It might have already racked up the kilometres and seen its fair share of dirty gardening business, but Cambridge Tree Trust is happy with its new ‘old’ ute.
The 2011 Mitsubishi Triton will go quickly into service once the Waipā District Council livery has been removed. And according to deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk she and mayor Susan O’Regan have seen first-hand just how much the group of trust volunteers do around Cambridge.
“They cover so much of our community land. It’s incredible,” she said after the council’s Finance and Corporate committee approved gifting the ute to the trust.
The ute was part of Waipā’s ageing fleet and due to go to auction where it was expected to get between $8000-$11,000.
Trustees pounced, checked the ute over and asked council if they could have it.
In the interim, they had already secured $2000 from the Cambridge Community Board towards funding a truck. That money will now go into the council’s fleet disposals account, something which concerned Cr Claire St Pierre.
“I support the intent,” she said but was worried auditors might view the community board’s discretionary funds going to the council instead.
Deputy chief executive Ken Morris said the $2000 was “pretty insignificant” in terms of auditor interest but because the council was being transparent, it was unlikely to be an issue.
Te Awamutu councillor Lou Brown said he was “absolutely happy” with gifting the ute saying it aligned with the council’s stance around anchor institutions.
Cambridge Tree Trust
