Local govt and the question of general competence #North

Received.
Mon, 9 Jan 2017 at 10:56 p.m.

Subject: Did you notice……

Message:
Whangarei District Council was reported on TV3 as supporting protesters who have put a road block across four roads and are not letting trucks pass because they are pissed off with the dust from the roads, and want them sealed. Not that we wouldn’t have sympathy with their cause, but how is it right for a Council to support illegal road closures?
These Councils may have been given by law the power of general competence but they sure don’t warrant the confidence of central government in hope that they may become generally competent……

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Protesters set up four separate road blocks along Pipiwai Road [newshub.co.nz]

### newshub.co.nz 15/12/2016
Northland residents block dusty roads in protest
By Wilhelmina Shrimpton
Frustrations have reached boiling point as locals of a small Northland town fight to have a notoriously dusty logging truck route sealed. Locals have had enough and stepped up protest action by blocking logging trucks from using the gravel roads. “Don’t piss me off, you either do it or you go,” one protester yelled at a truck driver while blocking the road. “What you gonna do bro? What you gonna do? Cause you ain’t going down here today!” Puti Tipene says the dense dust clouds thrown up by the trucks are unhealthy and dangerous. […] Locals say up to 50 trucks drive along unsealed routes every day, and believe the council isn’t doing enough to help. […] Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai says the council wants the roads sealed but doesn’t have the money. “We’ve had money in our budget to do it … if there was a subsidy from our partners the NZTA, that hasn’t happened. Until that happens, we don’t think it’s appropriate for the wider ratepayers to pay 100 percent of that.”
Read more + Video

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Pipiwai Valley protest [ngapuhi.iwi.nz]

### newshub.co.nz 09/01/2017
Protestors block trucks from dusty Northland road
By Newshub staff
Ten people blocked off a Northland road today in a fight to have the notoriously dusty logging truck route sealed. Protesters set up four separate road blocks around Pipiwai Valley on Monday morning, an area they say is plagued by dust kicked up both water tanks and trucks. They parked vehicles across Pipiwai Rd to deter trucks, but are letting locals through. Police were at the protest, which was kept low key. Protest organiser Alex Wright says truckers may have been tipped off and taken another route. Those truck drivers that did come their way had to reverse back down the gravel road. […] “It’s affecting our way of life… It’s horrific. We can’t handle it anymore and that’s why we’re here today. We’ve tried all avenues.” Ms Wright says they’re their new campaign won’t stop until the road is sealed.
Read more

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Truck-generated dust at Pipiwai, an ongoing issue for more than 10 years.
Photo: Graham Wright [nzherald.co.nz]

### NZ Herald Online 10:47 AM Mon, Sep 14, 2015
Logging and trucking industries asked to pay $132k
By Alexandra Newlove – Northern Advocate
Logging and trucking industries will be asked to cough up cash to help solve a dusty road problem that has had residents up in arms for more than a decade. Whangarei District Council had allocated $400,000 over the next two years to seal ten 100m strips along the notoriously dusty Wright, McCardle and Pipiwai roads west of Whangarei, though the work was expected to cost $532,000, said WDC roading manager Jeff Devine. “We will be asking the industry if they can make up the [$132,00] shortfall,” he said. The New Zealand Transport Agency declined a $4.5 million funding request from council early this year for a full 9km seal of Wrights Rd and McCardle Rd. Pipiwai Titoki Advocacy for Community Health and Safety Group spokeswoman Alex Wright said she was unconvinced that the strip sealing would make a huge amount of difference. “It’s our 11th year now. We’re heading in the right direction but need to do it properly and completely.” Mr Devine said he agreed that the dust was a health and safety issue. “The big issue is that when they shifted the port from Whangarei to Marsden Point the traffic direction changed. It was never planned when the forests were planted that this would be the [trucking] route.” Council would continue approaching central Government for money to seal the remainder of roads, Mr Devine said.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

DCC : Enterprise Dunedin : Gigatown —DEEP QUESTIONS

Received.

