The What if? Dunedin team has received repeat ‘word’ in the last 24 months from disgruntled ratepayers and residents, as well as senior personnel inside and outside Delta Utility Services / Aurora Energy…. (Otago and Canterbury).
Whistleblower Richard Healey is not alone [Story newshub.co.nz]
That Mr Healey was “escorted from his workplace of seven years” speaks volumes about the sad-arsed top tier trougher and ‘Board of Directors’ that prop up the two Dunedin City Council-owned companies [Luggate, Jacks Point, Yaldhurst, civil construction and contract fails, property speculation, joint venture quackery and rorting, vehicle pool and equipment indulgences at mates rates and for ‘friends’, exorbitant chief executive salary rise with bonuses, top heavy over-paid management, ratepayer subsidised tender bids, a crippled if not completely broken electricity network, anyone?] ….and annual subvention payments to the multimillion-dollar-loss-making Dunedin stadium.
Does that sound competent.
Wide public knowledge of the state of the ill-managed electricity network apparently hasn’t assaulted the senses of our Award-winning young executive Grady Cameron or indeed the short and stout DCHL chairman Spongebob Crombie.
Thanks to Media Man for the tweet alert earlier this evening.
#Dunedin #NZ #Delta @whatifdunedin @clarecurranmp https://t.co/q6YGQwlb8e
— Media Man (@TheWarRoomNZ) October 19, 2016
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“No guarantees” for the public or the workers [Story newshub.co.nz]
### newshub.co.nz Wed, 19 Oct 2016 7:25 p.m.
Source: Story at TV3
Ex-manager blows lid on ‘dangerous, toppling’ power poles
By Jendy Harper
A former manager in the electricity industry has quit his job to go public over the state of New Zealand’s power poles, which he says are toppling from neglect. Last week Richard Healey quit his job at Delta, which manages the electricity network in Dunedin and Central Otago, and was escorted from his workplace of seven years. He called Story after he left the building and said he had resigned over the rundown and unsafe state of the electricity network in his patch, and he wanted to go public about it. […] Whistleblower Mr Healey has since met with Energy Safety, a division of Worksafe, and they will follow up on the matters he has raised.
Read more + Video (full Story report)
“A decaying and dangerous network” [Story newshub.co.nz]
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Related Posts and Comments:
13.10.16 COMPLETE Dis-satisfaction with DCC, DCHL, DVML, DVL, Delta….
9.6.16 Aurora Energy Ltd warned by regulator
█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *epic fraud* or *dchl* in the search box at right.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
This post is offered in the public interest.
What if? Dunedin... 
Received.
Wed, 19 Oct 2016 at 8:15 p.m.
Is Grady Cameron paid so much because he is in the gun for this stuff and should resign when he is responsible for such things?
Did the Audit/Risk committee of DCHL have this risk on its radar? If not why not?
Since Graham Crombie speaks for Delta what has he got to say about this?
If the regulator (Commerce Commission) knew, were they actually happy?
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Lots of LGOIMAs and OIAs about to hit……….
I can now see why they pay Grady Cameron over $500,000.
That amount of obfuscation and bullshit exceeds all other requirements of similar Dunedin bureaucrats.
Received.
Wed, 19 Oct 2016 at 8:19 p.m.
How about publishing the highlights of the Delta annual report – surely that mentions these poles?
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Freaked Out Meandering Reply:
[via DCC website] “Delta Utility Services Limited is a multi-utility service contractor providing a range of electrical and other services to local authority and private sector clients.”
“Delta has performed steadily over the past year in its core energy and environmental sectors, growing our portfolio of long term customers.
We continued to nurture a safety-critical culture, and achieved another significant improvement in safety performance with a 25 per cent reduction in total recordable injuries.”
