Profligate behaviour : MYTH paraded as fact…… just like Aurora Energy’s propaganda campaign

Council infrastructure and networks committee chairwoman Cr Kate Wilson said last night the project would go ahead “regardless”. There was funding for three years, she said, and the fourth year’s funding would be part of next year’s long-term plan, and the one after that. The project was needed for safety reasons to prevent vehicles driving into the harbour and climate change making the road undriveable. (ODT) *Emphasis by whatifdunedin

Yeah right.

### ODT Online Fri, 26 May 2017
Botched cycleway estimate short by $13m
By David Loughrey
A bungled Dunedin City Council cost estimate to complete safety improvements and a cycle/walkway on Otago Peninsula has left the project more than $13 million short. The council announced yesterday an estimate for the project on Portobello Rd and Harington Point Rd that includes a cycle/walkway from Taiaroa Head to the city had risen from $20 million to $49 million. The earlier estimate, drawn up  in 2011, did not include parts of the cycleway to be built, land that had to be bought and a contingency fund to cover unforeseen expenses. […] Despite the cost rise, the council will start construction this year, with a shared cycle/walkway design.
Read more

****

Powerlines at sunset [garp.com]

Meanwhile WE will be paying for our Otago power network TWICE, at a crippling cost to business and residential power consumers well into the future —thanks to Dunedin City Council’s unsatisfactory governance of the companies Aurora Energy / Delta Utility Services and Dunedin City Holdings and, above all, the Council’s unfettered use of public funds to realise the dream of the Tartan Mafia and Professional Rugby to build the now frequently empty and under-utilised Forsyth Barr Stadium. (three concerts by Ed Sheeran in highly doubtful acoustic conditions inside ‘the roof’ does not a Christmas make).

All this because the Council conveniently fails to ensure it covers the infrastructural basics (in this instance: the safe, secure and continuous supply of electricity) – affordably – for the static if bearly stable City of Dunedin, and the sparcely populated Otago region in the mode of fast pumping growth. (There are simply too few permanent ratepayers to uphold ‘big bloated dreams’ and money siphoning on the rates take).

The Council did not ensure that Aurora Energy / Delta Utility Services were sufficiently well structured to Avoid profligate spending, making subvention payments to the stadium companies, or borrowing to pay dividends to the Council. (Probably the least of it).

There have been YEARS of dangerous neglect, embellishing the lack of repair and upgrade to the Community of Otago’s electricity network.

The Council is not well enough controlled (corporate and financial oversight) in order to Avoid its own profligate spending —so to protect, support and upgrade Otago’s power network as the solid basis for regional economic development and SAFE living —with CERTAINTY and SECURITY OF SUPPLY.

Instead, The People will now be plunged into further debt by the circus wheel of local body politicians and the morally thin and rather malevolent boards of directors (masters of spin) controlling the companies.

It’s time the People of Dunedin and Otago took control of their power infrastructure. Resolving, if they will, to adopt a different ownership and delivery model – one option is to form a democratically elected Community Power Trust to own and oversee the network; this is a sound regional model that is proven to work in other jurisdictions, with all due care.

WE have to Safeguard our future.
Not leave decision-making to unvetted members of the Tartan Mafia.
Especially not those in thrall to the likes of Gordon Stewart and his ilk (a vague reference to Delta’s speculative dealings at Yaldhurst, Christchurch – Delta is presently in a discovery process via an action brought to the Christchurch High Court by Caveators claiming Constructive Fraud).

DO NOT sell the ‘fragments remaining’ of the Otago Power Network (as bleated by some in power who can’t/won’t maintain a local body balance sheet – like you trust them, already?!) – to overseas corporates who will hike power prices disastrously to satisfy their shareholders.

Proceed carefully, OTAGO.

ASK QUESTIONS. RESEARCH. DO YOUR SUMS.
DON’T BE TOLD WHAT TO DO. ACT RESPONSIBLY FOR THE FUTURE PROSPERITY OF YOUR KITH AND KIN.
DO NOT PLACE FAITH IN OLD SPIN MAESTERS AND THEIR DEPUTIES.

We’ve seen them all before and have the new $1+ BILLION ‘invoice’ from Aurora Energy to prove it. Yes, we thought we had already paid over that amount in electricity and lines dues.

The suited ones bringing the clamour are looking after themselves – not US, not OUR COMMUNITY.

This is now a ransom.

The UGLY sister companies remain joined at the hip : Delta is Aurora Energy’s “preferred contractor”. And Steve is new, so don’t blame him! ….Really?

****

[propaganda – Aurora Energy]

After facing unrelenting pressure to up its game, Aurora Energy says it has stepped up to the challenge.

Sat, 27 May 2017
Dawn of a new Aurora era
By Vaughan Elder
Aurora chairman Steve Thompson said it had been under the “spotlight and the heat lamp” since accusations broke last October that it was endangering the public and workers by leaving its network, and in particular power poles, to deteriorate. That pressure turned ugly at times and workers had been verbally abused, including while out doing their supermarket shopping. Mr Thompson blamed the abuse on what he described as unfair criticism and media coverage. But Mr Thompson said in the face of adversity, Aurora and its sister company Delta had achieved a “hell of a lot” in a short space of time. The two companies were well on their way to splitting up in a divorce which Mr Thompson said would cost money in the short-term but reap huge benefits in the long-term. Aurora was also mid-way through an ambitious accelerated pole replacement programme and this week announced a $720million plan to upgrade its ageing network.
….Mr Thompson said its actions should help renew the public’s faith in both companies, but emphasised he believed that faith had been unfairly shaken by what he described as over-the-top criticism in the past seven months. He said safety concerns about the 2910 red-tagged poles across Dunedin, Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes had been overblown. At the same time, Delta and Aurora’s efforts to confront the problem, both before and after the story broke in October, had been under-reported, he said.
….Despite his anger at the way Aurora had been treated by critics and in the Otago Daily Times, he was under no illusion the network was in top shape, saying it was the second oldest network in New Zealand and acknowledged major work was needed to improve it in the next 10 years. But he would not be drawn on whether the situation had come about as a result of decades of underinvestment, which has been one of the main criticisms levelled at Aurora since October. He said he was not in a position to comment given he only started midway through last year.
Read more

CRITICAL ABHORRENCE FOR TOP CHAPS IN THE AURORA / DELTA / DCHL ‘EXECUTIVE’ (PAST AND PRESENT) WILL CONTINUE UNABATED IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE UNTIL THEY AND THEIR FRIENDS ARE OUSTED AND MADE ANSWERABLE TO HIGHER AUTHORITIES.

Otago people must busy themselves.
Time for formal inquiries. Time to REMODEL.

—

Related Post and Coments:
24.5.17 SCANDAL : Aurora Energy Ltd set to burden Otago ratepayers and residents with massive rates increases

█ For more, enter the terms *aurora*, delta*, *epic fraud*, *poles*, *healey* or *dchl* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

SCANDAL : Aurora Energy Ltd set to burden Otago ratepayers and residents with massive rates increases

At Facebook:

****

“Overall, the planning period will be characterised by the delivery of the largest work programme in Aurora Energy’s history.” –Steve Thompson

Read: The Otago power network is THAT DEGRADED – caused by various rugby supporting and clip-ticket gentlemen, whose names we all know so well. Described by civil words (not cuss words) that start with F and C.

The “laundry” was well and truly harsh, leaving the network in threadbare tatters…. while private pockets were filled. That’s One Billion Dollars worth of power asset the Otago ratepayers have had to pay for TWICE. Talk about ‘power’ and corruption, Bryce Edwards (?) – Dunedin in the last 30 years was built on it, solidly at source.

The “gents” might like to explain where all the money went, and how the hell they think they can make us pay for their near limitless mismanagement and fully reckless endangerment (to workers, citizens and the regional economy) over three decades …..without shoving them in deep at the NZ Court system —for processing.

█ Today an Aurora/Delta executive had the audacity (after spinning out their LGOIMA response to the 20th working day, following my request made 26 April) to want to charge me for official information at the vindictive “maximum charge” (their words) of $190.00. Shove that, boys. Other council owned companies have provided the information free of charge and very promptly and courteously.

Tuck it back in your pants Aurora/Delta, or be sliced.

—

At Facebook:

● Aurora will spend $347 million on asset renewal, including a total of 14,000 poles…..

### ODT Online Wed, 24 May 2017
Aurora plans $720m upgrade of network
By Vaughan Elder
Aurora Energy has unveiled a $720 million plan to upgrade its ageing electricity network over the next decade. The plan is a more than $300 million increase on the 10-year plan the Dunedin City Council owned company released last year. […] In a press release this afternoon, Aurora Energy said the plan would have an extensive impact on the region’s economy through job creation and spill-over benefits to other businesses. […] Other major projects included a new substation at Carisbrook, which would replace the 60-year-old Neville St substation by 2019 and a new Wanaka substation on Riverbank Rd, Wanaka. […] Aurora Energy chairman Steve Thompson said an additional $81 million would be spent on growth and security of supply projects to support the region. […] The remaining expenditure was tagged to maintenance and operating expenditure ($192 million), and capital expenditure primarily related to new consumer connections and safety and reliability ($101 million).
Read more

****

The vertiginous mountain of HEALTH AND SAFETY DANGERS due to Aurora mismanagement and neglect of the power asset across Otago.

And the WorkSafe option could be “…..an infringement notice”, possibly not PROSECUTION.

Hmm, have the good old boys been dealing in the way they usually deal ??? Is WorkSafe a soft touch. To date it certainly hasn’t been Acute. Or at all worried about the danger to electrical workers or the general public. What a damnably prolonged and sordid farce this is.

—

### ODT Online Wed, 24 May 2017
No decision to prosecute Aurora
By Vaughan Elder
Worksafe is yet to decide whether it will prosecute Aurora Energy over the state of its power poles. WorkSafe has been looking into Aurora and its sister company Delta since October over accusations dangerous power poles across Dunedin, Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes were putting the public at risk. The government entity gave fresh details about its audit of the two companies in response to an Official Information Act request from the Otago Daily Times. WorkSafe high hazards and energy safety general manager Wayne Vernon said it had completed an “initial” audit of a sample of the network’s assets and provided a report to Aurora. […] “WorkSafe has not to date made a decision to prosecute or not to prosecute Aurora over health and safety issues associated with the state of its poles.” Mr Vernon emphasised prosecution was one of many options available to it, which also included issuing instructions to remove or minimise the potential for danger and issuing an infringement notice.
Read more

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *epic fraud*, *poles*, *healey* or *dchl* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Famous Fat Bros’ Aurora/Delta news trickles in…. but can the sisters divorce

### channel39.co.nz Wed, 29 Mar 2017
Delta and Aurora Energy to separate
About 95 Delta employees are expected to transfer to Aurora Energy by mid-year as the two companies separate. The business divorce is one of the recommendations from an independent review by Dunedin City Holdings Limited. Delta and Aurora Energy Chair Steve Thompson says they expect no redundancies from either business. Delta will employ just over 500 staff following the transition. Aurora Energy will be a network company with network renewal as its priority, while Delta will provide electricity distribution, green-space and solid waste services.
Ch39 Link

█ Review of Aurora Energy Limited / Delta Utility Services Limited – Network Safety Concerns (December 2016). Deloitte.