Anonymous
Submitted on 2015/07/29 at 9:47 am

Where is the Gigatown?
What has been accomplished since February?
What happened to the $50K for “key projects”?
Who is employed by the Digital Office, on the ground, currently?
Where is the new office, the physical presence, supposedly in George St?
What has happened to the $200K approved by Council from July 2015 onwards?
What has happened to the Project Coordinator Position in Enterprise Dunedin? And the associated $100K also approved by Council?
Where is the social media campaign, supposedly delegated to Digital Office in June?
Where is the PR campaign, supposedly awarded to Glow PR in June?
Where is the Gigabit WiFi, supposedly delegated to Digital Office in June?
Where are the companies who moved to Dunedin on the back of the win?

Does the DCT still meet weekly on Mondays? Where are the reports of these meetings?

In short, where is the “game-changing economic boost” promised by the same Mayor who is off to China to explore the next “huge potential”?

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█ Gigatown Dunedin – Plan for Success FINAL
via chorus.co.nz

[excerpt – click to enlarge]

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Virtual Eye Published on Jun 12, 2014
Gigatown Dunedin
#GigatownDunedin is Dunedin’s answer to Chorus’s Gigatown competition. As part of the competition, businesses had to answer five questions put forward by Chorus. This is how ARL answered those questions, on behalf of our hometown.
(In October 2013, Chorus announced that one town in New Zealand would receive the fastest internet in the Southern Hemisphere at extraordinarily cheap prices.)

Otago Daily Times Published on Nov 17, 2014
Gigatown Dunedin Stage2
This #gigatownDUN video is part of Dunedin’s entry into the #gigatown New Zealand competition, the video accompanies the written submission in the final round, the Plan for Gig Success.

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OUSA poster bollard

Related Posts and Comments:
28.7.15 Vandervis identifies mayoral JUNKETS #China —with gloss…
24.7.15 Dunedin not an IT city, compared
21.7.15 Dunedin to host LGNZ 2016 conference —FFS TIME TO TAKE IT OUT
9.6.15 City promotion: moral fibre
5.2.15 Tony Avery is “somebody’s” pet #gigatown lapdog
6.11.14 DCC pals up with Chorus —gigatown and telecoms cabinets
14.2.14 DCC: Broadband AND bicycles #fraudband speed
29.10.13 DCC (EDU) invents new job! —Gigatown/Digital Office

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium costs, read uncapped multimillion-dollar LOSSES

Forsyth Barr Stadium critic Russell Garbutt, of Clyde, is not surprised by reports of looming stadium losses.

### ODT Online Wed, 26 Feb 2014
Opinion
Stadium costs predictable, so why the surprise now?
By Russell Garbutt
The ongoing revelations on stadium losses detailed today (ODT, 21.2.14) come as no surprise to anyone who has closely followed this debacle from when the Otago Rugby Football Union first gathered the Carisbrook working party together until now, when a succession of different managers, directors and councillors are all realising that what was promised is as chalk is to cheese.
While not directly specified in the article, the turnaround of an expected $10,000 profit to a $1,400,000 loss in 2014-15 is in the operational budget, and it seems Sir John Hansen, chairman of DVML, is putting most of the blame for this truly stupendous reversal of fortunes down to costs of running the stadium.

While ratepayers continue to face annual injections of over $9 million into the stadium, this is by no means the real figure.

The ”realities” of the real costs of running the stadium are now being recognised, it seems. But let us all just remember a few things that occurred when the stadium was being proposed and then built.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
11.2.14 Stadium: ‘Business case for DVML temporary seating purchase’
24.1.14 Stadium: It came to pass . . .
20.12.13 DVML: No harassment policy or complaints procedure, really?
3.12.13 DVML issues and rankles [Burden’s reply]
30.11.13 DVML in disarray
18.11.13 DVML: Burden heads to Christchurch #EntirelyPredictable
12.10.13 DVML works media/DCC to spend more ratepayer money
4.10.13 DVML . . . | ‘Make the stadium work’ losses continue
20.8.13 DVML foists invoices on DCC
20.6.13 Stadium: DVML, DVL miserable losers! #grandtheftdebt