█ Delta Utility Services Limited 2016 Annual Report (PDF, 1.4 MB)
Annual report for the year ended 30 June 2016
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█ [The VAST number of DANGEROUS poles is Not Mentioned in Delta’s *highlights*]
OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
• 25% reduction in total recordable injuries, representing a significant reduction in harm
• Managed $37.2 million of capital projects on the Aurora Energy electricity network
• Installed 770 poles on the Aurora Energy network in Dunedin and Central Otago [we’re told there’s at least 1000 poles needing replacement in Dunedin City but that Delta can’t afford to replace them at an average cost of $5,000 per pole]
• New tree services business unit completed $4.1 million vegetation management for improved reliability on the Aurora Energy network, clearing 30 kilometres of vegetation away from power lines
• Appointed preferred supplier to Ministry of Innovation, Business and Employment for inspection and auditing services on prescribed electrical works
• Constructed and commissioned a new, higher-capacity substation at Camp Hill, Central Otago to cater for increased electricity demand
• Upgraded power supply to Omakau and surrounding areas in Central Otago including overhead line upgrades and construction of a new substation at Lauder Flat Road
• Strengthened power supply to the Closeburn and Glenorchy areas of Lake Wakatipu
• Had Contact Energy Clutha technical and tunnel services contract renewed for a further two years
• Prepared playing surfaces for international cricket test in Dunedin in December 2015
• Continued year six of electricity network maintenance for Network Tasman
• Deployed 46,500 smart meters across New Zealand
• Commenced parks maintenance contract with Christchurch City Council totalling $22 million over nine years
• Won new parks and cemeteries maintenance services contracts for Dunedin City Council via competitive tender
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█ [Excerpts – pole mentions from Annual Report’s Energy statement]
“Our energy business provides asset management and distribution maintenance and construction services to Delta’s sister company Aurora Energy, New Zealand’s sixth largest electricity network. The electricity network is in an accelerated phase of asset renewals, capacity upgrades and increased maintenance. In response, Delta increased its resources and capabilities to deliver the increased work programme.
During FY16, we managed $37.2 million of capital projects for Aurora Energy (FY15: $35.4 million).”
“In Dunedin, we delivered Aurora Energy’s earthing upgrade programme and continued the conversion of transformers from pole to ground mounted. […] Where Chorus installed new telecommunications poles, Delta changed over the electricity equipment to the new pole.
We replaced or installed 770 power poles on the Aurora Energy network, achieving its scheduled replacement programme for FY16, including complex overhead installations. We carried out more than 1,300 mechanical pole tests on the Aurora Energy network using Deuar technology and nearly 5,000 manual inspections. The inspections give updates on the condition and expected remaining life of the asset, information used to assess risk and prioritise pole replacement.”
“During FY16, we performed lines maintenance work for Network Tasman largely centred in and around the Motueka area. Work included replacing approximately 200 poles, changing cross arms and hardware at approximately 1,300 pole sites and completing several kilometres of reconductoring.”
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█ [Re Heath and Safety, how much of the following should we believe]
SAFETY AND RISK
Every day, our people work in challenging environments where control of multiple risks is a priority. Managing the risks to our employees, contractors and the public is our primary health and safety responsibility throughout the organisation.
The new Health and Safety at Work Act came into force in April, strengthening requirements on all workplaces to identify and control significant risks to people’s health and safety. The changes marry well with Delta’s safety culture that has a clear focus on proactive risk management.
[…] During FY16, we maintained the visibility of safety leadership across the organisation. The Board of Directors’ Health and Safety Committee met three times during FY16.
Managers made regular onsite safety observations. Workgroup safety days, plus a safety day for all operational leaders across the organisation, gave focused attention to process safety leadership. We continued to roll out customisable visual safety boards used in conjunction with daily and weekly team briefings.
This year we achieved a further significant reduction in recordable injury rates by 25 per cent. Total recordable injuries per 200,000 hours worked (TRIFR) have trended downwards in the last three years from 8.79 in FY14, to 4.16 in FY15 to 3.11 in FY16 against a target of 4. We are pleased at the continuous improvement in this lagging indicator and the risk reduction it represents.
Regrettably, Delta was prosecuted by WorkSafe in relation to a workplace incident involving a line worker near Cardrona, Central Otago which occurred in November 2014. As an organisation, we are highly committed to keeping our people safe. We make regular and ongoing improvements to our safety practice, training and equipment to avoid such incidents. We were very disappointed that despite these efforts, in this instance, the required procedures and training for this type of work were not followed. Following the incident we carried out an internal investigation, further strengthened our work practices and introduced a new live low voltage work standard.