****

### radionz.co.nz 9:22 pm on 29 March 2017
Dunedin’s Aurora Energy to take on Delta workers
Almost 100 employees from Dunedin power lines company Delta will transfer to its sister company Aurora Energy as the two firms separate.
The split of the council-owned companies was sparked by the discovery that thousands of power poles in Otago were rotting.
A whistleblower last year revealed thousands of power poles managed by Delta and Aurora were failing.
The Dunedin City Council released a report in December that recommended splitting the council-owned companies into separate entities, after three official inquiries.
A report by Deloitte recommended separate board management structures.
In a statement today, Delta said 95 employees would transfer to Aurora by mid-year, and there were no expected redundancies.
RNZ Link

****

DCHL/DCC farming of the conjoined twins deserves a break….

█ The devilish ongoing loss of one billion dollars of Otago line user and ratepayer funds. And Steve Thompson can’t be contacted. Oh brother.

Yes we really believe the two council-owned companies have great governance and superb management!? We also totally believe DCHL is a solid grounded entity!? Pity about the number of executive and staff resignations from Delta to date, and the resulting inability to fill job vacancies. Would you touch these blighted babies. Oink.

At Facebook:

****

### ODT Online Thu, 30 Mar 2017
Restructure proceeds
By Vaughan Elder
Dunedin City Council-owned companies Delta and Aurora are a step closer to becoming separate entities. Aurora and Delta announced in a joint press release yesterday about 95 Delta staff were expected to transfer to Aurora Energy by mid-year as part of the companies’ transition to standalone entities. The transition comes after a Deloitte report into accusations Aurora dangerously mismanaged its power network and failed to replace compromised poles recommended the two companies be split. According to Aurora’s annual report, it employs no staff and the management of the company is carried out by Delta, which is also contracted to carry out network maintenance. The Deloitte report said the closely linked arrangement was “fraught” with challenges, but acknowledged Aurora had been working on a restructuring programme which would have split the two companies in any case. Delta and Aurora chairman Steve Thompson, who was not available to answer questions about the press release, said significant progress had been made in the reorganisation of both businesses.
Read more

—

Related Posts and Comments:
11.3.17 How Safe Are We/Our Businesses with the Corporate Disaster that’s Aurora, owned by DCC ? #reliability
16.12.16 Tim Hunter, NBR —Aurora/Delta, DCC and ComCom
12.11.16 Delta/Aurora : Current strategy to “fix on failure” [extreme neglect]
22.10.16 DCC struggles with Governance…. Delta/Aurora/DCHL in slipslidy mode
● 9.6.16 Aurora Energy Ltd warned by regulator

█ For more, enter the terms *aurora*, *delta*, *grady*, *poles*, *asset management plan*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *epicpolefail* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: monsters international via blogspot.com – Siamese Twin Pigs by Alicia B Lim, ink on watercolour paper (US), tweaked by whatifdunedin

Councillor don’t tell us, we know Dunedin industry and manufacturing is Tops

But Rachel Elder did need to inform Mr Mayor, since it’s he who opines that [singularly ???] “weightless” manufacturing will one day make Dunedin great.
A while back Mr Mayor lauded expansion at Speight’s, Emerson’s and Greggs ….but recently, dreadfully, when interviewed by John Campbell on RNZ Checkpoint, Mr Mayor had trouble remembering these and other multimillion-dollar manufacturing investments in the good people, raw products and knowhow of Dunedin City. As well, he slipped past the convenient fact that the deputy mayor is a director of Scott Technology Ltd, and his old flower Mr McLauchlan, advisor and confidant, is the company’s board chairman.

Notwithstanding, Ms Elder thought it necessary to set herself a free writing project, an op-ed to ‘tell’ Mr Mayor, as well as advertise her paid work skills. Yes, yes, we’re all for free speech and pumping political mileage; however, we are the converted and connected, we know just how great Dunedin manufacturing is and can be —if not for DCC.

It must be said, though, that Mr Mayor’s speech at the Cadbury protest in the Octagon last Saturday was a large complimentary step up from the fatal Checkpoint phone interview.

—

“Messaging that it is too expensive to export from Dunedin and that we are too far away from markets and that manufacturing is best not done here does not support the many families and individuals who work in this sector.”
–Rachel (take that Dave Cull) Elder

### ODT Online Wed, 15 Mar 2017
We have skilled workers and can make it all here
By Rachel Elder
OPINION As an employment consultant and someone who advocates for a wide range of jobs in Dunedin, I am keen for Dunedin to be advertised nationwide as a place that is great for manufacturing and production as this will supply jobs to our skilled workers. The fact is Cadbury is owned by a multinational that has caused its demise. Manufacturing can be done here well and efficiently.
Read more

Comment published at ODT Online:

ej kerr Wed, 15/03/2017 – 7:59pm #
As a city councillor Ms Elder should be overtly aware that the Dunedin City Council-owned power distribution company Aurora Energy Ltd does not and cannot offer a safe and secure electricity supply network for businesses, manufacturers and other large power users (this aside from the now obvious inability to offer safe supply to residential users). The mayor and councillors are not listening and not communicating clearly on the state of Aurora’s burnt asset. Thankfully, the Otago Daily Times has filled that void with strong news reporting. At a cost of one billion dollars to repair and upgrade the existing lines and facilities – not counting the cost of new development work required in Central Otago and Lakes District to meet growth and increasing infrastructural demand – there will shortly be a very heavy impost landing on all local businesses via rates increases. Such an unpopular debating topic at the head-in-the-sand Dunedin City Council.

****

Truly fine examples of the sort of thing your grandmother and mother will tell you about Dunedin that Mr Mayor can’t:
. . . .

McMeeking Manufacturing, 123 Maclaggan St

Jaytee Baking Cups have been a household name since the 1930s, when the company was founded by a printing engineer James Thomas Williamson, hence the name Jaytee. Since acquiring the company in 1979, McMeeking Manufacturing has been the largest supplier of Baking Cups in New Zealand with exports to Australia and the Pacific Islands. Due to the dramatic increase in bakeries, cafes etc, the range of products – all manufactured in the Dunedin factory – has grown to fulfil customers requirements and follow the latest trends. Read more at https://www.jaytee.co.nz/

. . . .

### ODT Online Wed, 15 Mar 2017
Machine tool smart, versatile
By Simon Hartley
Farra Engineering’s latest $1.3 million machining kit not only has the capacity to work 24/7, but can text its progress to operators day and night. The DMG Mori “multi-pallet (work bench) horizontal machining centre”, supplied by a German-Japanese merged company, has been running for about a fortnight, at Farra Engineering, Dunedin, chief executive John Whitaker said. The DMG Mori could work on castings weighing just a few grams, on pieces weighing up to three tonnes, and castings up to 1.4cu m in size. “Being so productive, we’re going to the marketplace to fill the spare capacity,” Mr Whitaker said.
Read more

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: jaytee.co.nz – jaytee baking cups

Aurora with yet another headache

At Facebook:

****

****

Note this particular meat from Richard Healey’s Facebook post:
[my emphasis]

“If you have a property where the lines were built before 2001, then Aurora owns everything up to the house. The only exceptions are where the lines have been brought up to standard and a letter has been sent to the property owner transferring ownership of the lines or a prior agreement is in place. That has almost never happened in Dunedin. If you think that you have been billed, and shouldn’t have been, write to Aurora. If you don’t get redress file a claim.
If you would like to read the appropriate legislation, look up the electricity act 1992 and search for the definition of “point of supply”.
What does that mean? It means that it’s probable that thousands of Dunedin residents have been charged for maintenance to lines and poles that they do not own.”

█ Electricity Act 1992
Reprint as at 18 October 2016
http://www.legislation.co.nz/act/public/1992/0122/latest/DLM281858.html

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

How to drop Crombie and the mafia from City boards

Or read, how the new city council will continue to undermine the Ratepayers and Residents of Dunedin, as well as the power consumers and district councils of Otago, just like before…. by allowing ill-considered (shoulder tap) appointments of a ‘class of morons’ to the boards of the City companies.

Troughers Unite.

—

ODT 11.1.17 (page 4)

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Letter of opinion draws wide support, view not shared by deathly DCHL

ODT 9.1.16 (page 6)

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Hamilton Mayor has it right —DCC has lost ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars

The misuse of public funds at Dunedin is far from being over……

Received Sun, 8 Jan 2017 at 5:21 p.m.

Questions mount over Hamilton City Council’s commercial nous. By comparison, how does Dunedin City Council stack up ?

### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 12:03, Jan 6 2017
Business: Property
Hamilton City Council urged to stay away from property ‘gambling’
By Aaron Leaman
….Hamilton Mayor Andrew King said the city council has a poor record when it comes to commercial property deals. And he doesn’t want any more ratepayer money risked on commercial developments. Records obtained under the Official Information Act show the Hamilton City Council has taken a multimillion-dollar hit on a raft of property deals dating back to the mid-1990s. The council incurred heavy losses after selling properties at well below their purchase price.
….In 2017, city councillors will consider restoring the council’s property development company, Hamilton Properties Ltd, after an almost 20-year hiatus. Last term, the council voted to transfer the city’s municipal and domain endowment funds, valued about $52 million, to the council-controlled organisation. The decision can be overturned by the new council. Hamilton Properties Ltd was set up in 1989 and retired in 1998 after developing a host of commercial and community sites, including the BNZ building and Novotel Hamilton Tainui in the central city.
….King said the council should enable developers and investors to risk their money to build Hamilton. “We’ve got $50 million sitting in these funds and I think the proposal to give it to Hamilton Properties Ltd is very, very scary, in my opinion,” King said. “It’s not our job as councillors to risk ratepayers’ money and go into competition against others. The record clearly shows that we are way out of our depth. We’re not specialists in this field and anything council does seems to cost twice as much as what the specialists in the field can do it for.” King’s views, however, are at odds with senior council staff, who have defended the city’s investment nous.
Read more

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Otago’s dangerous electricity network —Aurora’s INCONSPICUOUS and INEFFECTIVE public safety messaging

[smartphone screenshot 2017-01-08]

The advertisement (safety message!) appears at ODT Online.
Blink and you miss it!

This is what Aurora Energy puts out for You to access Public Safety information. A yellow box with some branding, lost amongst news stories within a plethora of webpages.

Did anybody read ODT Online this summer ?
Did anyone see the ad ?
Did anyone notice the weblink ?
Did anybody click on the link ?
Did anyone do up their seat belt or wear a life jacket ?
How do you stay SAFE around a dangerous power network ?
What do you look out for ?
What do you avoid ?
In an emergency, what do you do ?
What sort of emergency ?
Clear guidelines ?

Or, read as ‘So what’ from the DCC-owned company.

****

How extensive is Aurora’s public safety messaging across all available media these holidays —and typically, across a year ?

Is Aurora’s public safety messaging evolving to provide clear informational content to keep the public SAFE around the DANGEROUS and DEGRADED electricity network ?

****

The adverteaser, and the related web information (reproduced below) is at the very low end of public safety information required to prevent personal injury or death. There is little informational value beyond the obvious.