For more, enter *dvml* or *stadium* into the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Carisbrook Stadium Trust: ‘Facts about the new Stadium’ (31.5.08)

Image: The Marketing Bureau

### dunedintv.co.nz February 24, 2014 – 7:16pm
Stadium proud of numbers despite opposition and projected losses
The Forsyth Barr Stadium is crowing over numbers through its gates, as the DCC debates a projected $1.4m loss for the facility.
Meanwhile, a stadium opponent is calling for reports from 2008 she says backed claims the stadium would run at a profit.
Ch39 Video

24 February 2014
Reports tabled at the meeting of the Dunedin City Council:

█ Report – Council – 24/02/2014 (PDF, 566.6 KB)
DVL Financials for the Six Months Ended 31 December 2013

█ Report – Council – 24/02/2014 (PDF, 638.8 KB)
DVML Financials for the Six Months Ended 31 December 2013

█ Report – Council – 24/02/2014 (PDF, 47.8 KB)
Statements of Intent – DCHL Group Plus DVL and DVML

█ Report – Council – 24/02/2014 (PDF, 276.4 KB)
Statements of Intent – Dunedin Venues Ltd

█ Report – Council – 24/02/2014 (PDF, 284.1 KB)
Statements of Intent – Dunedin Venues Management Ltd

Other reports

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Media Release
Bev Butler
Monday 24 February 2014

TIME FOR SOME PLAIN, HONEST ANSWERS

Dunedin ratepayers are being informed by Sir John Hansen, Chairman of both Dunedin Venues Management Ltd and Dunedin Venues Ltd, that the projected $10,000 operating profit forecast for 2014-15 is now forecast to be a $1,400,000 loss, with similar or even greater losses forecast in future years. He puts this staggering reversal in fortunes down to the reality of costs of running the stadium, and few events occurring at the stadium.

But even these revelations don’t tell the full story of this stadium debacle and financial scandal.

Accompanying the annual injection of well over $9 million to run the stadium, are all of the costs of servicing the debt to build the stadium. Because these costs reside within DVL, they are not reported on in the DVML forecasts.

However some very basic questions remain unanswered.

Readers of the Otago Daily Times will recall a full-page advertisement placed by the Carisbrook Stadium Trust on the 31st of May, 2008, at the time the stadium project was being considered. Headed up “The Facts about the new Stadium”, it said: “The stadium will be profitable. The funding target establishes a debt free stadium. On this basis the business plan for the stadium shows that it makes a profit. Unlike nearly all other Council owned facilities it will not need annual funding support. This assessment has been confirmed by two of New Zealand’s leading accountancy firms.”

These statements are unequivocal and cannot be misinterpreted.

Bev Butler has, for over a year, had an official request in to Mr Malcolm Farry, Chair of the Carisbrook Stadium Trust, to supply the names of those two leading accountancy firms and for the documentation supporting the validity of the claims to build a debt-free stadium and for it to run at an annual profit. Mr Farry has so far failed to deliver that information as required under the requirements of the LGOIMA.

“Mr Farry leaves me no choice but to submit an urgent complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman. There is no reason whatsoever why Mr Farry shouldn’t supply this information, if it exists. Mr Farry has breached the requirement under LGOIMA to supply this information,” said Bev Butler.

How much notice was taken by members of the public and those Councillors and others who were considering whether it made sense to build a new stadium? Perhaps hard to assess. But surely it must not be too hard for Mr Malcolm Farry to reveal to Dunedin ratepayers just how it was that they would have a debt-free stadium and an annual profit instead of a stadium that is millions in debt and costing ratepayers further millions in its staggering operational losses.

[ends]

[click to enlarge]

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Related Posts and Comments:
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 . . .

