Raetihi WIFI and security cameras

RAETIHI AGREES WAY FORWARD ON WIFI AND SECURITY CAMERAS

Raetihi residents in conjunction with Ruapehu District Council (RDC), the Waimarino-Waiouru Community Board (WWCB), the Police and Raetihi Promotions agreed a way forward for township WIFI and security cameras at a community meeting last night (24 May).

Raetihi's only after-hours free WIFI was provided by Council's library but this was switched off on 20 April at the request of the Police in attempt to curb a spate of vandalism and other anti-social behaviour that was occurring around the town at night.

At an earlier WWCB meeting on 5 May Council had committed to getting the free WIFI back on after-hours as soon as possible however this was not going to be before the installation of security cameras outside the Raetihi office and library.

At the community meeting held last night is was agreed that the hours of the free library WIFI would be extended from 5.00am to 10.30pm every day after Council had installed external security cameras which were expected to be operational from mid-next week.

RDC Group Manager Customer Services Pauline Welch said that the community thinking around the extended hours was that young people shouldn't normally need to be out on streets after 10.30pm and that these were long enough for tourists and other legitimate users.

The new extended free library WIFI hours will however be under review in consultation with the Police and the community, she said.

If any anti-social behaviour flares up once more and the Police ask Council to switch the library WIFI off again after-hours we will not hesitate to do so.

Council is also accelerating plans for implementing free town wide WIFI within the Raetihi central business district (CBD).

It is anticipated that free WIFI for central Raetihi can be up and running within around six to eight weeks which should remove the need for young people to gather at night outside the Council office and library.

Ms. Welch added that bringing forward the installation of free WIFI in Raetihi will also benefit Taumarunui and Ohakune which will both see free WIFI implemented in their CBD areas sooner than originally anticipated.

Council also announced at the meeting that it would contribute $10,000 in seed funding toward the Raetihi Promotions project for installing security cameras within the Raetihi CBD.

We have committed to holding another community meeting in around three weeks to discuss how the extended hours of the library free WIFI is going as well as some other details around township wide WIFI and security cameras.

Raetihi Promotions Chairperson Geoff Anderson said that they were pleased with the outcomes from last night's meeting and believe it provides a sensible and practical way for the community to move forward on these issues.

Council's seed funding for the CBD security cameras is a great starting point and we thank them for that.

We anticipate the project will cost up to $40,000 in total and are confident that we will be able to raise that with community support, he said.

End.