Real life scenarios you should guard against, what are they ?

Other lines companies create graphics, audio and short videos that clearly explain what to do and what NOT to do around electrical facilities and in emergency situations involving live electricity.

Not so Aurora.

This YELLOW-BLOCK commercial branding exercise is cheap, casualised, determinedly ineffective and fully irresponsible. Further, it merely links to what has been up at the Aurora website for some time, which is basic and untelling.

Here’s the Aurora Energy link and their bland factless webpage content:

█ http://www.auroraenergy.co.nz/safety/

Aurora Energy puts your safety first. We want all our customers, employees, contractors and the wider community to be safe around electricity. Always keep a safe distance from electrical equipment and take extra care when working around electricity.

You can take some simple steps to make sure that you, and others around you, know how to keep yourself safe when around electricity.
● Treat all electricity as live and never touch electrical equipment
● Report electricity faults to your electricity retailer via their faults number
● Phone 111 immediately if there is an injury or risk of a fire
● Follow safe work practice near electrical equipment
● If you see a tree that is growing near or into a power line, contact Delta to arrange pruning services
● Inform others around you of the dangers of electricity
● Be prepared in the event of a natural disaster or extended power outage.
 
Read our free guide to working safely around Aurora Energy’s electricity network (PDF) before working near our electricity network. We’re here to help and can provide you information and services to help you stay safe.
 
Our Public Safety Management System controls hazards that present significant risk of serious harm or major property damage. The System complies with the requirement of the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010. To report a potential hazard, please complete the Report a Hazard form or contact Delta.

****

If Aurora has conducted a full PUBLIC SAFETY CAMPAIGN IN OTAGO
across all available media – including dailies, community newspapers, schools, public libraries, council service centres, magazines, online noticeboards, radio, television, instant text messaging, flyers, billboard posters etc
—we have missed it.

It’s not ‘just’ dangerous poles and lines – it’s the condition of the other dangerous and degraded network assets (including conductors, transformers, cast iron potheads, cables, oil-filled switchgear, airbrakes etc) that the public needs to be concerned about.

Aurora Energy is NOT telling you about these : the condition of other network assets after 20-30 years of Dunedin City Council-owned companies’ inept management and criminal neglect of Otago’s power supply.

What would make the best Public Safety Campaign ?

****

The Aurora report by Deloitte made public on 12 December 2016 says:

Refer page 8 (1.5.9 Summary of Recommendations | Health & Safety), and page 31 (4.6. Health & Safety recommendations) – bolding by whatifdunedin:

The Board and management of Aurora need to adopt a more transparent approach with staff and the public. There needs to be acknowledgement of the state of the network along with detailed plans on how these issues are going to be rectified.

****

ODT 13.12.16
– “The Deloitte report did not include a detailed investigation of health and safety issues, but said risk had been increased by a lack of investment. “It is inevitable that this increases the level of risk inherent in the network that could have implications for staff and/or members of the public,” it said.”
– “Mr Cull also refrained from saying the network was unsafe, instead saying: “I don’t think it is as safe as it should be.”
– “[Richard] Healey said he was satisfied for the most part with the report, but not with the response from Mr Cull, DCHL chairman Graham Crombie and Mr [Steve]Thompson, who he said were all still trying to minimise the extent of the problem.”

ODT 21.12.16
– Grady Cameron: ““The accelerated programme uses additional internal and external resources to get the job done quicker. What won’t change are the safety, risk management and work practice measures we have for the safety of workers, contractors and the public.” The programme would prioritise the removal or repair of condition-zero poles close to schools, camping sites and other “high social” areas.”

ODT 24.12.16 ‘Poles spared as condition reassessed’
– “[Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult] asked Aurora to stabilise or replace condition-zero poles in the Queenstown, Wanaka and Arrowtown central business areas before Christmas.”

It’s not just about the poles.

—

Related Posts and Comments:
12.12.16 Deloitte report released #Delta #Aurora
30.12.16 Hilary Calvert on Deloitte report for Aurora/Delta
6.1.17 Message to Aurora/Delta : Upper Clutha dangerous poles DON’T MIX with Holiday Campers

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *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.

Message to Aurora/Delta : Upper Clutha dangerous poles DON’T MIX with Holiday Campers

Four “condition zero” poles identified in Upper Clutha as needing to be replaced or reinforced before busy holiday period.

Other poles inside camping grounds identified as needing to be checked regularly by Delta staff during same period.

### ODT Online Fri, 6 Jan 2017
Problem power poles getting regular checks
By Tim Miller
Potentially dangerous power poles in Upper Clutha camping grounds are being checked regularly by lines company staff over the holidays. Before Christmas, Aurora Energy identified and checked the condition of poles in what were considered high-traffic holiday areas, such as camping grounds and parks in Upper Clutha. The company consulted the Queenstown Lakes District Council to identify the high traffic areas.
Read more

█ All 1181 condition zero poles in Otago expected to be replaced by April 2017.

****

At Facebook:

—

Related Posts and Comments:
1.1.17 A successful Lines company….
30.12.16 Hilary Calvert on Deloitte report for Aurora/Delta
28.12.16 Just beginning…. inquiries into council company rogues
27.12.16 Michael Lewis : The Undoing Project —Interview… #RNZ
25.12.16 The very idea
22.12.16 What GIVES : Aurora/Delta/DCHL/DCC…Energy Safety…ComCom ??
20.12.16 Aurora/Delta : RNZ’s Kathryn Ryan with Rod Oram
16.12.16 Tim Hunter, NBR —Aurora/Delta, DCC and ComCom
16.12.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 8 —Stuart McLauchlan : contamination, code…
15.12.16 DCHL/Aurora/Delta unravelling
14.12.16 Bev Butler queries invoices for Delta hospitality at Stadium #LGOIMA
14.12.16 Aurora/Delta : Richard Healey on the [SOON departing] CEO
13.12.16 DCHL/Aurora/Delta ‘PR fashion statements’ fb DCC rates increases
12.12.16 Deloitte report released #Delta #Aurora
9.12.16 Deloitte report pending —Public Notice at ODT | Facebook entry
7.12.16 Delta/Aurora : Nobody’s willing to call it after misrepresentations
7.12.16 Audit and Review, Deloitte
3.12.16 Delta/Aurora : The Dirty Twist —EXTREME Misrepresentation…
1.12.16 Oi Grady— “It’s Us, Delta’s Electrical Workforce, unanimously!”
30.11.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 7 : Kyle Cameron —The Money or the Bag?

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *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.

Hilary Calvert on Deloitte report for Aurora/Delta

ODT 30.12.16 (page 12)

Aurora – Safety webpage (detail) 30.12.16

WorkSafe New Zealand
Contact WorkSafe 0800 030 040
█ http://www.worksafe.govt.nz/worksafe

Energy Safety
Part of WorkSafe New Zealand, Energy Safety acts as the regulator for ensuring the safe supply and use of electricity and gas in New Zealand. Energy Safety is responsible for providing an effective investigation, compliance, enforcement, and conformance regime for achieving electrical and gas safety outcomes.
█ http://www.energysafety.govt.nz/

Note: On Monday 4 April 2016, the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) came into effect. HSWA repeals the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, with immediate effect.

‘Delta’ bovver boys by Douglas Field 29.11.16 (detail)

On 19 October 2016 former Delta manager Richard Healey went public about workplace and public safety concerns at Dunedin and across Otago via TV3’s Story (newshub.co.nz).

From 19 October through November posts and comments at What if? Dunedin, including those by Richard Healey, focused on the dangerous network, and poor governance within the council owned companies Aurora/Delta, within the council’s holding company DCHL, and within the duly elected Dunedin City Council itself [relevant trimesters].

The full extent of the dangerous and deliberately degraded network is attributable to criminal negligence and extreme mismanagement of financial resources (public funds).

The young inexperienced chief executive of the companies Aurora/Delta, Grady Cameron, has personally resisted taking any blame for the dangerous network – note, the findings and advice of the 2010 report by LineTech Consulting, commissioned shortly after Cameron’s appointment, have failed to flow into various Asset Management Plans drafted by Aurora, subsequently.

As a result of Richard Healey’s revelations three investigations were to take place:

1. Deloitte report for DCHL (released 12 Dec 2016)
2. Energy Safety (WorkSafe) investigation (no date given for release)
3. Commerce Commission investigation – industry regulator (no date given)

The courts await.

—

I N ● J U S T ● O N E ● M O N T H

Related Posts and Comments:
28.12.16 Just beginning…. inquiries into council company rogues
27.12.16 Michael Lewis : The Undoing Project —Interview… #RNZ
25.12.16 The very idea
22.12.16 What GIVES : Aurora/Delta/DCHL/DCC…Energy Safety…ComCom ??
20.12.16 Aurora/Delta : RNZ’s Kathryn Ryan with Rod Oram
16.12.16 Tim Hunter, NBR —Aurora/Delta, DCC and ComCom
16.12.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 8 —Stuart McLauchlan : contamination, code…
15.12.16 DCHL/Aurora/Delta unravelling
14.12.16 Bev Butler queries invoices for Delta hospitality at Stadium #LGOIMA
14.12.16 Aurora/Delta : Richard Healey on the [SOON departing] CEO
13.12.16 DCHL/Aurora/Delta ‘PR fashion statements’ fb DCC rates increases
12.12.16 Deloitte report released #Delta #Aurora
9.12.16 Deloitte report pending —Public Notice at ODT | Facebook entry
7.12.16 Delta/Aurora : Nobody’s willing to call it after misrepresentations
7.12.16 Audit and Review, Deloitte
3.12.16 Delta/Aurora : The Dirty Twist —EXTREME Misrepresentation…
1.12.16 Oi Grady— “It’s Us, Delta’s Electrical Workforce, unanimously!”
30.11.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 7 : Kyle Cameron —The Money or the Bag?

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *auditor-general*, *noble*, *yaldhurst* or *epic fraud* in the search box at right.

Mobile substation Willis St, Harbourside 12.11.16 [photo: Christchurch Driver]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Tim Hunter, NBR —Aurora/Delta, DCC and ComCom

Essential reading:

National Business Review 16.12.16
Hunter’s Corner by Tim Hunter (page 2)
Opinion: Lines companies: it’s worse than we thought

The article appears in today’s NBR print edition, available at bookstores and supermarkets, and by subscription. Short excerpt at right.

Tim Hunter has appraised the Deloitte report and the activity -or not- of the lines company Aurora Energy and ‘contractor’ Delta Utility Services. He also provides brief overview of the companies’ position as seen (problematically!) by industry regulator, the Commerce Commission. The award-winning business writer typically shows fine ability to crack code, applying thrift and plain sense in noting gross impediments to good governance and operational performance. Mr Hunter could write the book on Aurora/Delta, the ugly sisters, a true Horror Story —not the kitten tale by Deloitte, which anyway gets things rolling. As one of three investigations, Deloitte’s was always going to suffer lack of scope and independence given its commissioners:
the brothers Grimm —DCHL and DCC.

█ LineTech Report July 2010

█ For more, enter the terms *aurora*, *delta*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *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.