For more, enter *cst*, *carisbrook stadium charitable trust*, *carisbrook stadium trust*, or *dvml* in the search box at left.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC Community Boards

MOSGIEL-TAIERI COMMUNITY BOARD
Discretionary funds: Conflicts of interest? Accountability? Rort?

”They provided no quotes for what they say they need funding for, and other applications, like the BMX track at Outram, we asked them to go away and come back to us with quotes before we could grant them the funds.”
–Brian Miller

### ODT Online Sun, 23 Jun 2013
Member calls his board a shambles
By Tim Miller – The Star
A member of the Mosgiel-Taieri Community Board says the board is a shambles and has abdicated its responsibilities in giving money to a community group last week. Brian Miller believes the granting of $4500 to the Taieri Community Wellbeing Strategy Group, which aims to promote the Mosgiel and Taieri community, meant the board was handing over its responsibilities to an unelected group. Other community board members spoken to by The Star said the board had done nothing wrong and worked well. Mr Miller said the group would overlap the responsibilities of the board and its funding application did not face the same scrutiny other applications did.

”This would be the worst board I have been on. It’s a shambles.” The group had an unfair advantage because chairman Bill Feather and board member Teresa Christie had been working with it behind the scenes, Mr Miller said.

Board member Martin Dillon also voted against the funding. Mr Dillon said he had issues with the way the funding application had been made, but had no problems with Mr Feather and Mrs Christie being part of the group asking for funding.
Read more

*Teresa Christie is the wife of Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Christie.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Can it be true? Nahhh #peepshow

Initially, did Ngai Tahu (Kai Tahu) get turned down for Dunedin City Council project funding towards the Haka Peep Show (‘black penis’), now resplendent in the Octagon?

Did Ngai Tahu then come back to DCC saying, more or less, that if DCC didn’t front up with the $50,000 then Council wouldn’t get any co-operation from the tribe with resource consents, etc?

No! This didn’t happen. In any case, the minutes of the Art in Public Places subcommittee (if released), or those of the Community Development Committee (which turned down the APP’s $100,000 funding request) wouldn’t be so specific as to the politics, surely?

No. No. No. A vile rumour, completely fictitious.
Not the way we do things in Dunedin!

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### ODT Online Tue, 20 Sep 2011
Councillors join Ngai Tahu working party
By David Loughrey
Dunedin city councillors Fliss Butcher and Jinty MacTavish have joined a working party that will find “opportunities and mechanisms” for Ngai Tahu to contribute to the city’s decision making.
Read more

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ODT columnist Dave Cannan has been asking questions about the artwork. In today’s ‘The Wash’ (ODT, 21.9.11) he says, “The cost of Rachael Rakena’s much-discussed installation is “in the vicinity of $115,000″, although some accounts are still being finalised.”

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

‘Forsyth Barr Stadium Base Building Further Requirements’

Incompetence by another name, actually, ‘Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust Exclusions’.

Davis Langdon was asked to review progress made by the trust, and it was the reviewer’s report that first coined the term “exclusions” to describe what was considered to have been missed from the project’s planning. The exclusions included a kitchen fit-out, broadcasting facilities, electronic turnstiles, score boards and replay screens. -ODT

Dunedin City Council’s finance, strategy and development committee met on Monday 14 March.

How they voted
There were several votes at the non-public meeting. For the substantive vote, that the committee recommend the council approve additional borrowing of up to $5.15 million to fund capital expenditure for the stadium, Crs Bill Acklin, John Bezett, Syd Brown, Neil Collins, Paul Hudson, Chris Staynes, Richard Thompson and Mayor Dave Cull voted for, while Crs Fliss Butcher, Jinty MacTavish, Teresa Stevenson, Lee Vandervis and Kate Wilson voted against. Cr Andrew Noone had left the meeting, and Cr Colin Weatherall apologised for non-attendance. -ODT

### ODT Online Sat, 19 Mar 2011
How $5.1m worth of ‘exclusions’ became included
By David Loughrey
Construction at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium may be rapidly reaching a conclusion, but in the shadow of the structure, the financial debate and the entrenched political tensions, continue. Dunedin City Council reporter David Loughrey explores why an extra $5.1 million funding was granted for the stadium this week, and finds some differing views.
Read more

