Tauranga City Council's customer service centre is going digital. Paper property files will be a thing of the past from October 19 as these documents will instead be provided on a digital disc. Council is advising there will be a one to three day wait for the files and customers will be phoned when it's ready.

This information provided by Tauranga City Council's bulletin for the week beginning Monday 5 October published below.

City Waters
Water Supply:
* The annual mains flushing programme is progressing well and is programmed to be complete by the end of next week. Over the week, flushing will be carried out in Arataki working towards Papamoa. Check your local newspaper or Council's website for affected areas.
* Maintenance contractor City Care will be carrying out remedial work throughout the network to rectify faults found whilst undertaking the annual mains flushing programme, this will be ongoing over the next couple of months.
* Pillans Watermain Upgrade - Work is 97% complete. Pipe laying is completed. Connecting up pipe work is happening in Maxwells Road and Ngatai Road, Harbour Drive and Kulim Avenue.
* Otumoetai Watermain Upgrade has started with 50mm pipe thrusting in Waihi Road and preparation to thrust the 100mm pipe in Otumoetai Road.
* Maintenance on water main and bellows on the Taipari Street overbridge will commence shortly now that the Hammond/Hinerua link is commissioned and the new valve has been installed on Taipari Street
* Fire hydrant marking and servicing continues in the Otumoetai area and throughout the city over the coming year.

Drainage:
* Health warning signs remain in place at Courtney Road and Maleme Street drains. Further sampling will be done next week as the present wet weather distorts any sample readings.
* Flooding problem at Nature Place has required a small section of pipe to be replaced. Following some recent work on the state highway a problem has occurred with this pipe line where it is collecting a lot of roading metal. Further works to be done to remedy this new problem.
* It appears children have been busy building temporary bridges along an open drain off Arabian Drive. Debris was blocking the drain and needed to be removed this week.
* The open drain reserve from Triton Avenue to Tukorako Drive (approx 500m) is to be sprayed for noxious weed and then mulch-mown to tidy up this site.
* The locating of four buried stormwater soak holes and then raising them to the ground surface in Motiti road has been completed.
* CCTV inspection of the sewer connection in Elizabeth St following a blockage has revealed a broken pipe. City Care have been instructed to repair this pipeline.
* Three sewer blockages were reported this week: 1) a private problem and tenants advised to have landlord have a plumber to remedy the problem 2) a blocked sewer main in Bayfair shopping complex. This was a combination of council and private works to clear fat blockage. This is a site of repeat sewer blockages and is on a schedule to be investigated for cause and then prioritised and scheduled for remedial pipeline replacement work 3) a site off Reid Place (off Mirrielees Road) where a missing manhole cover meant surrounding site debris was filling the manhole causing the blockage. A new manhole lid and frame has now been installed.
* A new sewer connection has been scheduled to be installed at # 101 Carmichael Road.
* One pollution incident this week where high pH was recorded from stormwater runoff from a site in Maleme St pollution team are following up on reason for this.
* The pollution prevention team in conjunction with EBOP have completed the automotive dismantlers and scrap metal dealers' audit. Follow up on the sites where issues were recorded will now be the focus of this investigation.

Waterline:
* Since Waterline started monitoring Papamoa Library's Rainwater Collection System, they have used 345,934 litres of rainwater through their toilet systems. This has been an average of 562 litres per day for 616 days. The first twelve months saw 199 cubic meters of water used, averaging 550 litres per day. There have been a number of dry periods where rainwater was not available. A peak use time was after 8 mm of rain fell they used 1096 litres per day for the next three days.

Waiari Water Supply Project:
Three appeals have been received against the resource consents for the construction and operation of a new water intake and treatment plant to serve the Papamoa urban growth area. Tauranga City Council is in discussions with the appellants to determine whether agreement could be reached without the need for an Environment Court hearing.

Bulk Water Meter Installation:
* Downer EDI Works has installed nine of the ten new meters. Six new meters are now operational and sending back information on SCADA. Completion is on track for September 2009.