*Image: NBR excerpt by smartphone (screenshot)

Delta #EpicPowerFail 8 —Stuart McLauchlan : contamination, code brown and farting in church

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Fri, 16 Dec 2016 at 1:04 a.m.

Your correspondent has been spending some time in airport bookstores recently, and it is hard to escape the plethora of get-a-plan-and-get-your-life-in-order books that seem to breed like unwanted spawn in such places.

While your correspondent has no truck with such boilerplate muck, he will admit to a quiet sense of satisfaction this week of some goals achieved. It is a good thing to have a goal, and a plan to get there. This year, your correspondent was disgusted by the arrogant lawlessness and simply fantastic level of self interest and waste of public funds by DCC and DCHL directors at the Noble subdivision, Yaldhurst. He made it a goal to put his shoulder to directorial posteriors and assist in the push of the dismal Delta directors into the Delta wood chipper (leased of course). Aided by some insider knowledge (what? – reveal my sources – never !) and plenty of tangential side trips, your correspondent is proud to think he has helped (in some small way) What if? and the majestic Richard Healey achieve a clean out at Aurora and Delta.

This week’s dismissal of Parton and McLauchlan is the start, and more will follow.

Mr McLauchlan’s risible statements in the ODT yesterday show your correspondent was 100% correct when he predicted that blame would be sheeted home to That Bad Man, John Walsh.

Mr McLauchlan’s arrogance was in full view with his claims that his decision to step down was unrelated to the billion dollar problem he has co-authored. Mr McLauchlan cannot admit what all of Dunedin knows – he troughed literally while lines exploded, and failed as a director. To do so would jeopardise his other sinecures, and Mr McLauchlan is nothing but self interest. Mr McLauchlan had absolutely nothing to offer the DCC, Delta or DCHL, and we should be at least grateful to Mayor Cull that the scales appear to have finally have fallen from his eyes and he sees Mr McLauchlan for what he is.

Let us not forget the most telling example of Mr McLauchlan’s invertebratedness : In the 2007 directorial decision to waste $8-9M at Luggate Mr McLauchlan’s sole contribution was : “If the other directors agree the I agree”. Not forgetting also that in the case of the Scenic Circle Dunedin City legal dispute with the JV partner, Mr McLauchlan was found by the Court to be an unreliable witness.

Mr McLauchlan is so toxic he doesn’t just need to be signposted, he is a walking talking accounting contamination.

On the subject of contamination, Kyle Cameron – stand up and take a bow, Kyle Cameron! – has made it very sure that Grady Cameron will never lead either of Delta or Aurora, by recommending that they need separate CEOs. As Mr Healey has said, the board will do to Grady what he has done to many others – disestablished their positions, creating new roles, and of course Grady will not quite have the “most appropriate skill sets” for either role. Sorry about that old chap, terribly close call of course, better luck next time– (in another continent please).
Grady, you have just been right-sized.

Another right-sizing would be to appoint Kyle Cameron to the Aurora board, and remove former ORFU/Highlanders director Mr Thompson with links to the $5M ORFU pokies scandal. Mr Thompson is tight with Mr McLauchlan of course, Mr McLauchlan being the Chairman of the Highlanders at the time the South Auckland pokies scandal was in full swing. McLauchlan – scandal – bees – honey.

Not right-sized, of course, is the matter of the Aurora replacement budget. We all know – now – that Aurora were going to spend $443M in deferred maintenance over 10 years (yes, stop dissembling Grady, it’s $443M, not $417M, but what they haven’t set out is where the money is coming from. Lines charges are fixed, and in very, very broad terms if we, the ratepayers, have to spend $443M to basically maintain what we have – then the very big question is – what is the depreciated, deteriorated asset worth …right now?

[An alarming example that comes to mind is the DCC purchase of the Dunedin Railway Station in the early 1990s. A wonderful asset now (pity about the decks) after a number of millions have gone into its restoration and upkeep over a 10-12 year period ….but what did the DCC pay ? ….the answer ? precisely one dollar.]

Now the Aurora 2016 Annual Report says in its headline “Trend Summary” (aka the good news feel-good piece early in the report at page 12) is that the ratepayers have equity of $183M in Aurora, and equity to assets is 42.1%, but unsurprisingly (this is Grady and the gyroscope we are dealing with here) the very bad news – the debt is $253M and is not going away – doesn’t quite make it into the good news piece.

So if we are charitable and assume that only say $250M of the $443M is actually for direct Dunedin infrastructure renewal and the balance being for actual expanded capacity then, then $250M of shareholder equity is needed for the upgrade. But wait Batman ! We only have $185M of equity. Holy exploding potheads Batman !! What do we do ? Batman: Elementary, my dear Doctor Parton —In the immortal words of Christine Fletcher, mayor of Auckland in 1986 when asked the same question by Fletcher Construction (of the cost to finish the Aotea Centre), “That’s what the ratepayers are for.”

Readers, you might well be thinking at this stage, CD has it wrong again – when I put in a new kitchen and bathroom in my villa in Belleknowes, it was worth more, so it didn’t matter that there was more debt ….because the asset was worth more. However, the value of power networks is determined by the Commerce Commission, who regulate what amounts each network can charge ….based on the value of the asset. Your correspondent surmises that the next scandal to unfold at Aurora is that resident Delta toxicologist, Matt Ballard of Capability and Risk, has overseen a massive overstating of the present value of the network. The bottom line is : with $250 – $400M of work needed FOR MAINTENANCE, ie NOT GENERATING EXTRA CAPACITY, it is worth nowhere near $436M right now. What does that mean? It means, readers, that the “jewel in the crown” of the DCHL, our cash cow HAS NO SHAREHOLDER EQUITY and has 100% debt to equity. Hilary Calvert is correct – if this were DC Ross, or any other private company, the receivers would have been called in long ago. However, accountants like the caustic Mr McLauchlan prefer companies with no shareholder equity because the returns on equity are out of this world…. until something happens.

Readers, what dissembling Mayor Cull will never tell you is that just like in Central Otago, as helpfully described by Nick Loughnan in the ODT a few weeks ago, you are about to experience in your future either some eye watering rates increases or, if the Commerce Commission allows, some similar exponential line charge increases. It’s one or the other. There is no other way.

Mayor Cull is aware of the consequences set out above : he said at the outset of Mr Healey’s crusade that he did not want public confidence shaken.

The questions or scenarios above are not pleasant – as the biblical line goes, these are hard questions, who can answer them ? They are the lines industry equivalent of farting in church – rude, inappropriate but better to get it out in the open before there is a big mess (or at least know the mess is coming). Yes, the air will be blue for a while – a long while. Messrs McLauchlan, Parton, Kempton, Frow, Wood, Thompson have done more than farted, they have created a stinking “code brown” mess. They will not be missed.

[ends]

*Note: New Zealand Companies Office records show McLauchlan and Parton ceased being directors of the Aurora/Delta Boards on 12 December 2016.
Aurora Energy | Delta Utility Services

Legal advice to the DCC on new 3-term limits for CCO directorships ‘may have’ forced this change. Debatable.

█ For more, enter the terms *delta*, *aurora*, *grady*, *luggate*, *jacks point*, *dchl*, *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.

*Image: markeweebly.com – farting dog by mark cable, tweaked by whatifdunedin

Delta #EpicPowerFail 6 – Thick as a Brick

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Thu, 3 Nov 2016 at 10:59 p.m.

Thick as a brick
Shallow as a bird bath
Not the sharpest knife in the drawer
A few sandwiches short of a picnic
Bought his doctorate online.

Come in Dr Parton….

Your correspondent was both entertained and aghast this morning when enjoying Choysa and a scone, he read Dr Parton, Aurora chair, dutifully parroting Grady Cameron’s lines in the ODT …. “aged network”, “our approach to its management is conservative”. Dr (Polly) Parton also said “it was “not appropriate” for him to respond to comments made by another chairman”. Your correspondent agrees it is not “appropriate”. It is essential to his credibility to do so, as Polly Parton is right – it is amazing that the chairman of a lines company, far away, has felt the need to make scathing comments about the lackadaisical approach to essential infrastructure he has found in the South, and called Aurora’s response “a lame excuse”. When did you last hear the CEO of a council make scathing comments about another ? —or one mayor disparage another in biting terms. It just isn’t done…. so now the attention of the entire lines industry, and the Commerce Commission is riveted upon Aurora as it has just been confirmed by the chair of Marlborough Lines, with no axe to grind, that Aurora’s mess and subsequent evasions are inexcusable.

Some other gems of the re-cycled obvious from Polly in the ODT were “Age … is one reason why we have marked so many poles for replacement” – how fascinating that the board and Mr Cameron only discovered these 40- to 60-year-old poles were aged and needed replacement around the time Mr Healey left three weeks ago.

Readers, while Aurora and Delta have an arrogant disregard for the interest of the consumers and ratepayers, they are very fearful of the Commerce Commission. And the Commerce Commission is under no illusions about the incompetence of Aurora. Not only did Aurora get warned for network failures this year, and are now ranked in the bottom 3 of the 29 lines companies for reliability, they were also warned about their lack of investment and incompetence in 2014 by the Commission.

On 26 June 2014 the Commission wrote to Aurora issuing them with a warning for non-compliance and raising concerns. They said:

“21. There are a number of concerns that we would particularly like to draw to Aurora’s attention … These concerns are:

21.1 Aurora’s vegetation control has been insufficient to prevent significant tree encroachment on lines, which has likely contributed to the frequency and duration of outages….”
Mr Cameron took great delight in waxing lyrical about the dedicated vegetation management unit Delta set up in 2015-16, and how Delta charged Aurora $4M for clearing 34km of lines. We now know it wasn’t anything to do with Mr Cameron, it was forced upon them by the Commerce Commission because they had neglected it for decades. In true Delta form, the cost of $130,000 per km is probably overstated by a factor of 5-10 dependent on difficulty.

“21.2 Aurora has had an increase in defective equipment incidents”.
Oh yes. Aurora’s own Asset Management Plan (AMP) spells out the failures, and impending ones, as noted in #EpicPowerFail 5. In relation to poles, Aurora reduced the number of poles it was going to replace in 2017-18, in its 2016-2026 plan, due to the mendacity of Matt Ballard, GM Capability & Risk. Reacting to public pressure and casting aside the long term plan due to a “perception problem”, without a funding plan in place is just giving the Commerce Commission all the evidence they need that the board isn’t in control and doesn’t know what it’s doing.

“21.3 There seems to be shortcomings in Aurora’s knowledge of its asset condition”.
….(Translated from bureaucratic-ese, this is : YOU ARE USELESS AND INCOMPETENT, and everything we have heard from Aurora recently confirms that this fault has become exponentially worse.

“21.4 Aurora’s reliance on its 6.6kV network as a back up to its aging 33kV cables in Dunedin could lead to major power outages.”

Ominously for the Directors, the Commission was clear about the consequences of further non-compliance, warning Aurora :

“Notwithstanding its 2013 and 2014 compliance, if Aurora fails to comply with the quality standards again, its 2012 non-compliance will be a relevant factor that may lead us towards a stronger enforcement response. Particularly relevant would be the extent to which concerns raised following Aurora’s 2012 non-compliance contributed to the second non-compliance.”