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### ODT Online Sat, 19 Mar 2011
Editorial: Drilling into the debt mountain
Amid the bickering and sabre-rattling, some clarity is beginning to emerge on the true extent of the impost Forsyth Barr Stadium funding is imposing on Dunedin city debt levels. Part of that funding – $5 million annually, to be precise – is supposed to come from dividends yielded by the council’s various companies, under the umbrella of Dunedin City Holdings Ltd.
Read more

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More blither from people who don’t know how to fundraise, oh that’s DCC…

### ODT Online Sat, 19 Mar 2011
Trusts to be targeted again
By David Loughrey
Charitable trusts can expect another round of requests for funding for the Forsyth Barr Stadium, following a Dunedin City Council decision earlier this week. The decision came after a report to the finance, strategy and development committee that showed 16 trusts had been asked for money in the last few years, and four had come up with $7.9 million.
Read more

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Cities: Wellington, or Dunedin?

I doubt the Dunedin stadium’s pulling power in attracting new residents. It’s ugly, it’s essentially redundant and its intimidating bulk will hinder people-friendly development of the surrounding area. –Meg Davidson

### ODT Online Mon, 27 Sep 2010
Let us, too, become the city of the verb, not expletive
By Meg Davidson
Dunedin resident Meg Davidson laments opportunities lost and asks if the city could follow Wellington’s lead.
Last month my daughter was lost to Dunedin. I was with her in Wellington, the new object of her affections, when she was seduced and I, a passionate Dunedinite, was seized by the same unexpected delight in the city I hadn’t visited for three decades.
Read more

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We’re almost there, inside our final year – and nothing our dwindling band of critics say will deflect us from our primary purpose: to deliver, on time, on budget and fit for purpose, New Zealand’s first roofed, multipurpose performance venue and something all can be proud of. –Malcolm Farry

### ODT Online Mon, 27 Sep 2010
Something we can all be proud of
By Malcolm Farry
Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman Malcolm Farry reflects on the journey towards building the “the best stadium in New Zealand”.
When I was asked in 2004 to lead an investigation into an upgrade for Carisbrook, the challenge was to investigate and recommend the best option that would produce most benefits to Dunedin and the region.
Read more

● Malcolm Farry is the chairman of Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium technology bucket list

### ODT Online Wed, 8 Sep 2010
Stadium technology wants listed
By David Loughrey
Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium could boast technology that enhances punters’ experience of the venue at little or no cost, the company running the stadium says. Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (DVML) yesterday released the results of a survey it ran in June and July, which received 901 responses.

“All of the technology we’re looking at is either included in the stadium build through the fittings budget, or stand-alone items with revenue associated that pays for them.”
-Darren Burden, DVML development director

Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

Otago Community Trust

### Otago Community Trust 2009 Annual Report (page 2)

Forsyth Barr Stadium at the University Plaza overlooking the Otago harbour, will be New Zealand’s largest indoor arena.

The Otago Community Trust has continued its long-held tradition of underpinning major community assets in Otago, and will provide $7 million towards the cost of construction of this new Stadium over the next two years.

Work has started and is on track for an August 2011 completion, planned to be ready for the 2011 Rugby World Cup – an opportunity to showcase the region to New Zealand and worldwide.

The new Stadium will be a multipurpose facility that can be used for a wide range of cultural, learning, community, business and sporting events. It will have capacity for over 30,000 in maximum event mode under one roof, and the flexibility to cater for smaller events.

Covered by a state-of-the-art roof, the purpose-built Stadium will protect everyone inside from the elements.

The University of Otago will become New Zealand’s first and only campus stadium, with new University buildings co-locating alongside the Stadium to house teaching, research and student services.

The net economic benefit to Otago and Dunedin was assessed at $24 million a year, bringing economic benefits through new jobs, attracting more visitors and students and retaining visitor spend within the region. Around 600 new jobs will be created during construction and 1,000 people will be employed for major events.

