Last year’s news….
[Story/Newshub]
Back when….
Grady Cameron said on national television … “We Have A Safe Network” …
Did Grady get a tour of dangerous poles three years ago – or not ?
Was he shown just ONE pole at Green Island/Abbotsford.
Who would we rather believe.
Not Grader.
### newshub.co.nz 31/10/2016
Delta CEO fronts up on dangerous, toppling power poles
By Jendy Harper
A fortnight ago, we brought you the story of thousands of dangerous power poles which are putting lives at risk and have already been responsible for a death. The poles are the responsibility of lines company Delta and are dotted around Otago. A whistle-blower walked out on a 30-year career in electricity to speak out because he said management weren’t listening to his safety concerns. Richard Healey estimated there are 3000 power poles which need to be replaced. Today, Delta said they need to make dramatic changes and they will borrow $26 million dto replace 3000 power poles by the end of next year. Why did it take one man’s death and a whistleblower to speak out before the company acted? Delta CEO Grady Cameron finally speaks to Story.
MUST SEE Video [full Story report]
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At Facebook yesterday:
█ Deloitte’s Aurora report (Dec 2016)
█ For more, enter the terms *aurora*, *delta*, *dchl*, *dangerous*, *poles*, *gigatown*, *grady*, *cameron*, *crombie*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.
—
Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
This post is offered in the public interest.
What if? Dunedin... 
“The work ahead is exciting.”
All ‘planned’ . . . ‘an accelerated program’ . . . ‘dramatic changes’ . . .
Again, why did it take one principled man to raise the serious safety concerns publicly before all this multimillion dollar excitement got going?
Before Delta’s ‘Risk and Capability’ (should that be Culpability) Executive Manager departed?
Before the A/D Board Chairman walked? Before a damning Deloitte report was commissioned and released?
Aurora/Delta/DCHL/DCC and the public all know the reality of the situation. Nothing like this would ever have happened without Richard Healey blowing ‘time-out’.
The guy is at least owed an appropriate public response. He got some sorely needed action on an essential infrastructure network that is in a serious state of decay through neglect.
Unfortunately he won’t be able to overhaul the culture in Dunedin’s City Hall that allowed this slow rot to happen in the first instance.
But it’s a very good start.
Thanks Richard.
Yes, Richard is the man that this city and others are beholden too. Just what these creepy people are putting into place means to address the pole issue in a fast time schedule is a hard one to understand when they all treat this man as a ‘pariah’, tends to show the creepy types covering their arses. Let’s not forget this was all started due to Richard Healey’s real concern at a very good friend’s death due, it seems, to the sad sorry state of the poles throughout the Aurora District. Let’s not lose sight of the other details Mr Heatly has mentioned being the underground cables and the various substations. All this stuff apparantly is run down and largely worn out, but little in the way of replacements or maintenance has been carried out. This is the main brunt of the message here. It is the blatant feeding of Aurora’s capital into the DCC over the years to hide the vast financial mess created by the Stadium and other projects all at once. Council’s desire to keep its rates at an uncomfortably low level over the years by this process.
Now those chickens are coming home to roost and it’s going to be costly. With the DCC instigating such a hairbrained campaign under first, CEO Harland and carried on by Mayor Chin and Cull that within a decade or less the city’s debt went from $36million to around $369million, while DCHL’s subsidising of that debt increased to around $260million for a consolidated debt of $623million, a realistically unmanageable debt for just some 53,000 ratepayers. Then the result is some horrendous costs covering the shortfalls of the debt-funded projects which brings us back to the crux of the Aurora problem.
Meantime our Mayor is in denial over the whole issue and prevails with his delights in visiting China two or three times per year and covers the cycleways like they might be the great saviours. It really is disturbing to take all this in and remain a ratepayer in this city.
Every day large numbers of searches are made at the What if? Dunedin website. Google hides most of these from the website owner but provides a numerical count. Even so, samples of interesting search terms used come to view. For example—
yesterday:
dunedin mortgage fraud shady cameron
delta aurora
delta aurora network
purpose of security sharing deed
today:
dunedin city council organised crime
dunedin mortgage fraud shady cameron
From these we can replicate the search and compare click histories – website statistics show the posts clicked on for more information on the topic(s).
But wait . . .
DCC has spotted the ORC’s fat piggy bank that Port Otago reliably keeps topped up. And they think they would like to have their hands on it. $54 million in reserves would really be exciting to play with.
So, let’s begin the ‘conversation’ about combining the Councils.
In theory it might be a good idea, but DCC’s track record is not one to inspire any confidence in widening their ‘powers’.
Imagine My Crombie with Port Otago in his portfolio as well!!??
Let’s see DCC put their house in order first. Prove they are fit for purpose. The usual list comes out, all indicating largesse and reckless decisions at ratepayer’s expense.
Watch Aurora – Delta start costing ratepayers some serious money over the next year. There will be a massive blowout in their budget, with no dividends to Council for a very long time.
Watch the Stadium’s debt climb without A-D’s subvention support.
Watch the Yaldhurst debacle quietly slip out of focus along with tens of millions of dollars of Delta’s ‘investment’. Watch the benefactors of this, again Dunedin-based, quietly exit stage left. Watch history repeat; Jacks Point – Luggate – Yaldhurst
I have no faith at all in seeing ORC’s role combined with City Hall. There is not even a hint of optimism to be inspired with.
The potential for an even bigger regional mess is too obvious.
I agree, Nick. If DCC hadn’t made such a basket case of itself it would be a good idea. But they have, and it ain’t.
It is perhaps interesting to consider whether an aggressive competitor to Aurora might soon emerge – in the Lakes at least. As Aurora’s existing lines in the area are knackered and will need to be rebuilt from the ground up, a major barrier to competitive entry, which is the RELATIVE magnitude of the capital input required, will be removed.
Indeed, a new entry into the Queenstown Lakes area might actually be advantaged by starting with a clean slate when they are building a new network. They will not have Aurora’s issues with maintaining the rotting and corroded raffle that is currently in place as they replace it piecemeal. Dunedin’s lines market might be different due to the Council’s capacity to obstruct such an entry.
In the Lakes area Aurora/DCC firstly do not have that ability, and secondly they have no goodwill – rather the opposite in fact if they are faced with a new entry such as Network Waitaki, which has a track record of maintaining its networks and not screwing its customers to fund various secondary lifestyles and ventures.
The Lakes is a currently quite small but fast growing and wealthy area – An attractive entry market – therefore such a scenario is not impossible, and surely would be supported by a Government that favours power market regulation by open competition.
To some extent Rob, it has already happened on the Frankton flats at Queenstown, which is the border where Aurora and Powernet (Invercargill) meet.
A turf war between the two saw subdivision developers in the box seat as both companies offered generous inducements to connect to their respective networks.
This was probably the one and only time when Aurora was subjected to any form of competition.
A better road to go down would require legislation / regulation to vest Lines Companies back into consumer trust ownership (as Waitaki has quietly been successfully demonstrating for almost 2 decades).
Aurora was simply highjacked by the Otago Rugby Union, and that folly was a calamitous blunder. We now have a Stadium without Aurora’s subvention support, and Aurora with possibly a negative asset value. All liabilities of course to be laid at the ratepayers’ door.
And quite a few directors who have just shuffled quietly off.
Lest we forget.
Hudson
Polson
McLauchlan
Coburn
Parton
et al