[…] The electricity sector continues to address high risk areas of operations through the introduction of safety restrictions that prevent or reduce the potential for serious harm. During FY16, there was a specific focus on the safe maintenance of overhead live line conductors and associated network equipment. Delta has continued to deepen its job safety analysis method to assess operational risks when working on electricity distribution equipment, is standardising procedures and is incrementally introducing higher-rated protective equipment.
Delta was an active participant in workplace safety industry and engineering safety forums including the Business Leaders’ Health & Safety Forum, Electricity Engineers’ Association and Electricity Networks Association working group. We retained tertiary accreditation, the highest standard attainable, for ACC’s Workplace Safety Management Programme at the annual independent audit.
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█ HONEST DIMENSIONS
Go to Story, TV3 (newshub.co.nz) 19.10.16 article and video
Ex-manager blows lid on ‘dangerous, toppling’ power poles
Thanks for the support, it’s been a difficult few years, but the last few weeks have been the worst. Here’s a clip from a post I made on Facebook to give my former colleagues some background. My primary concern in all of this has been to keep everyone safe. No more tragedies like the death of Roger Steel.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I appreciate the support but I really had no option. In the last six years I’ve seen live high voltage lines sit on the ground for two days in the grounds of a major tourist attraction – and another set alive 600mm off the ground inside a property where you can look over the fence and see a yard full of kids toys.
I’ve seen thousands of poles that could kill my work mates, and I’ve seen one of them die on one of those poles.
In the past 15 months I’ve watched as the number of those really dodgy structures has increased by more than 1000. The crunch came for me when I realised that probably 2000 of those poles should have been fitted with “warning, DO NOT CLIMB” tags – but they were missing.
Discovering those missing tags made my gut churn. In December 2010 Roger Steel, one of the world’s good buggers died after climbing a pole that was missing a red tag. Both the District Court and the Coroner cited the missing danger tag as a significant factor in Steelo’s death.
The obvious thing to do first was to put out a safety alert to Delta staff. I was told not to do that, my voice was seen as too negative and, in any case, it was the asset management team’s role to put out the alert. I was asked to get one of the other guys to request that an alert be sent out urgently.
I kept pushing for the alert to go out, at that stage I thought around 1000 poles were affected. Nothing happened. Finally, I got the opportunity to raise the issue in an operations meeting. I was told that the Network Operations Manager would write an alert. Scot Jefferries pointed out that I’d written one already but was ignored. He pointed out a second time that an alert had already been drafted. Eventually I was asked to send through my alert and informed that it would be used as the basis of the final release.
Here’s where it gets really disturbing, This is what I said in my Safety Alert:
“During a recent ICAM it became apparent that a large number of poles (probably less than 1000) have been tested and been found to be “Condition 1” – but no red tag has been applied to them”
This is what the alert that the company issued said:
“It was identified during a recent ICAM that some poles assessed as being defective may not have been Red tagged in accordance with Aurora procedures.”
“Have been found” turned into “may not” – “probably less than 1000” turned into “some poles”. The effect is pretty obvious, the guys were free to believe that a few poles might not have been tagged as opposed to a 1000-odd were definitely not tagged. I was pretty upset.
But it got worse, we sent crews out to apply the missing tags. Asset Management found out that we were doing that and told us to stop. They were creating a software tool to capture the data about what poles we were applying the tags to. We pointed out that we were capturing the poles and the tagging teams were logging all the data on a form which they signed. No problem you might think, the data can be loaded into the new software from the forms when it is eventually developed.
Problem, we were told to stop immediately and that we wouldn’t be paid for the work; when asked to put it in writing, they did!
Then it got worse. While out looking for a site to install some equipment I found a pole that the GIS (the system that holds all the information about the plant that makes up the network) said was Condition 5 (good for many decades) had a red tag on it. The red tag was legitimate, that pole was buggered.
It was then that I figured out that the data that the pole inspectors had gathered was being reassessed, after some software changes, and that the the condition ratings of hundreds of poles had been changed as a result. I wrote some notes. Here’s a sample (condition 0 means so bad you must replace it in 3 months, condition 6 is essentially a brand new pole):
“Pole 12680
This 72% degraded, 44 year old pole was Deuar tested on 19/06/2015, rated as condition 0 and red tagged. It also carries a remaining life assessment of 30 years. One week later it was reassessed and the rating went from 0 to 6. One month after that it was again reassessed and went from condition 6 to condition 1. Finally, on 19/08/2015 the condition assessment went from 1 to condition 6. ”
Those notes were taken to the CEO, he cancelled the meeting. I wrote to him, he has never replied, I quit, we are here today.