Forsyth Barr Stadium will be the focal point for major events south of the Waitaki.

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We’re reliably informed that the University of Otago is MORE THAN a “campus stadium”. A little editing of the OCT item required…

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### ODT Online Wed, 26 Aug 2009
Trust’s annual meeting more relaxed this year

The Otago Community Trust’s annual meeting last night was a subdued affair, despite a year when its investments were hit by the global financial crisis and it awarded its biggest grant – $7 million to the Forsyth Barr Stadium at the University Plaza.
Read more

Channel 9: Dunedin's major roading projects

Channel 9 news reports the Regional Transport Committee of the Otago Regional Council has a $520 million programme to cover all roading projects in Otago, including major projects and maintenance, for the next three years.

The programme will be lodged with the New Zealand Transport Agency and assessed with those from around the country.

The NZTA board meets at the end of July. The Regional Transport Committee expects the tick-off on most of its projects then.

The three major projects prioritised for Dunedin are:

– Completion of the Caversham Corridor (worth $15 million)

– Extension of the pedestrian and cycle way from Maia to Port Chalmers

– Improvements from Frederick Street to Parry Street, including the realignment of a section of State Highway 88 and a new bridge over the Leith Stream. The project has been on the drawing board for quite some time; it recognises the high pedestrian count on Anzac Avenue and the need to separate off heavy traffic for greater safety. Construction of the stadium has brought the project forward.

DCC on stadium

UPDATED

“A comprehensive response to all those who submitted on the Stadium, whether for or against, during the 2009/10 Community Plan process”

Response to LTCCP Stadium submitters 2009/10 (PDF, 88.3 kb)

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### ODT Online Sat, 27 Jun 2009
Council posts letter to submitters on stadium
By David Loughrey

The much debated letter to residents who presented submissions to the Dunedin City Council on the Forsyth Barr Stadium was sent yesterday.
Read more

More coverage in Monday’s ODT.

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Wait for the splash, and further insult to ratepayers…

• The Carisbrook Stadium Trust is launching its new brand for the stadium at a function on Thursday 2 July.

ORC – illegal intent?

### ODT Online Wed, 27 May 2009
ORC denies breach claim
By Chris Morris

Claims the Otago Regional Council has breached a High Court undertaking over funding of the Forsyth Barr Stadium have been dismissed as “ridiculous”. Queenstown stadium opponent Basil Walker made the claim in a letter to High Court Justice Christine French and ORC staff yesterday, copied to the Otago Daily Times.
Read more

Updated: Waitaki District Council contribution

### Channel 9 News May 13, 2009
Tomorrow’s ODT carries news that Waitaki District Council has asked for its contribution to the stadium to be reduced by $2 million.

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“Major deficiencies” in the Otago Regional Council’s calculations…

### ODT Online Thu, 14 May 2009
Waitaki disputes levy for stadium
By Allison Rudd

Waitaki ratepayers had been asked to pay $3.9 million over 15 years; however, [Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton says] his council’s calculations showed the amount should be $1.8 million, he told the regional councillors at a draft long-term council community plan hearing in Oamaru.
Read more

### ODT Online Thu, 14 May 2009
Ratepayers resolute in opposition to spending
By Allison Rudd

Several Waitaki ratepayers have made their opposition to two costly Otago Regional Council projects loud and clear. Neither the Otago stadium nor proposed new waterfront offices for council staff was a priority…[they urged] the council to concentrate on core business such as river management plans, trying to halt coastal erosion, and protecting the environment.
Read more

ORC confession…

### ODT Friday, May 8, 2009 (page 10)
Stadium Funding processes ‘confusing’
By Rebecca Fox

The processes the Otago Regional Council has had to follow to part-fund the Awatea St stadium are confusing to many, director corporate services Wayne Scott says.
{story continues}

****

See ORC chief executive Graeme Martin’s report to Extraordinary Council Meeting 11/2/2009 which provides a précis of the council’s stadium decisions.