Here we are, four years later, and 3 of the 4 concerns are front and centre of the latest crisis. A lot of words have been written, meetings held, and plans begun, but the network has continued to decline. Unless the Commerce Commission has another spineless apologist like Rebstock of the Audit Office investigating, then the springs in the boardroom ejector seats are tightening.

Readers, we are all frustrated that Mr Cameron, Mr Ballard, and the directors have not a thread of integrity left among them, preferring eventual forcible removal (health problems anyone ?) to decency. But readers, how delicious will it be when they are kicked out, as that will almost certainly be the end of all of their directorial ambitions. Getting kicked out by the Government is the sort of thing that even the Institute of Directors would frown upon, despite overlooking a lot of other venality. As noted at What if?, the Government cannot afford to have tourists killed or suffering from power outages in their #1 tourist region in Central Otago, so it will not be open for Mr McLauchlan to go crawling to Minister Woodhouse, who doesn’t carry a lot of weight now in any case. McLauchlan’s other great fixer, fellow South Canterbury Finance trougher, Denham Shale, is now dead. Mr McLauchlan feeling the chilled air of exposure perhaps ? Perversely, we can be glad that Messrs Parton, Kempton, Thompson, McLauchlan and Frow are all….“thick as a brick”.

Final thought for the evening. If you were Grady Cameron and the board, and wanted to quickly replace 10,000 poles to “restore public confidence” then does buying steel poles from China that are made from less ductile steel (ie more brittle) sound like a good plan ? (Chinese steel is typically 20-25% ductile, whereas NZ seismic requirements generally require 32-34% ductility. It is near impossible to get Chinese steel at this ductility. A recent example is the problems with steel products imported from China by Steel & Tube). Yes readers, you heard it here first, not only did Mr Cameron fail to tell you where the $30M was coming from (they don’t know yet), he also neglected to mention they are buying steel poles from China. And remember, readers, not only did Mr Cameron describe this as “a good plan” on National Radio, but that he “was excited by it”. Truly…… “thick as a brick”.

[ends]

—

Related Posts and Comments:
2.11.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 5 : Grady Cameron on RNZ : How many Asset Management Plans does it take to get a Real One ?
1.11.16 Delta/Aurora/DCHL corporate whitewash #dangerousnetwork
31.10.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 4 : Delta/Aurora, Drugs and Dividends
29.10.16 Mr Crombie, not quite the spent force
28.10.16 Heads of Delta/ Aurora/ DCHL/ DCC out to lunch
27.10.16 Bev Butler says ‘Come in, Grady’ #LGOIMA #Delta
27.10.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 3 : Rotten Poles and Greedy Algorithms
25.10.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 2 : Plaudits to Saunders & Elder : Delta…
22.10.16 DCC struggles with Governance…. Delta/Aurora/DCHL…
21.10.16 Dunedin City Council must hang the companies out to dry
20.10.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail : Delta fulfils Adam Smith’s 1776 Prophecy
19.10.16 Grady Cameron and Graham Crombie : Eyes tightly shut #FAIL
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.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: pinimg.com – gary larson the far side, tweaked

Delta #EpicPowerFail 5 : Grady Cameron on RNZ : How many Asset Management Plans does it take to get a Real One ?

Tue, 1 Nov 2016 7:50 a.m.
Morning Report with Guy Espiner Link
Hefty pricetag to replace Dunedin’s rotting power poles
Audio | Download: Ogg MP3 (duration 3′40″)
Dunedin and Central Otago power company Aurora Energy is to replace 3-thousand rotting power poles at a cost of 30-million dollars.

****

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Tue, 1 Nov 2016 at 11:35 p.m.

Readers, your correspondent has nothing new to offer tonight —but just many examples of what we already knew : Delta/Aurora chief excutive Grady Cameron treats the facts with almost radioactive distaste, and is completely willing to say and do anything to save his own skin. Now, we have a “polemic” of evidence.
Rob Hamlin is correct – there is a massive coverup underway. Let us consider Mr Cameron’s cancerous comments on RNZ with Guyon Espiner today :

The new Aurora plan with an extra $26M was ‘nothing to do with Richard Healey’ ….The board already had a plan in place because “back in September I went to the board and advised them that I wasn’t happy with the progress of our current plan in terms of how fast we were getting through the replacement programme” …. and “the plan that was announced yesterday was the revised plan”.

Now there are several obvious problems here, and the first is Mr Cameron’s mealy-mouthed dissembling that “back in September” he went to the board. September was only 5 weeks ago, and, just 4-5 weeks or so before that, in April 2016, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, Mr Cameron released Aurora’s long term Asset Management Plan (AMP), all 185 pages of it for the period 2016-2026. The specific purpose of this doorstop is to schedule “asset replacement”, and the plan of course specifically provides for pole replacement. Mr Cameron is asking us to believe that the very next week after the 10-year AMP was complete, he woke up and thought ‘Good grief ! We have completely messed up the asset management plan we have just had the board sign off, and which we have just spent months on ! We must re-do it immediately and add $20-30M to pole replacement ! That is Job #1 Today…. (after mid morning madeira cake and my daily PR strategy meeting). Readers, there are many at Delta who will confirm that Mr Cameron’s GM of Capability & Risk Matt Ballard, was instructing staff the exact opposite…. “that under no circumstances is the current $2.96M budget for pole replacement to be exceeded, for ANY reason, and GET USED TO IT”.

In the fantastic event that there is any shred of truth to this rubbish from Mr Cameron, he needs to be sacked for incompetence, because he has just shown he is incapable of producing an asset management plan that is credible or even somewhat reliable. It is so bad that Mr Cameron could be accused of numeric dyslexia. How can a board comprised of accountants, to whom forecasts and numbers are religion, put up with this ? Is it because Mr Cameron has promised them Mutually Assured Destruction if he was removed? There is plenty of evidence and emails to show that far from wanting to resolve this, Mr Cameron and his enablers wanted to play the man and sweep this under the rug, an approach that continues to the present day.   

Your correspondent has received information that provides the translation code for Grady Cameron’s weasel worded dissembling “back in September I went to the board … not happy with the progress”. It is this : Mr Cameron advised the board ‘We employed incompetent staff who claimed they could “reinforce” poles for around $1200 each, to give a maximum 10-year extra life, but this $1,200 was a figure pulled from their own fevered imaginations and staff and contractors have told us to take a hike, it will cost around $3,000, which compares VERY unfavourably with the cost of a straightforward new pole with a 50-year life at around $5,000. Being the desperate incompetents we are, we had latched onto this half-baked and untested theory like a barnacle on a boat hull and assumed we could reinforce more than twice as many poles as we needed to replace over 10 years. (7290 reinforcements vs actually replacing just 3381 poles).’ (Readers, see Page 78 of the Aurora AMP). ‘If we do a half-baked reinforcement approach we have another budget problem of $13M, but if we put in all new poles we will have a blowout of around $28M (over and above the apples vs oranges $26M issue I deceived the board about earlier).’

Grady Cameron confidently stated to the nation that the plan unveiled yesterday “was the revised plan” (the board had approved)…. For about three seconds, and then when queried by Guyon Espiner incredulously “so nothing at all to do with Richard Healey ?”, Mr Cameron went into high range reverse and forward mode – at the same time. He responded “NO…. the plan that we’ve we put forward is a more aggressive plan now….” due to “a significant amount of public scrutiny”. Memo to Mr Cameron : The public scrutiny only started because Richard Healey broke ranks and blew the whistle, to the cost of his career.

Your correspondent thinks that Grady Cameron is also fevered and mainlining on dividends. If Mr Cameron was telling the truth, that he had concerns, and a plan that very coincidentally was the same as Richard Healey’s then why did he cancel the meeting with Richard Healey who wanted to discuss his concerns about the state of the network ? He should have been saluting a fellow soldier, not burying him…. Instead of refusing to meet with him, why did Mr Cameron discuss taking legal action against Richard Healey when Mr Healey was still an employee of Delta ? (Yes we know about this Mr Cameron, you have very few allies left within Delta —perhaps you should be looking next to you and channelling Shakespeare ….et tu, Matt Ballard?). Instead of cancelling the meeting, why did he not send an email to say, ‘Dear Richard, I have some fantastic news, all or most of your concerns are solved, we are going to be announcing a huge increase in pole spending of tens of millions of dollars immediately (just as soon as I can arrange the requisite saturation PR coverage that portrays me in the best possible light and take the focus off the Noble debacle). I would be delighted to meet with you for 3.5 minutes at 10.36am after mid-morning espresso and madeira cake to outline this to you. Your humble CEO, Grady.’  

[thinkdelta.co.nz] 

It is often the little things that give the game away…. And try as they might, the PR minders can never control the interview process. Grady Cameron spent several minutes explaining to the country how this was just a misunderstanding and he had – before Richard Healey (!), realised what was wrong, and he and the board had a plan to fix the very things that Mr Healey was complaining about. Guyon Espiner asked near the end, “Do you thank Richard Healey for putting pressure on you for this ?” ie for helping Grady Cameron receive great exposure in the media to explain his hitherto secret new plan to the nation, very similar to Mr Healey’s, that all was well, the network was aged but safe, lots of poles were being replaced. Instead of “Come back Richard, my fellow safety conscious soldier in arms, all is forgiven,” we and the country heard his CEO mask slip and got the real, petulant Grady Cameron who snarled “No I don’t thank Richard Healey” —proving that this was all just a charade, and Mr Cameron and the board were ropeable that they had been exposed as ineffectual and incompetent guardians of the region’s electricity network.     

Continuing down the charade theme, consider this final thought for the evening, readers – Cameron, Crombie, and the board of accountants announced this plan WITHOUT ONE CLUE AS TO HOW IT IS TO BE FUNDED. This is sheer arrogance and disdain for power consumers and ratepayers – what other public expenditure of this level has ever been announced with no discussion about who or how it will be funded. The board of Delta and Aurora have proven yet again, how incompetent and derelict in their public duty they have become.

[ends]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Images: radionz.co.nz – Guyon Espiner | odt.co.nz – Grady Cameron

Delta/Aurora/DCHL corporate whitewash #dangerousnetwork

Updated post
Tue, 1 Nov 2016 at 3:30 p.m.

Anyone of sound mind will see that, as widely predicted, a vacuous tissue of lies and fabrication has flooded the media, with a SUDDEN dollop of RATES spend foretold – dished by the Ugly wide boys to the sound of chortles in repair from Our Enchained Melody (his worship).

ODT didn’t believe it either.

But those wheeling creatures.
Douglas Field starts in gently….

Satirical comment on the future of a Dunedin ‘owned’ utility company, and its imminent demise. Oct 31, 2016

****

Loss of “public confidence”…. [understatement]

In an interview, Mr Cull said he had no problem with spending an extra $26 million to fix a public perception issue.