I forgot to mention it, but on my last day at Delta two more poles fell down, both in Alexandra area. It looks to me like the company has failed to tag around two thousand poor condition poles, but the final number won’t be known until the end of the month. That’s the bad news, the good news is that crews are out there now nailing those tags to poles all over Dunedin and Central Otago.
My advice is this, if you’re dropping your kids off at school and notice the poles outside have suddenly sprouted red “do not climb” tags then ring Delta and ask about the condition of those poles and the risk they may pose to you and your kids. If a red tag suddenly appears on the pole outside your house, do the same thing.
Don’t be put off with a standard “the company takes your wellbeing very seriously” answer. Ask for specific information, when was the problem first identified, how long does Aurora have under the Electricity Safety regulations 2010, regulation 41 to replace the structure, what do I need to do to stay safe, what are the penalties that apply if Aurora fails in its primary duty of care?
This is horrifying. I have friends who are electricians – and everyone lives, drives and walks close to poles. All are endangered by these irresponsible oxygen thieves.
This is the same kind of “just alter the ‘McFacts’ – fixing the problem would be hard work” attitude the Catholic Church took to child abuse – change the label, reassign, remove the REAL trouble-makers i.e. the people who won’t be party to dereliction of duty.
Richard Healey, you da man! Integrity matters, but is as often punished as rewarded. NZ ethics 2016?
Any idea Richard on the condition of the poles that caused the 2 extended power outages (over 8 hrs) in Galloway and Ida Valley on Tuesday Oct 11th?
If they were rotten, then Aurora owes a lot of consumers a ‘delivery failure’ refund of $50.
Sorry to hear of the treatment you have received from Aurora/ Delta. And sorry to say I am not surprised. Like so many of its poles, there is a rotten culture in that company.
Thanks for stopping by Richard and most certainly for providing these details. All very welcome.
We look forward to any updates as media and the authorities track ‘into’ Delta and expose all the management issues, the names of all responsible for this really dire situation, and how the company(s) and the individuals concerned are or aren’t bringing everything up to regulatory compliance with or without stiff penalty….
Shocking.
After looking into Delta on other matters lately none of this suggests Delta and Aurora can stay in the same leadership or governance.
Thanks Richard for putting others ahead of yourself and blowing the whistle on this immoral Delta outfit. As well as neglecting the safety and welfare of their staff and the public, Delta have been exposed as an outfit that feeds extravagantly off the ratepayer with over the top salaries; and that preys on and cheats citizens when entering into their joint venture private developments with their mates.
The city council has been wilfully blind in these matters and as 100% owner also negligent and culpable.
Despondent chap has Delta splurge at Twitter:
My little bird tells me there’s about to be a major organizational change at Delta. Imminent.
No surprise whatsoever.
Wouldn’t it be a shame if this ‘major organizational change’ sought to deal to all those who have challenged the status quo, the ‘way we do things around here’, and to consolidate the power of those whose bottomless troughs are more important than staff and public lives? My little bird (canary, as in mining tradition) is singing a forlorn and hopeless song.
These poles belong to the Aurora network I thought. I wonder who is in charge of Aurora and their maintenance programme carried out by Delta? Would it be the same people as the Delta people by any chance?
The terrible twin sisters are both responsible. Remind us who is on the board of these two. Answerable to DCHL. Apparently if we lose confidence in the directors we need to fire them.
Not sure I see any confidence at the moment.
The Council, both political and administrative arms, have looked so weak for so long by not taking action against Delta cock ups and the incompetent DCHL board ‘overlooking’ it. It is clear who rules the roost at City Hall and it appears to be not Dave Cull or Sue Bidrose. Same old story. The Old Boy Network protecting itself.
The same goes with the corruption surrounding the stadium. Same people know the inside story, but do nothing. Happy to help behind the scenes, but no guts.
Further to Hilary’s comment – to make perfectly crystal: Aurora and Delta share the same Board of Directors and the same chief executive Mr Cameron.
