Received.
Sun, 20 Nov 2016 at 10:44 p.m.
There are questions for the Council to ask Dunedin City Holdings (DCHL).
█ However, the one chosen, namely does DCHL have confidence in Delta, is not one of them.
Council should ask DCHL to explain why Council should have confidence in the board of DCHL, considering:
1) Both Delta and DCHL are expected to report financial budgets competently: recent talk of a need for increased investment required of $39 million suggests this has not happened.
2) Both Delta and DCHL are required to report to the shareholder within 5 days if there are any major issues that should be known, especially media related issues. This has not happened.
3) Delta is apparently intending to borrow $30 million dollars to deal with a public relations issue (the poles are apparently safe). There was no suggestion in any budgets that $30 million would be required for a public relations exercise, despite the CEO of Delta apparently having known for some years that the situation which is now in the spotlight would need to be addressed.
4) Neither of these companies accept that their plans included ignoring safety issues that others have noticed. It appears that Delta still does not accept that there are any safety issues that should have been addressed.
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It is for DCHL to explain to Council why these financial and safety issues have arisen either without the knowledge of DCHL or with their knowledge which was not passed on.
The starting point must be to sack DCHL and appoint a replacement board unless there are prompt answers to the above which are acceptable both to Council and at this point to the public of Dunedin (and also to other places where Aurora provides services, come to that).
PS. Among the Not acceptable answers:
‘It is important that Council understands that dividends paid from profits are likely to be compromised as a result of the increased replacement programme undertaken by Aurora through Delta.’
[ends]
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
This post is offered in the public interest.
*Image: linkedin.com – Fall from a height: a case study [poor Grady], tweaked by whatifdunedin
What if? Dunedin... 