### ODT Online Tue, 1 Nov 2016
$30.25m to replace poles
By Vaughan Elder
Aurora Energy has approved a $30.25 million programme to replace close to 3000 power poles but its chief executive is refusing to admit any fault over the way the network has been managed. Aurora Energy and Delta chief executive Grady Cameron […] said the claims that led to the loss of confidence – that lives were at risk from dangerous power poles and the two council-owned companies put profits ahead of health and safety – were wrong. He admitted no fault in his management, saying the network was ageing, but safe.
Read more

“My only wish is that he had taken the opportunity to come and speak to me directly, because I think if he had recognised the conversations that I was having with the board directly, he might have felt slightly different about what our plans were.” –Grady Cameron

Whistleblower Richard Healey was stunned by Mr Cameron’s response and questioned why Aurora would spend tens of millions of dollars to fix an issue which it said did not exist. “It’s utter rubbish,” Mr Healey said. […] He had tried to stay away from “personal” attacks, but was now willing to call on Mr Cameron to “man up” and resign.

—

T R U T H F U L ● R E A D I N G

Comments posted at this website the day after Story (TV3 Newshub 19.10.16) broke the news about Delta/Aurora’s dangerous poles:

Richard Healey
October 20, 2016 at 8:46 am
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.

Richard Healey
October 20, 2016 at 8:57 am
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?

—

Related Posts and Comments:
31.10.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 4 : Delta/Aurora, Drugs and Dividends
29.10.16 Mr Crombie, not quite the spent force
28.10.16 Heads of Delta/ Aurora/ DCHL/ DCC out to lunch
27.10.16 Bev Butler says ‘Come in, Grady’ #LGOIMA #Delta
27.10.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 3 : Rotten Poles and Greedy Algorithms
25.10.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail 2 : Plaudits to Saunders & Elder : Delta…
22.10.16 DCC struggles with Governance…. Delta/Aurora/DCHL…
21.10.16 Dunedin City Council must hang the companies out to dry
20.10.16 Delta #EpicPowerFail : Delta fulfils Adam Smith’s 1776 Prophecy
19.10.16 Grady Cameron and Graham Crombie : Eyes tightly shut #FAIL
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.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Delta #EpicPowerFail 4 : Delta/Aurora, Drugs and Dividends

Received from Christchurch Driver [CD]
Sun, 30 Oct 2016 at 9:09 p.m.

Readers, your correspondent has decided that the present Delta/Aurora situation has many similarities to a drug deal gone wrong.

Grady Cameron and Matt Ballard have a drug problem, and the drug concerned is dividends. They are being stood over by their directorial pimps, Stuart McLauchlan, Trevor Kempton, Ian Parton, David Frow and ex ORFU beat-up specialist Steve Thompson (who are also heavy users of the dividends concerned), to produce more, more, more, every year. Despite the intimidation from the pimps, and threats of financial violence (if you don’t meet the most important KPI being $9.5M of dividends, no salary increase for you !), they bought themselves some breathing space, for a year or two, but down at the street corner (where the poles are !), Messrs Cameron and Ballard stopped looking after the infrastructure that laid the golden eggs of revenue a long time ago and stiff-armed them instead. The result ? – the “network” concerned voted with their cross-arms and simply “fell away” ….but who are the pimps working for ? Who has the raging dividend habit ? Who is the junkie that like all junkies, will engage in lies, fraud, misrepresentation as grist to its mill to feed its dividend habit ? It is of course the atrophied and hollowed out financial wreck that is the Forsyth Barr Stadium, that has a 40-year $7.2M dividend drug habit that it needs and feeds on for survival. Who allows this habit to continue and feeds off it also ? Mayor Cull, the Pablo Escobar of Portobello Rd.

While on the subject of addictive behaviour, Vaughan Elder and Chris Morris will also soon have a drinking problem, because from Saturday every time they venture into a bar, they will be shouted a drink by all Dunedinites that live or walk by a rotten power pole (all of them). The Otago Daily Times (ODT) had a flood of coverage and it was excellent, including a precise summary of the recent dismal Delta and Aurora history. Book your flights to the national media awards now guys. Hopefully this is the virtuous circle in action – excellent coverage, more ODTs and advertising sold, more resources given to the story, more revelations, more ODTs sold. Your correspondent has been proven to be very wrong in his earlier #EpicPowerFail post. Far from being missing in action, after a late start they are all over the issue, and instead of making us sick they are making us proud. Go ODT !!

Today your correspondent was alarmed at the offhand comment made by Pablo Escobar’s DCHL sideman, Mr Crombie, when he said in response to being grilled by the ODT that “the financial effects of replacing thousands of poles could be managed by changes to the timing of Aurora’s planned capital programme”.

There are two very important questions that arise from this – 1) How much will the replacement of the poles cost, and 2) what items of Aurora’s capital programme can be deferred.

Dealing with 2) first, Mr Crombie must have been mainlining on dividends and as high as a kite when he said this. Either that or there was a forlorn attempt at some more quarter truths and a desperate hope that the long term Aurora Asset Management Plan 2016-2026 (AMP) might disappear from the Internet. Your correspondent, fortified with a LOT of Bells did some heavy lifting through the 185-page document and can report the following pearls from Aurora’s own AMP that show that Mr Crombie, like so many addicts, is delusional :

Firstly, in the space of one year from 2015 to 2016, the state of the network (without the recent revelations) was so knackered that even with the best attempts of Matt Ballard, the Delta ‘General Manager for Risk and Capability’, to minimise capex by various sleights of hand, including the famous algorithms outlined in #EpicPowerFail 3, the amount of capital spending required ballooned – in the space of a year – from $373M to $443M, an increase of $70M. (AMP, 7.1 Financial Forecasts). Incredibly, Mr Cameron and the Board indulged in misrepresentation by reporting to DCHL that the total 10-year capital spending increase was only $417M, not $443M, by the simple and dishonest expedient of comparing
two different 10-year periods. This piece of elementary financial alchemy clearly escaped Mr Crombie and the other DCHL directorial head nodders also.

Councillors, please remember that Mr Crombie is going to lecture you in a month or two that you Must Lend $13.2M as a second mortgage to a shell company, Infinity Yaldhurst, with no visible means of support, because There Is No Alternative. It is clear from the above he either cannot read an elementary spreadsheet, or considers an error of around $26M of ratepayer funds trifling and not worthy of comment or correction. Coincidentally, this is the amount of the Yaldhurst debt. Not coincidentally, Mr Crombie doesn’t think $13M of ratepayer funds written off at Yaldhurst is significant or comment-worthy either. Where do we find these people ? You have been warned, Councillors.

To justify this sudden $70M increase in spending, the asset management plan helpfully provided some explanations of the scope of the work, and why it was urgent, which is going to haunt Mr Crombie, hopefully all the way to resignation. On Page 160, Aurora explained that “half of the increase is associated with deferred zone substation expenditure for which there is no further opportunity for deferral”.

In the next five years (2020-2022), there is $29M allocated for rebuilding worn out substations in Dunedin (Andersons Bay, Neville St, Smith St, Willowbank) that cannot be deferred. The reason that the substations are not being rebuilt before 2020 is because the major 11kV / 3kV lines that serve the substations are in even worse shape than the very aged substations built in the 1950s and early 1960s. The cables are already failing and have to be replaced even before the substations. Page 156 of the AMP helpfully describes the problem, “These cables are very old … These cables are now at the end of their life as the bronze tapes [that act to retain the gas insulation] are corroded and failing.” Regarding the possibility of failure, the AMP is candid “….have had some gas leaks … Gas leaks are difficult to locate and expense to repair … requires the cable to be out of service for several days for repairs to be made”. In relation to another type of cable, PILC cable, the ever helpful AMP notes, “We have had a number of failures of the Kaikorai Valley cables” [due to the oil impregnated cables leaking, then drying out and failing].

If readers are in any doubt as to how much of a knife edge their power network is being run on, Page 62 (Asset Risks 4.5.3) will spill the Bells all over the sofa : “Perhaps the most significant risk of a catastrophic asset failure relates to our remaining 33kV gas filled cables.”

To conclude, readers, Mr Crombie is simply creating yet more mad hatter conditions at Delta/Aurora with the desperate and inaccurate statement, that tens of millions of unplanned expenditure (the actual cost will be the subject of the next post, out of time and tea tonight !) could be accommodated by simple funding re-arrangement. (Deck chairs on the Titanic, anyone ?). There are more distortions at Delta/Aurora than in a fairground hall of mirrors.

[ends]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: pinterest.com – Danny LuVisi | Grand Theft Otto series, Homer

Lively dialogue with DVML’s Terry Davies —Not ! #LGOIMA #Stadium

Received from Calvin Oaten
Sat, 28 Nov 2015 at 5:35 p.m.

—

—–Original Message—–
From: Calvin Oaten
Sent: Sunday, 1 November 2015 10:10 a.m.
To: Sandy Graham
Cc: Dave Cull; Sue Bidrose
Subject: [LGOIMA] Request

Hello Sandy,
I have been reading the annual reports of Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (DVML) and am somewhat uncertain as to the true position regarding the matter of charges/fees for the use of the Stadium. We were given a detailed report in the 2014/15 Annual Plan wherein it [was] disclosed that the DCC/ratepayers would be making a one off lump sum of $2.271m to DVML by way of calling up unpaid capital. Then there is to be $715k per annum paid also by way of calling up unpaid capital. An event attraction fund of $400k per annum, source ratepayers? These two annual sums are I believe revenue to DVML. We won’t talk about the later decision to fund $2m per annum as a rent subsidy to DVL, due to DVML’s inability to meet the $4m rent required towards DVL’s debt reduction.
There is no mention of the Stadium in the 2015/16 Annual Plan with any reference to funding shortfalls even though both DVML and DVL continue to run deficits.

Zeroing in on sports events held in the Stadium (because that is its primary purpose) I see that in 2013 there was (sic) 44 events attracting 205,511 attendees.
In 2014 there were 39 with 206,123 there and in 2015 for 33 events 174,575 turned out in support.

DVML showed revenue of $6.085m in 2012 and $8.205m in 2013. These were of the Stadium only, thereafter it includes the Edgar Centre, the DCC Convention Centre plus the Ice Stadium management. This brought about an increase in revenue to $9.127m for 2014 and $9.960m in 2015. Similar pattern for the operating expenses over those same years.

In order to enable one to get an assessment of where these obviously inadequate revenues come from I would request under the [LGOIMA] the following points;

1. The main events being rugby, which of the ORFU, the Highlander Franchise or the NZRFU staged what events over those years? What was the rental received by DVML from those respective bodies per event and do they figure in the revenue statements?

2. What was the amount of revenue received from the other lesser codes which used the same facilities?

With respect to the Operating Expenses outlined in the reports, 2012 as $3.862m, 2013 $3.589m, 2014 $4.361m and 2015 $5.407m.

1. Of those expenses I would request under the [LGOIMA] the amounts of those expenses which could be described as paid inducements or subsidies to perform in the Stadium, albeit sports and concerts?

I trust that this information could be made available within the statutory twenty-one days and thank you in anticipation.

Cheers,
Calvin Oaten

—

Terry Davies, DVML Chief Executive [via whatifdunedin]

From: Terry Davies
Subject: FW: [LGOIMA] Request
Date: 27 November 2015 3:53:09 pm NZDT
To: Calvin Oaten

Dear Mr Oaten

I refer to your email dated 1 November which has been referred to DVML to respond. I have responded directly to your questions below:

1. The main events being rugby, which of the ORFU, the Highlander Franchise or the [NZRU] staged what events over those years? What was the rental received by DVML from those respective bodies per event and do they figure in the revenue statements?
The rental received for these events is withheld under section 7(2)(h) and (i) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 to allow DVML to carry out commercial activities without prejudice or disadvantage.

