Received from Lee Vandervis
Mon, 23 Mar 2015 at 2:48 p.m.
█ Message: It appears that ODT reporter Eileen Goodwin who so accurately broke the Noble subdivision story last week may not be allowed to continue to write on this follow-up as below. Consequently, I am forwarding the information as follows which I have received outside of DCC briefings to you in the hope that you may be able to help get public answers to questions raised that have traditionally been unavailable to this Councillor from the non-public DCC/DCHL.
—— Forwarded Message
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2015 11:40:51 +1300
To: Eileen Goodwin [ODT], Nicholas George S Smith [ODT]
Conversation: Noble property subdivision and Jacks Point/Luggate debacles. Denials suggest that we have not learned.
Subject: Noble property subdivision and Jacks Point/Luggate debacles. Denials suggest that we have not learned.
Hi Eileen,
Thank you again for your accurate quoting and for grasping the nettle regarding the Delta/Noble subdivision debacle.
I still am unable to ascertain precisely how many millions are at risk via DELTA, but an old business acquaintance of mine who claims to have reasonable knowledge of the project has given me the following information on the basis of complete confidentiality. It seems quite possible given the development scale. Hopefully you will be able to confirm some of the following with your media resources.
“Delta exposure is close to $19 million, about $1.5 million of that was cash investment to buy a portion of the first mortgage. Discussions have been for Delta to invest another nearly $4 million in cash to try and secure the balance of the first mortgage and a share of road adjustments.”
This is the most specific estimate of potential losses that I have received, but it accords with some other less specific estimates.
Information from other business people that I know personally suggests that Mr Crombie’s 18/03/15 ODT statement that “the situation should not be compared with Delta’s costly failed property investment at Jack’s Point” is misleading.
Both ‘investments’ are enormously expensive property speculations with enormous amounts of Dunedin ratepayers’ cash being used to gamble on high-risk ventures.
Both are speculative residential property subdivisions about 4 hours travel from Dunedin.
Both subdivision projects have had the involvement of Peak Projects International as Project Managers as indicated on their website http://www.peakprojects.co.nz/proj_infra.aspx
Both projects appear to have had the pivotal involvement not just of DELTA and sole surviving DCHL/DELTA Director Stuart McLauchlan but also of ex-DELTA Director Mike Coburn, although Mike Coburn’s centrality to the Noble development as a consultant is just business hearsay at this stage.
Both projects appear to have involved high levels of misrepresentation to Councillors, and lack of planning and foresight by DELTA.
Since I was first elected in 2004 I have had an on-going stream of complaints and allegations of mismanagement within DELTA, and this stream has periodically swollen since CEO John Walsh was replaced by CEO Grady Cameron. Allegations of massively top-heavy DELTA management, wasteful purchases of; management vehicles, plant and equipment, and overvalued smaller businesses etc. have come to me from DELTA staff, relatives of staff, and other involved business owners and their employees.
When I made a LGOIMA request for DELTA salary levels several years ago and discovered that CEO Cameron was on $460,000+ p/a when our DCC Paul Orders was ‘only’ on $350,000 p/a I went to advise CEO Orders whose response was “Yor forkin jokin!” Like my 2011 complaints of Citifleet fraud however, he seems to have done nothing about this top heaviness.
I have also for many years been calling for a restructuring of DELTA in non-public with the aim of maximising ratepayer value for the sale of DELTA and associated AURORA businesses, but the needed restructuring has not happened. Instead the current proposal is to spend $139,000,000 on ‘infrastructure upgrades’ for Aurora, which I interpret to mean expensive catch-up on long deferred maintenance with many contracts going to DELTA.
My reasons for now going public include the poor result achieved for ratepayers for my mostly non-public efforts to expose the Jacks Point/Luggate DELTA debacle, and the unwillingness again of DCC/DCHL personnel to face facts and clean out those responsible for such awful ratepayer losses now threatened with the Noble subdivision.
Kind regards,
Cr. Lee Vandervis
—— End of Forwarded Message
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█ 18.3.15 ODT: Expects Delta to be paid ‘millions’
Related Post and Comments:
17.3.15 DCC —Delta, Jacks Point Luggate II….
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
Excellent reporting Lee, what would the poor suffering ratepayers of Dunedin do without you! Delta need to be called to account for the way they are managing our money.
ODT have some follow-up coming to Cr Vandervis’ email after all….
When we are talking about maybe $19 million of ratepayers’ treasure up the ‘swanee’ the ODT can hardly not sit up and take notice no matter how much it irks them.
Please get me an oxygen mask. The stench, from the same old culprits, is overpowering.
I note in the explanation from the DCC and Delta that the unspecified losses of the Jacks Point dodgy investment by Delta was in some ways ameliorated by a claimable tax loss. So as a ratepayer I should be extremely happy that the DCC continues to make considerable tax losses??
As the Council has increased its losses from some $35 million pre-Harland to over $650 million, I would have thought that an attempt by the DCC to minimise its future and further losses would have been the number one priority.
As a taxpayer I find this approach totally Amoral.
No matter what happens the taxpayer and ratepayer will be robbed Intentionally by those working in both dens of iniquity.
The business acumen of the DCC and its wholly owned subsidiaries has been exposed as inept at best since the Chin mayoralty years. But recently the level of ineptness has been augmented by inappropriate personal financial gains by way of everything from fraud to self-awarding astronomical salaries and benefits. The only thing lacking is accountability, assisted by a determined effort by the mainstream media to protect their mates. All power to those who ferret out the truth.
### dunedintv.co.nz June 18, 2015 – 6:00pm
DCC owned Delta gains multi-million dollar contract
A multi-million dollar contract has been awarded to a company owned by the Dunedin City Council. Delta has just signed a $40m deal to maintain electricity and fibre optic networks around Nelson. It’s a five-year contract renewal with Network Tasman, which Delta has supplied services to since 2011.
Ch39 Link [no video available]
Ch39 Link restored at previous comment.
[If a 39 Dunedin Television link fails at What if? Dunedin – view the url of the weblink given here to discover the news story’s title. Enter the title (without hyphens) in the search box at http://www.dunedintv.co.nz/ to find the story or video.]