believed to be detergent. "The stormwater system we are dealing with covers a huge area, including the north ends of Avalon Drive a... more...

Council is consulting the public [beginning Wednesday 16 July] on a proposed bylaw to increase the controls on liquor for the greater CBD area (Mill Street to Bridge Street). Environmental services general manager Graeme Fleming says the bylaw puts stricter controls on drinking or possessing alcohol in central city public areas. "Council is proposing to restrict alcohol consumption in th... more...

HCC Sports Grounds will be closed tonight. The situation will be reassessed tomorrow and a decision made whether to reopen the grounds or not.... more...

Whitiora Bridge will close this Sunday [13 July] so contractors can improve the 'ride' in the city bound lane. Road maintenance manager Dawn Inglis says this date presented an excellent opportunity for the work. "Sunday is usually a low-use day for the bridge, and being the middle of the school holidays we expect it to be quieter still. Therefore we shouldn't be impacting on traffic flow... more...

The NBL basketball final will be played at Mystery Creek Hamilton thanks to a sponsorship deal struck between Council's Hamilton Events and Mystery Creek. The deal will see a joint sponsorship that will cover most of the costs of staging the game at the Mystery Creek pavilion. Mystery Creek General Manager, Barry Quayle, says both Mystery Creek and Hamilton City Council recognise the importanc... more...

Hamilton's Water Treatment Station has been shutdown for a few hours as a precaution, after an accident caused a truck to spill 15 tonnes of urea into Waikato River near Narrows Bridge. Operations manager David Hight says urea can unsettle the water treatment process so the station was shut down at 9.30am for a few hours after a call from Environment Waikato. "With the station's clearwat... more...

Hamilton's Water Treatment Station is back online after shutting down as a precaution following an accident causing 15 tonnes of urea to spill into Waikato River near Narrows Bridge. Operations manager David Hight says it was unlikely the spill would have caused any problems but it was best to be safe. "A number of factors such as the river currently running high and demand on the water ... more...

Council has given Hamilton City Libraries the go-ahead to install EftPos machines at all sites. Libraries and museum manager Geoff Williams says he is excited about the opportunity to offer another service to the libraries' more than 60,000 customers. "Over the past year we have concentrated on tailoring our services to better meet Hamilton's needs. Many of these changes were in the nat... more...

Hamilton City Libraries' efforts to turn around a decline in interest in its services have been extremely successful, end-of-year data shows. Libraries director Faye Clark says she is delighted they have bucked the trend of seven years to record a significant rise in issues. "Hamilton has previously followed a worrying national trend where communities have showed a steady decrease in int... more...