2. What was the amount of revenue received from the other lesser codes which used the same facilities?
The revenue received for these events is withheld under section 7(2)(h) and (i) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 to allow DVML to carry out commercial activities without prejudice or disadvantage.

With respect to the Operating Expenses outlined in the reports, 2012 as $3.862m, 2013 $3.589m, 2014 $4.361m and 2015 $5.407m.

1. Of those expenses I would request under the [LGOIMA] the amounts of those expenses which could be described as paid inducements or subsidies to perform in the Stadium, albeit sports and concerts?
The expenses incurred and event attraction funding for these events is withheld under section 7(2)(h) and (i) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 to allow DVML to carry out commercial activities without prejudice or disadvantage.

DVML’s audited annual accounts are published which shows revenue and operating costs and this is available on line at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/519711/Dunedin-Venues-Management-Limited-2015-Annual-Report.pdf

You are entitled to have this decision reviewed by the Ombudsman.

Yours sincerely
Terry Davies

———————————————

From: Calvin Oaten
Subject: Fwd: [LGOIMA] Request
Date: 28 November 2015 12:08:46 am NZDT
To: Sue Bidrose

Hello Sue,
You will have been aware of my queries expressed recently via the [LGOIMA], re the DVML revenue [breakdown].
Well I would have to say that the reply as received is totally underwhelming. This would have to be the most condescending, snivelling, performance by a highly positioned manager one could expect. Hiding behind a clause in a flawed piece of legislation to deny a citizen stakeholder information which ought to be available, on the grounds that it would compromise the company in carrying out its business without prejudice or disadvantage is nothing but
a complete ‘cop-out’ by a less than forthright person. Unless there is detail showing activities detrimental to achieving maximum returns to the company, then I find it a disingenuous and rude dismissal of an honest request.

Sue, I am dissatisfied with his response but if you think it is the way it should lie, then I would be deeply disappointed. I would appreciate your comments as I treat this as a serious affront.

Cheers,
Calvin

[ends]

—

█ In other developments, ICC felt the need to secure games for its stadium. What have Terry Davies, (“make it work”) Dave Cull and Sue Bidrose been up to in behind ?

### ODT Online Fri, 27 Nov 2015
Rugby: Highlanders private investors revealed (+ video)
A group of South Island private investors has been granted a five-year licence to run the Highlanders. The group, headed by Ticket Direct boss Matthew Davey, has taken a 77% stake in the Dunedin-based Super Rugby franchise, with Otago, Southland and North Otago Provincial Unions having a 13% stake. New Zealand Rugby (NZR) retains a 10% share for the first two years.
Read more

Otago Daily Times Published on Nov 26, 2015
Highlanders private investors revealed

29.11.15 ODT: Rugby: New operators for Highlanders
The Invercargill City Council has underwritten the venture to the tune of up to $500,000 in return for one guaranteed game at Rugby Park each year for the next five years.

29.11.15 ODT: Canadian finds his ticket to success
Matthew Davey says the Highlanders helped make him – now he is ready to help return the favour. The Dunedin businessman says he started the company he founded, Ticket Direct, at Carisbrook in 1999, and it has since grown into a multinational entity based in Dunedin.

—

Related Posts and Comments:
6.10.15 DCC v Tauranga CC + costly stadium cycle/walkway :[
18.9.15 Tsunami stadium #DUD
● 29.7.15 Otago power consumers pay stadium debt, SO SORRY
● 24.7.15 Stadiums: Auckland works to limits —Dunedin, never
30.6.15 DCC low lifes #RugbyDebtStadium
● 18.5.15 DCC laundering – wring out Regent Theatre Trust, pump DVML
● 11.4.15 Stadium Tides = Subsidies (new English)
● 20.3.15 Stadium costs +$20M per annum, against one Fleetwood Mac…
10.3.15 *Surprise!* Farry’s f.u.b.a.r. Stadium not attracting first year Efts
1.3.15 DCC: DCHL/DVL/DVML limited half year result | Term borrowings…
28.2.15 Blonde ‘lawyer’ takes over DVML —expect no change
2.1.15 Stadium: Online petition to pressure $1M donation
14.12.14 ‘Stadium liability’, from the ODT unprintable letters file
1.12.14 Stadium Editorial Support strategy —ODT
1.12.14 Stadium Review: LGOIMA request and 2009 Town Hall speeches
22.11.14 ODT puffery for stadium rousing ?
● 21.11.14 Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed
● 19.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review
15.11.14 Stadium #TotalFail
12.11.14 DVML: Two directors gone before release of stadium review
● 8.10.14 Stadium: Liability Cull warns ratepayers could pay more to DVML
● 6.10.14 Stadium misses —like it would ever happen, Terry
4.10.14 DCHL & DVML: Call for directors
30.9.14 DCHL financial result
● 25.9.14 DVML on Otago Rugby and Rod
13.9.14 DVML and ORFU refuse to disclose 2012 Otago Rugby deal
10.9.14 Stadium: Behaviours at Suite 29 (intrepid tales)
1.8.14 DVML and the “Otago Rugby” deal (sponsorship and payments)
22.7.14 DVML catering and commercial kitchens….
21.7.14 DVML: No harassment policy or complaints procedure II
16.7.14 Stadium: Out of the mouths of uni babes…. #DVML
● 15.7.14 Rugby stadiums not filling #SkyTV
1.7.14 Southern Region, serving itself —or professional rugby (and Sky TV)
27.6.15 Stadium costs $23.4144 million per annum
24.6.14 Stadium: DVML, mothballing, and ‘those TVs’ #LGOIMA
23.6.14 DCC Annual Plan 2014/15 + Rugby and Rates
● 18.6.14 Crowe Horwath Report (May 2014) – Review of DVML Expenses
9.6.14 DVML: Crowe Horwath audit report (Hedderwick)
2.6.14 Stadium costs ballpark at $21.337 million pa, Butler & Oaten
● 20.5.14 Tim Hunter on Ward, McLauchlan, Hayne #Highlanders
7.5.14 Stadium: Jeff Dickie on costs
17.4.14 Aussie wine – NO parallels at DCC/DCHL/DVML/DVL/Delta/ORFU
3.4.14 DVML: Lost in transaction II (flatscreen TVs)
3.4.14 DVML: Lost in transaction (flatscreen TVs)
22.3.14 DVML, ‘Money for jam…..fig jam’
11.2.14 Stadium: ‘Business case for DVML temporary seating purchase’
● 11.12.13 Highlanders “Buy Us” entertainment: Obnoxious, noxious PROFESSIONAL RUGBY —stay away DCC !!!

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium Tides = Subsidies (new English)

ON TOP OF TICKET PRICES
RATEPAYERS PAY TO GET ACTS TO F.U.B.A.R. STADIUM

An insider said DVML paid $350,000 to get Rod Stewart here.
No doubt it was more.

The stadium is costing ratepayers +$20M pa to stay open.
ODT mentions FLOOD, in a SEA OF COUNCIL DEBT.

—

The rising value of New Zealand’s dollar against the Australian had closed the profit gap for promoters considering whether to cross the Tasman or add another Sydney show.

### ODT Online Sat, 11 Apr 2015
Sellout gets promoters’ full attention
By Chris Morris
Australasia’s biggest promoters are promising more big acts as Dunedin’s concert drought threatens to become a flood. Michael Gudinski once vowed never to return to Dunedin. But, more than three years after the accomplished Australian music promoter slammed the “completely unprofessional” managers at Forsyth Barr Stadium, he is back. Mr Gudinski is the man behind Frontier Touring, the company bringing Rod Stewart to Dunedin for tonight’s stadium concert.
Read more

****

IS NICK SMITH PAYING THE PROMOTERS TO BE HERE

### ODT Online Sat, 11 Apr 2015
City in line for more top acts
By Chris Morris
Promoters for some of the world’s top musical performers say Dunedin is now firmly on the radar as a destination for a steady stream of headline acts. The glowing endorsement comes as Forsyth Barr Stadium prepares to host 25,000 fans at tonight’s Rod Stewart show. The concert, being brought to Dunedin by Frontier Touring, has also attracted three of Australasia’s top music promoters to Dunedin, eager to evaluate the event and the venue.
Read more

*ODT understands Stewart is staying at the Scenic Hotel Southern Cross in High St, and that he arrived on Thursday night.

—

Related Posts and Comments:
20.3.15 Stadium costs +$20M per annum, against one Fleetwood Mac concert….
1.3.15 DCC: DCHL/DVL/DVML … half year result | Term borrowings $586.5M
28.2.15 Blonde ‘lawyer’ takes over DVML —expect no change
21.11.14 Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed
19.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review
15.11.14 Stadium #TotalFail
12.11.14 DVML: Two directors gone before release of stadium review
8.10.14 Stadium: Liability Cull warns ratepayers could pay more to DVML
6.10.14 Stadium misses —like it would ever happen, Terry
25.9.14 DVML on Otago Rugby and Rod
13.9.14 DVML and ORFU refuse to disclose 2012 Otago Rugby deal
10.9.14 Stadium: Behaviours at Suite 29 (intrepid tales)
1.8.14 DVML and the “Otago Rugby” deal (sponsorship and payments)

For more, enter the terms *dvml*, *terry davies*, *orfu*, *nzru*, *stadium* or *flood* in the search box at right.

—

In which DVML’s Terry Davies buys a house in Dunedin, moves his family here and lives happily ever after.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: (top) cagle.com – Dave Granlund 129564_600; blogs.swa-jkt.com – Hands-Drowning-Sea

Stadium costs +$20M per annum, against one Fleetwood Mac concert….

THIS DOESN’T SINK NEWS OF LATEST DELTA FINANCIAL BLOWOUT – NOBLE VILLAGE SUBDIVISION

I experienced Fleetwood Mac at Western Springs, Auckland in the 1980s, there is no way I want to see them live now in a crap-for-sound covered stadium at Dunedin. This cat has already eaten the cream. I might see them at Mt Smart, however.

How much has DCC/DVML paid to the promoter to get the band here?
They’ve spent $350,000 on tired roller Rod Stewart, who has yet to perform.

—

### ODT Online Fri, 20 Mar 2015
Fleetwood Mac to play Stadium
By Chris Morris
The rumours are true — Fleetwood Mac is coming to Dunedin. It was confirmed yesterday the group, one of the world’s best-selling bands, will perform its only South Island show at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Wednesday, November 18. Tickets costing between $100 and $300 plus fees will go on public sale from 10am on April 1, and a bumper crowd is predicted to pump millions of dollars into Dunedin’s economy. The British-American group’s Dunedin show will feature all five original band members, with Christine McVie having reunited with Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
Read more

CroNix99 Uploaded on May 26, 2010
Fleetwood Mac – The Dance -1997 – Gypsy

CroNix99 Uploaded on Jul 2, 2010
Fleetwood Mac – Rhiannon – The Dance -1997

CroNix99 Uploaded on May 27, 2010
Fleetwood Mac – Landslide – 2004
Live In Boston – Say You Will Tour

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: Fleetwood Mac – Christine McVie rejoining Fleetwood Mac 12.1.14 [pitchfork.com]

Stadium Review: LGOIMA request and 2009 Town Hall speeches

████ Download: Stadium Review Nov v 15 (585 KB, DOC)

Copy received from Bev Butler
Sun, 30 Nov at 12:17 p.m.