ORC’s stadium decisions

June 5, 2008:
Council decides to undertake, subject to nine conditions, the proposed new activity of part-funding the Awatea St stadium and recommend a revenue policy.

June 25, 2008:
Sets February 2, 2009, as deadline for it to be provided with evidence of a tender for the stadium for a guaranteed maximum price of not more than $165.4 million.

February 11, 2009:
Council resolves to confirm part-funding of stadium subject to eight conditions including an assurance private sector capital funding shortfall of $15 million be met.

March 9, 2009:
Council satisfied condition 5 – assurance of government funding of $15 million – had been met and resolved for the draft long-term council community plan 2009-19 to incorporate funding of proposed stadium.

Unsubtle irony: Waipori Fund

It’s a long-term investment…

### ODT Online Mon, 27 Apr 2009
Waipori Fund takes another beating
By Dene Mackenzie
Investments in the Dunedin City Council’s Waipori Fund took another hammering in the three months ended March, although indications are that it was a better result than recorded in December.
Read more

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Finance and Strategy Committee Meeting
Monday 27 April 2009, Edinburgh Room, Municipal Chambers, 2.00 PM

Agenda – FSC – 27/04/2009 (PDF, 11.5 kb, new window)

Report – FSC – 27/04/2009 (PDF, 33.3 kb, new window)
Submission on the Otago Regional Council Draft Long Term Council Community Plan 2009-2019

Report – FSC – 27/04/2009 (PDF, 81.4 kb, new window)
Resignation of Sinking Fund Commissioners

Report – FSC – 27/04/2009 (PDF, 38.6 kb, new window)
“Have Your Say” Expo 2009

Report – FSC – 27/04/2009 (PDF, 197.5 kb, new window)
Financial Result – 9 Months to 31 March 2009

Report – FSC – 27/04/2009 (PDF, 19.5 kb, new window)
Waipori Fund – Report For Quarter Ending March 2009

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

D Scene heaps preamble to meeting

### D Scene March 25, 2009 (page 4)
Town Hall project showdown

The proposed stadium will come under scrutiny from six Dunedin identities and councillors at a last-minute town hall meeting this Sunday. The meeting is organised by Stop The Stadium.

WHAT: Stadium meeting – what you should have been told!
WHERE: Dunedin Town Hall
WHEN: this Sunday, 7pm
MC: Dougal Stevenson
ADMISSION: free

D Scene gets a preview from each of the six speakers.

Michael Stedman
Natural History New Zealand managing director
FOCUSING ON: Where the funding is coming from and how that has been presented to the public.
HE SAYS: “The big issue for me is that this is the biggest expenditure in Dunedin’s history. There are a lot of issues that remain something of a mystery and that can’t be answered because of commercial sensitivity. The funding is a mystery.”

Gerry Eckhoff
Otago Regional Councillor
FOCUSING ON: How the process has been carried out by council.
HE SAYS: “I have been very uneasy about a number of things for a while. I guess I’m concerned about the local government process and how things should have been done.”

Alistair Broad
Dunedin businessman
FOCUSING ON: Guaranteed maximum price construction contract and funding from ratepayers.
HE SAYS: “The thrust of where I’m coming from is that we are heading towards building something we don’t want or isn’t necessary. I’m seriously concerned about whether we have a genuine maximum price contract. How can you have a genuine fixed prince contract when you have variables like building on an area that’s not a solid foundation?”

Sukhi Turner
Former Dunedin mayor
FOCUSING ON: Council engaging with citizens when decision making.
SHE SAYS: “The meeting is about stopping the stadium. lf you want to see what I think come along to the meeting.”

Dave Cull
Dunedin City Councillor
FOCUSING ON: The consequence for ratepayers, how the city has got to this point, the guaranteed maximum price construction contract.
HE SAYS: “The things that I will focus on are the real financial implications for the ratepayers and also the process.”