Southern Pipeline:
* Work is continuing on the new 1,300m3 wastewater storage tank and pump station site at Maleme Street. This marks the start of construction for the main Southern Pipeline Project.

Inflow Reduction Project:
* Royal Palms customers who received advice of non complying gully traps on their property and have now fixed them are reminded to let us know so we can update your property records.
* Inspections in the Bethlehem triangle area between Cambridge Road, Moffat Road and SH2 are planned to begin from November 2009. Affected customers will receive a letter advising this before inspections begin.
City Projects
* Work starts on 5 October to upgrade the watermain in Truman Lane, Te Maunga. The watermain will feed the new Tauranga Indoor sports and Exhibition Centre for fire-fighting and general water demand.
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Further work on repairing eroded down-slope areas around the Mauao base track will continue next week, weather permitting. This work is important to maintain the existing track width.
Parks and Leisure
* Arborcare will remove two large phoenix palms next week from Palm Springs Boulevard (Papamoa). The work is scheduled for Wednesday 7 October and a section of the road will need to be closed for a few hours. The large palms have been steadily declining for quite some time so to prevent future health and safely issues, Council has decided to remove them. They will be replaced with Ecuadorian Mountain Coconut Palms (Parajubea cocoides) and the surrounding gardens will be upgraded.
* The old unsightly glass house between the Monmouth Redoubt and the Rose Gardens has been pulled down to make a much more inviting courtyard area for our modest Robbins Park 'indoor' garden. The Tropical Display House remains.
Transportation
* Cameron Road: Routine maintenance and reconstruction work on Cameron Road between Pooles Road and Maleme Street is underway. There is a 30km speed restriction through the site so please expect delays, especially at peak times. The project is expected to be completed early December, weather permitting.
* Takitimu Drive: Routine maintenance and reconstruction of the next section of Takitimu Drive between the Elizabeth Street Roundabout and the Waihi Road off ramp is underway. Lane changes are in place so that traffic can continue to use the road while the work is being done. Some work will be done at night to reduce the length of the project. The work is expected to take 5-6 weeks to complete, depending on weather. A 30km speed limit will be in place so please expect delays, particularly at peak times.
* Footpath Programme: The annual footpath construction programme has started. About 4km of new footpaths will be built between now and Christmas in various parts of the city. Works are currently underway on Oceanbeach Road.
* Strand Carpark: From 1 October the Strand Northern Reclamation Carpark will be closed between 10:30pm and 6:00am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. This is part of Council's Strand Night Management Plan and is aimed at reducing crime and making the Strand a safer place.
* Transport Centre for Willow Street: Councillor's have voted to build the new Transport Centre on Willow Street. Councillor's heard a presentation from Transportation staff as well as from several members of the public at yesterday's Council meeting. An application will now be made to the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) for a funding subsidy to build the new Transport Centre. If the funding application is successful, construction of the new Transport Centre will start early next year.

Libraries
* An award ceremony for the Memories a Plenty Competition will be held in Tauranga Library next Wednesday 7 October. The competition was held in conjunction with Tauranga Writers, 60 high calibre entries were received. Winning entries will be hosted on the Library's local history website.
* Greerton Library refurbishment is going to plan and is on schedule for completion the end of October.
* School holiday programmes have been incredibly well attended.
* Tauranga City Libraries are busy preparing displays for NZ Book Month next month http://nzbookmonth.co.nz

Events Tauranga
Baycourt Community and Arts Centre
Wed 30 Sep 10 am (sold out) and 12:30 pm - The New Dorothy the Dinosaur show
Sun 4 Oct 2 pm and 7 pm - Indian Cultural Diwali Festival

Technical Team
The technical team recently provided technical support for the Kiwifest launch at Zespri, Voice for Life at Holy Trinity and the Kiwifruit Fest Ball in Te Puke. They are currently quoting for various Summer events.