Note the lovely accountant Mr Stuart McLauchlan has been a Director long enough to have seen through the Luggate and Jacks Point multimillion-dollar-loss-making subdivision fiascos with the related political whitewash that followed ie the Auditor-general’s investigation of Delta! Then too, he has supported Numero Trois, the multimillion-dollar-loss-making Noble subdivision fiasco at Yaldhurst (#epicfraud…. as yet without forensic audit, long overdue!). But hey he has also carefully overseen, with his co-Directors, the AMAZING simultaneous delapidation and disfunction of the Aurora electricity network (the physical asset) – now a massive public safety risk and workplace nightmare of frightening proportion —such that the individual Directors may eventually find themselves facing charges ….and hopefully a Government-impelled commission of enquiry into the Dunedin City Council-owned companies including Dunedin City Holdings Ltd and properly DCC itself for atrocious lack of governance.
Imagine the sort of finance needed to bring the network (quickly) back to ‘health’.
A few gentlemen to name, shame and Fry.
DELTA
Steve Thompson joined the Board as non-executive director in June 2016. A chartered accountant and previously a tax partner at Deloitte, he has an extensive background in providing corporate and taxation advice to a significant number of public and private entities. Steve is chair of electricity distribution network Alpine Energy and a director of a number of New Zealand companies involved in the energy, construction and investment sectors.* We welcome Steve to the Board of Directors and the governance and industry expertise he brings.
—Delta 2016 Annual Report (page 11)
*Interesting.
Grady Cameron looked very uncomfortable on Story tonight. Maybe scared? He should be.
Some crap about a photo on his desk concerning a guy who lost his life serving the company. He keeps it there as a momento of the importance of health and safety in the company. Might be true. Might not be. But a handy little story to have up your sleeve given what has just been revealed by Richard.
### newshub.co.nz Thu, 20 Oct 2016 at 8:05 p.m.
Source: Story at TV3
Whistle blower ex-manager of electricity network inundated with support
By Jendy Harper
At six-foot-four and 17 stone, Roger Steel was big in body and big in heart. He was a lineman for 43 years but his final moments are not something his widow likes to dwell on. Karyn Steel knows that her husband’s death in 2010 was preventable and after our story last night, she realised it could happen again and to another family. A former Delta manager blew the whistle on Story last night and claims the Aurora-owned Delta-managed electricity network in Dunedin and Central Otago is decaying and dangerous. […] But what has been the follow up at top level to Mr Healey’s accusations and Delta CEO Grady Cameron’s admission there is a “back log” in replacing unsafe poles?
Video (full Story report)
Eizabeth, there’s a power pole outside my place in Middleton Rd which has worried me for the last two years. Despite ringing Delta some 18 months ago all they have done is “red tag” it. Noticing the same thing with a power pole on the corner of Wesley St and Hillside Road. Likely there are more on the flat!!! Suspect that like with the mudtank fiasco South Dunedin infrastructure is being shafted again by the DCC. This being the case and given the recent ODT publicity I intend to raise this issue at our next meeting of the South Dunedin Action Group. Will strongly push for a letter going to Mayor Cull with copy to CEO asking for this to be rectified. After all, we still own Aurora Energy as our Lines Company and don’t agree with Lee Vandervis that we sell it. Rather it needs to come back to DCC as a core business unit.
Agree you should do immediate follow up for your street and South Dunedin as a whole through the auspices of SDAG. Excellent. Keep on the DCC’s tail about this.
Agree, we shouldn’t sell Delta or Aurora but should retain these (their engineering and other core expertise, and resource) within Council – as CD has suggested in one of his recent posts, with the appointment of an expert project manager (he mentioned the likes of Geoff Plunket).
Cr Vandervis is wrong to say SELL.
There are power poles that look more than shonky that have trolley bus attachments on them. When were they put in? In the 1950s?
“Heritage” poles, saved by Delta out of respect for Dunedin’s transport history.
Slackness, reckless disregard of public safety and possibility of major city-side outage, preference for diverting money to greed and feckless investment failures – never!
Delta *cares*!
You are correct. Most of the transport poles were installed in the early 1950s. The oldest poles on the Aurora network are from the 1920s.
Transport poles can usually be identified by the letters CT which are carved into one face. Linemen have treated those poles with great care since the 1980s because of their history of sudden collapse.
Absent voices…
E tū ~ lines workers union
Clare Curran ~ MP Dunedin South
David Clark ~ MP Dunedin North
….just saying…
PG – Clare Curran attends the meetings of the SDAG so will expect her next Wednesday to support us like she has in the past.
One of the most serious issues facing society today is that the law is now no longer able to cope with white collar crime – which isn’t crime as a direct result of this failing.
Let us take a hypothetical example: A publicly owned rental accommodation company, which simply fails to fulfill its obligations to maintain the assets for which It is responsible. This creates an unsustainable cash flow over a significant period that is then transferred (plus some more borrowed from the public entity’s own treasury) to a group of third parties via a series of real estate developer financing deals that seem to have nothing to do with either the company’s core mission or with prudent practice in the ‘new’ areas of activity. Let’s say that the sum ‘lost’ from the public entity is some $60 million, which roughly equates to the sum ‘gained’ by the third parties.
Has a crime been committed? No, because all the deals were legal and were conducted in ‘good faith’. The negative outcomes were (apparently) entirely due to naïvety, misplaced trust/confidence, poor professional advice and various flavours of ‘bad luck’. A conviction would require evidence supporting a case that matters were otherwise ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’ that would stand up to a defence legal team backed up to the tune, say $60 million. Civil action, while requiring a lower standard of proof, and possibly allowing proceedings against a larger group of players, would end up being similarly mired in a fiscal tarpit that might run for years before petering out.
Perhaps it’s time to think quite radically about this matter before white collar crime quite literally destroys our society around us. Be in no doubt that it is quite capable of doing exactly that. Perhaps it’s time to think about reversing the burden of proof, to a situation where the people involved in deals that lead to large losses for asset owners have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the transactions that led to these losses (and gains for others) were adequately informed and were competently conducted in good faith, not the other way around.
At the same time why not set a time limit of five working days on all white collar trials. Some cases, both civil and criminal, now go on for years. Am I the only one who thinks that this is largely for the purposes of fiscally bleeding their opponents to death and muddying the waters to gain an acquittal?
I can think of no concept that is too complex to transmit to a jury of average intelligence in one and a half working days, which is what the prosecution and defence would have available to them under such a system. These mega-fee lawyers would then be required to devote their unarguably considerable skills in the handling of argument and evidence to the purposes of clarification rather than obfuscation. The jury would have eight hours to make up their minds, and a straight majority at the end of that period would suffice to acquit or convict.
Insane? Maybe not absolutely. Anyway – what are the alternatives as we are overrun?
Rob, what a very intelligent idea. ‘doG’ speed as ’twere. We have a fantastic test case or three (OK, more!) revolving around people we all know and can name, locally.
Like we said. Eyes…. ‘wide shut’.
It turns out Our Short and Stoutness, Mr Crombie, is the worst kind of DESKHUGGER.
Doesn’t get off his backside to check the Actual Physical company operation (Hell No) —instead, like any suit for hire he prefers making smarmy ‘chairman’ statements utlising latest jargon, attended by twisty accounting figures for SPIN to the shareholder DCC (the Ratepayers).
Graham Crombie MUST resign.
Warren Larsen would certainly expect this. Link
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Wed, 26 Oct 2016
ODT: Contradictions in advice, DCHL says
Delta and Aurora have been telling the Dunedin City Council entity tasked with overseeing them that a planned upgrade of the network was “under control”. […] “These latest allegations and comments appear to contradict some of those bits of information we thought we knew. We are basically asking for an explanation of that,” Mr Crombie said. […] He …. would not comment if jobs were on the line at Delta and Aurora if the accusations were found to be true.
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Woeful slime and pond scum from you, Mr Crombie.
### channel39.co.nz Wed, 26 Oct 2016
Investigations launched into power pole failings
The unfolding drama around dangerous power poles in Otago is attracting national attention, with three separate investigations launched. Electricity distributor Aurora and contracted infrastructure company Delta are under fire for allegedly failing to replace substandard poles. Worksafe and the Commerce Commission are investigating, as is Dunedin City Holdings Limited. Almost 3000 power poles need replacing in the next year, and it’s estimated another 5000 will need replacing in the next five years. A Delta manager recently quit over his concerns for people’s safety as a result of the degraded infrastructure and lack of maintenance. It’s possible the fiasco will cost the Dunedin City Council millions of dollars as it owns both Aurora and Delta.