Message: A while back I was told there was Rugby pressure happening behind the scenes to exclude the mothballing option.
Cheers, Bev

From: Bev Butler
To: Sandy Graham [DCC]; Grace Ockwell [DCC]
Subject: LGOIMA REQUEST: Stadium Review/Mothballing
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 12:10:47 +1300

Sunday 30 November 2014

Dear Sandy and Grace

Earlier in the year it was announced that the stadium was to be reviewed and that all options would be considered, including mothballing.
Now with the recent release of the Stadium Review only two options are presented, namely, the status quo and the most extreme option of demolition.
1. Why were the options of sale and mothballing not reported on?
2. Did the Stadium Review committee look at the sale and mothballing options? If so, I request a copy of the findings. If not, why not?
3. Whose decision (names) was it to not include mothballing as an option?
4. Did the NZRU and/or ORFU have any input into the Review? If so, I request a copy of all documentation.
5. Who (names) from the NZRU/ORFU was consulted/involved in the Review?
6. Did any member of NZRU and/or ORFU influence/pressure/request that the mothballing option be removed/excluded from the Review? If so, who (names)?
7. Mayor Cull has publicly stated that the demolition option was included in the Review to show the “lunatic fringe” that demolition is not a realistic option.
a) Who (names) are the “lunatic fringe”?
b) If Mayor Cull is unable to name members of the “lunatic fringe” then why was the demolition option considered?
c) Why were the mothballing options not considered when well informed stadium critics had publicly called for this option? ie. Why was the extreme option from an unidentified “lunatic fringe” considered over the mothballing option proposed by identifiable well informed stadium critics, like myself, who have been proven correct in their predictions?
8. What part did Sir John Hansen play in stifling the mothballing option?
9. Will the mothballing options now be reviewed?

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

___________________________________

REFRESH
Speeches made to Stop The Stadium public meeting held at Dunedin Town Hall on 29 March 2009:

● Alistair Broad
● Dave Cull
● Gerry Eckhoff
● Michael Stedman
● Sukhi Turner

Speeches to Otago Regional Council (ORC) public forums for stadium:

● Public Forum Speech to ORC by Bev Butler 11.2.09 – stadium meeting
● Public Forum Speech to ORC by Bev Butler 3.3.09

___________________________________

On behalf of ratepayers and residents Dunedin City Council decided on and publicly listed ten conditions (10 lines in the sand) to be met for the stadium project. Unfortunately, this summary table shows the extent of departure!

Received from Bev Butler – Summary of Conditions
Sat, 29 Nov 2014 at 7.44 a.m.

[click to enlarge]

Recent Posts and Comments:
26.11.14 Cr Hilary Calvert, an embarrassment
22.11.14 ODT puffery for stadium rousing ?
21.11.14 Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed
19.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review
15.11.14 Stadium #TotalFail

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

ODT puffery for stadium rousing ?

The banner at today’s ODT Online home page

Received, a snapshot at 11:14 a.m. (to read the article get the latest budgie cage liner full of advertising with not much else EXCEPT an exclusive interview)

Oh Dear Times —
Sue Bidrose, ‘I’ve always said I just don’t want to work for someone who’s not as good as me’.

Alternative text, just an observation —
From King James Bible, Psalms 8:2, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength”.

Updated post 23.11.14 at 10:47 a.m.
● Read the interview (Sunday release) at ODT Online

—

The completely under-researched yet highly threshed and winnowed
Fubar Stadium Review released on Thursday 20 November will be tabled at Monday’s Extraordinary Council Meeting (Edinburgh Room, Municipal Chambers at 1:00 PM).

████ Download: Stadium Review Nov v 15 (585 KB, DOC)

As to timing of review and puffery, coincidence?

ODT used the same new face the day before to sell the ‘Stadium in the black’ message (see Friday’s front page graphic)

—

Anything for tenure. The motorbike makes her one of the boys, and the girls. This popularity farce-triumph(ant) is costing ratepayers +$20million pa.

The newspaper can’t distract from an extremely inadequate Stadium Review by throwing us lines about a recreational biker’s “life, job and sleepless nights”. There’s a public excluded Chief Executive Appraisal and Appointment Committee meeting at the Mayor’s Office on Monday 8 December, 8:00 AM.

—

Related Post and Comments:
21.11.14 Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed
20.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed

### radionz.co.nz Thursday 20 November 2014
Checkpoint with Mary Wilson
Dunedin Mayor: ‘Stadium is not a lemon’
A Dunedin City Council report has looked into demolishing the city’s covered rugby stadium built for 200 million dollars just three years ago.
Audio | Download: Ogg  MP3 (4:48)

████ Download: Stadium Review Nov v 15 (585 KB, DOC)

● 15.3.11 Post: Cr Dave Cull speech to Town Hall Meeting [31.3.09]
● 27.4.09 Post: Contract signed

—

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 09:08 21/11/2014 | Southland Times
Stadium demolition option only for ‘lunatics’
By Wilma McKay
Dunedin’s mayor has said the city council only included an option to demolish the city’s stadium to shut down “a lunatic fringe”. In an interview with Mary Wilson from Radio New Zealand, Dunedin mayor Dave Cull said demolition was included in a review of stadium funding, ownership and operation “to put to bed the frequent and strident claims of a lunatic fringe”. Cull described the opposing group as “a small vociferous band of critics all the way along through this process who have said it would be much better to knock [the stadium] over”. “So, we said ‘okay, we’ll look at that option, we’ll cost it, and that should put it to bed once and for all’,” he said in the interview. As it turned out demolition proved unworkable economically, Cull said.
City councillors are to gather for an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss its recommendations out of the review, including one that ratepayers stump up $18.1 million extra over the next 10 years to keep the arena afloat.
Read more

● Stuff: Stadium under fire as city eyes next steps | Southland Times

****

### ODT Online Fri, 21 Nov 2014
Stadium review ‘kick in the guts for ratepayers’
By Chris Morris
Dunedin city councillors are preparing for a fresh war of words over Forsyth Barr Stadium, following confirmation it needs another $1.81million a year from ratepayers. The extra costs, together with a nearly $1million budget hole to be plugged by mid-2015, would see nearly $20million in extra ratepayer funding pumped into the venue over the next decade.
The findings – outlined with the release of the Dunedin City Council’s stadium review yesterday – prompted a mixture of resigned acceptance and recriminations from some councillors.
Read more

● ODT: ‘I don’t think we had much choice’- councillor
[Richard Thomson, chairman, DCC Finance Committee]

Agenda for Extraordinary Meeting | Monday 24 Nov at 1.00 PM
Venue: Edinburgh Room, Municipal Chambers

—

Related Posts and Comments:
19.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review
15.11.14 Stadium #TotalFail
12.11.14 DVML: Two directors gone before release of stadium review
8.10.14 Stadium: Liability Cull warns ratepayers could pay more to DVML
6.10.14 Stadium misses —like it would ever happen, Terry
4.10.14 DCHL & DVML: Call for directors
30.9.14 DCHL financial result
25.9.14 DVML on Otago Rugby and Rod
13.9.14 DVML and ORFU refuse to disclose 2012 Otago Rugby deal
10.9.14 Stadium: Behaviours at Suite 29 (intrepid tales)
8.9.14 Jim Harland and the stadium MESS
28.8.14 Stadium Review: dark yet rosy thoughts [joke, honest]
15.7.14 Stadium: Who is being protected?
15.7.14 Rugby stadiums not filling #SkyTV
29.6.14 Stadium: NZRU in the sights
24.6.14 Stadium: DVML, mothballing, and ‘those TVs’ #LGOIMA
18.6.14 Crowe Horwath Report (May 2014) – Review of DVML Expenses
13.5.14 Stadium benefits, what?! (Copeman)
11.5.14 Stadium: DCC proposes extra funds for stadium debt repayment
5.3.14 Stadium: Fairfax business editor pokes DCC’s Fubar
26.2.14 Stadium costs, read uncapped multimillion-dollar LOSSES
24.2.14 Carisbrook Stadium Trust: ‘Facts about the new Stadium’ (31.5.08)
22.2.14 Carisbrook Stadium Trust costs
2.2.14 Stadium: ODT editorial (1.2.14) —Garbutt debunks myths
1.2.14 Stadium: ODT editorial (1.2.14) —“Palpable claptrap” says Oaten
27.1.14 Stadium: No 4 at interest.co.nz
24.1.14 Stadium: It came to pass . . . [stadium review announced]

█ For more, enter *stadium*, *dvml*, *terry davies*, *cst*, *dchl*, *dcc*, *annual plan*, *rugby* or *carisbrook* in the search box at right.
ODT 31.5.08 (advertisement) | PDF fax copy cleaned by whatifdunedin
[click to enlarge]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Forsyth Barr Stadium Review

Updated post 20.11.14 at 2:31 p.m.

████ Download: Stadium Review Nov v 15 (585 KB, DOC)

This Report should be left on the table by Councillors at the Extraordinary Council Meeting on Monday 24 November, since the implications of the Review’s published content and lack of content are very serious indeed.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium #TotalFail

### ODT Online Fri, 14 Nov 2014
Opinion: Your say
Learning from stadium-related mistakes
By Rob Hamlin
One of the few good things about making mistakes is that you can learn from them, and avoid making the same kind of mistake again.
It is pretty clear that the FB Stadium has been a mistake on the part of the Councillors that voted for it. It has not come close to delivering the economic or social benefits that were predicted by its backers at the time. The figure arrived at in an earlier response to the above article [ODT Online] of $22 million loss per year, appears to be about right for this facility’s current annual cost to the community once all the cross-subsidies and clever fiscal two steps have been eliminated. On the social front, unlike the Moana Pool and Edgar Centre facilities that it is often compared with, the Stadium lies empty 95%+ of the time. Both these failures might just be forgiven if it was an attractive structure – but the Taj Mahal it ain’t.
Read more

****

Another oft-cited council asset…….

Moana Pool | Swimming New Zealand

### ODT Online Sat, 15 Nov 2014
Party to mark long success of sporting and social hub
By Chris Morris
Moana Pool’s golden jubilee is to be marked with a splash, and Mayor Dave Cull is confident the facility has plenty of life still left in it. The 50th anniversary of the pool’s opening on November 14, 1964, was celebrated yesterday with the unveiling of a photographic exhibition of the pool’s early days.
Read more

—

The ‘convenient’ shonky comparison lives on…….

### ODT Online Sat, 15 Nov 2014
Moana Pool paid off, despite price
By Chris Morris
Forsyth Barr Stadium is not the first controversial building to capture headlines in Dunedin. Fifty years ago, a decade of debate, disagreement and concerns about the cost preceded the opening of Moana Pool.
Read more

█ For more, enter *stadium*, *dvml*, *review*, *terry davies*, *directors* or *rugby* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr