<b>THE former sign in 2020, and David La Varis pointing out its dilapidated condition.</b>
A TWO-year campaign to remove the ‘Shearing Capital of the World’ sign from SH3 has finally succeeded, with the Waitomo District Council removing the sign earlier this month. Real estate agent David La Varis’ latest vent about the sign was shared on December 1. The next morning he received a reply from Waitomo District council CEO Ben Smit confirming the sign would be removed that day. The removal closed a small chapter of Te Kūiti’s history as was discovered when David’s complaint about the sign was reported in the Waitomo News on May 21, 2020. The roadside sign was originally installed in 1994, and abandoned to the elements. David originally offered to underwrite and/or obtain sponsorship from local businesses or other funders to get the Awakino Rd sign welcoming visitors to Te Kūiti changed. “It’s not for me to say what such an updated sign might look like,” he said at the time. “But I thought it would be a great idea to start with the students of Te Kūiti to get the creative juices flowing and come up with some artwork ideas.” The feedback was good, but ownership of the sign became an issue. The previous WDC chief executive Chris Ryan had said such signs were owned by the community groups who erected them and were not the responsibility of the ratepayers to maintain or to fix. The now-defunct Shearing Capital Promotions Group was the originator of the sign, a member of the group involved in commissioning the signs, former Te Kūiti resident Caroline Dutton said. “It was back in the day when councils all over the world were using the Mainstreet Programme, where they would fund certain groups to get out promote the towns,” she said. “The council of the day certainly funded the initiatives and the welcome signs were part of that – they own them. “The original stakeholders are all gone now as far as groups go. “I think the one which put this together was originally the Shearing Capital Promotions Group – under the aegis of the council, but it no longer exists.” The original signs were “not well done anyway”, she said. “The vertical Te Kūiti never looked right.” The then NZ Shears president Claire Grainger of Te Kūiti does not agree. “It is council-owned, not owned by any of the shearing groups here,” she said. “I do know though, that if anything should happen with it, whether it be fixing it or pulling it down, it was agreed back then [in the 1990s] the council could only do so in consultation with the shearing groups.” “It was nice for it to be done before that public event,” David said. It was “an act of God” when it fell apart before Covid, he said. Bits fell off it, but for two-and-a-half years after that, they could not get agreement on who owned it. “But anyway, great result in the end. “It was good to have a little win,” he said. David was also the instigator of the repair project for the town clock when in August 2020, he brought attention to the fact it worked only intermittently and was dilapidated and in need of a clean-up. That has since been done, and the clock was recently returned from Taupō where the mechanism was repaired. When asked when the clock was likely to be re-installed on the tower, Waitomo communications and engagement leader Jenelle Burnell said the council did not know, as the clock’s original donors, the McLennan family, had organised further enhancements. Meanwhile, David’s latest concern is the dog control bylaw and the ban of dogs from the Rora St commercial precinct. “I’ve done all I can. I’m not going to let it go, but there’s got to be some support from other areas,” he said. “I’ll wait to see what comes back from Legendary Te Kūiti.” The dog control bylaw is due for review in 2024.