Ch39 Link
Channel 39 Published on Oct 25, 2016
The Story (TV3) broke the news on Wednesday 19 October : Ex-manager blows lid on ‘dangerous, toppling’ power poles.
That same evening a witness saw Grady Cameron and friends in high spirits acting up in Dunedin’s mainstreet – apparently under the influence.
The following case via the NZ Herald story (28.9.16), ‘Corruption at council widespread, says Crown’, was raised at What if? Dunedin the same day in Comments to CD’s post Delta #EpicFail —Epic Fraud #14 : The Election and The End Game revisited.
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Received [from a local body representative; not Lee Vandervis]
Thu, 27 Oct 2016 at 8:50 p.m.
NZH Link
Barrie George formerly employed by the Rodney District Council. Didn’t the DCC employ somebody from the Rodney Council ?
C O R R U P T I O N
Fri, 9 Dec 2016 at 10:05 a.m.
NZH: Council manager guilty of majority of corruption charges
A roading contractor and a council manager have been found guilty of corruption in a case exposing what the prosecution called a “culture of corruption” among Auckland council staff administering tens of millions of dollars in roading contracts. Justice Sally Fitzgerald delivered her verdict this in the High Court at Auckland this morning in the long-running trial of former Auckland Transport senior manager Murray Noone and roading engineer contractor Stephen Borlase. Noone was found guilty on six charges of receiving $1.2 million in bribes from Borlase. Borlase, in turn, was found guilty on eight charges of offering bribes to Noone and other council staff. Borlase was found not guilty on four charges of dishonestly using a document to allegedly inflate invoices to council. The corrupt relationship ran from 2006 until 2012, from Noone worked at Rodney District Council, continuing when he joined Auckland Transport following the supercity merger. Cont/
Aren’t we lucky this sort of thing could NEVER happen in Dunedin!
It’s all right here.
Will the Deloitte report venture into muddy waters, Hype O’Thermia.
Fulton Hogan have not been asked to refund the over $200,000 paid to them to clean the mudtanks with a non-existent vehicle.
The letter from Vandervis explains one possible reason why.
Hasn’t Grady already indicated disengaging from the public-funded teat? I’m guessing he will take one for the bunch and be seen to fall on the accountants pen, all while receiving a very large compensation package before moving off to join friends in Queenstown or Wanaka. As for Stuart, there’s a man who will see the writing on the wall and know it’s time to stop sucking on the teat too. They’ve certainly had their fill and much, much more. Spending on non-essential services, vanity projects and failed investments – and what those wasted millions represent – wouldn’t matter to these people. It’s nothing more than a pat on a tummy, expelling gas and a quick look around to determine which to suckle on next.
I’m not feeling comfortable with Graham doing the right thing given the influences involved but it will be bigger than all of them if someone else dies.
It has been a while since I last posted on this site. Why? Because it seems like Delta has usurped the space, I believe it all stems back to Jim Harland’s appointment whereby he set out to build a Stadium, Town Hall Conference Centre, Museum etc using debt, and then restructure the former DCC inhouse Engineering and all other centres of excellence.
Result is we have seen an explosion of debt and the loss of control, now we are paying the price. It’s because of the debt that we see Aurora run by Delta paying over $8million to the Stadium annually towards its debt servicing and reduction. This could well help the pole replacement of course but then what of the Stadium debt? You can’t have your cake and eat it too. At least not once the secret’s out and we see the results. Dave Cull has the unenviable task of trying to pour water over the fire burning in Delta’s interior. He of course cannot hide from this, as he was one of the few who supported the Stadium plus other items of the debt-funded splash out engineered by Harland and co. So watch the series of disappearances happen from now on in. Of course all is not lost as long as there’s the ratepayers to underwrite it all. The blame will be apportioned and then redesigned in such a way that it was all the fault of the missing people. No-one will be held to account but the ratepayers. Meanwhile the consolidated debt will rise as there are too many balls in the air at present to let the matter rest. Just where it all ends up is anyone’s guess. But it won’t be pretty and the city will be restricted for decades.