Robert Hamlin
Otago University senior lecturer
Hamlin failed to respond to D Scene queries by deadline. However, previously, the lecturer – who also teaches a feasibility analysis paper – has predicted the cost of the stadium could blow out to $400 million and if it does, because of high city debt, that Dunedin will face a type of local body armageddon which might involve central Government stepping in.

****

### D Scene March 25, 2009 (page 4; abridged)
I wouldn’t go anyway: Farry
By Ryan Keen

Carisbrook Stadium Trust chairman Malcolm Farry won’t be attending a high-level Town Hall meeting being held to voice concerns about the project.
{story continues}

****

Pick up today’s copy of D Scene. Other headlines:

D-Day looms for city (page 5) – There are still six Dunedin city councillors who remain undecided on the stadium project.

Trust’s private funding deals not audited (page 5) – CST’s private sector funding arrangements haven’t been audited, as previously claimed by its chairman Malcolm Farry.

No room for Bledisloe (page 5) – Otago’s megabucks stadium can never hold a Bledisloe. [seating capacity issues]

High rate rises, anyone (page 10) – Crs Dave Cull and Chris Staynes on why proceeding with the stadium breaches the trust of the community.

Issues as we see them (page 10) – Affordability, Keeping faith with the community, and Community support.

Tight, very tight

ORC funding for the Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza is conditional on assurances of a $15 million contribution from Government, or other sources, by the close of business on 2 March 2009.

What's to decide?

It’s Friday with mondayitis upon us, a flatness on the way to unleavened dread. Will Council come right and true, realising the past months, years, of stadium investigation and planning have been a complete unnecessary evil in the life and times of many many residents and ratepayers – amongst them, not a few rugby stalwarts keen to see Carisbrook’s continuance as the national icon.

The Council’s white paper for Monday 9 February (see link below), with its summary, options, recommendations and reports, is an eye opener on the Carisbrook Stadium Trust’s (what’s in a name) laboured conscientious efforts to wring blood out of stone.

It’s not been easy for CST to swing the public on Dunedin City Council’s vision if it means endless dollars squandered – not for the vision – but the wildest bad dream to hit this small magnificent city and the allied provinces. The word endless is used advisedly.

Not surprisingly – apart from Chief Executive Jim Harland’s savvy “two options from here” – the white paper has a lightness of being, it flags up no particular brief to comment in depth on the people’s support or non support. Bearing this in mind, Councillors’ decision on Monday will not be based on full information, rather, a sandwich of hard sought and selective information ready and available on that date – with a quotient kept from public view by reason of commercial sensitivity.

The fudging starts… in the Chief Executive’s report, by table, community support under ‘Operational funding’ is factored as low risk: read unquantified colloquial thinking such like “build it and they will come”.

Further in, the Stakeholders Group Report (Attachment 2 to Chief Executive’s report) lists the entities that have provided letters of endorsement for the stadium – being letters of support in principle, threaded with indications more has to be known about the potential costs of using the facility. Scale of use, if any, is a question for all entities and their bottom line. The letters (Attachment 14 to Stakeholder Group Report) are no more than you would expect, mostly written in mid to late January 2009. Too early for money to change hands.

Project Benefits are outlined in Attachment 3 to the Chief Executive’s Report. The loosest description of impacts and outcomes, and comparisons of development options for (1a) A new roofed multipurpose stadium at Awatea Street, (1b) A new un-roofed multipurpose stadium at Awatea Street, and (2b) New South stand at Carisbrook, are set out. Accompanied by a wispish attempt to state Community Outcomes in terms of social/cultural, environmental and economic well-being, with no supporting evidence or substantiation of claims to pin this down. Hoop-la. With a qualification (page 2.169):

“Note that the wealthy community outcome has, in this case, been assessed in terms of meeting the Dunedin City Council’s vision rather than a quantitive financial assessment. It is possible that community decision-makers may wish to weigh the outcomes of their decision making…The challenge in any comparison comes in comparing these social and cultural benefits with the direct economic benefits and costs.”

This challenge is tackled in section 1.6; there follows the summary for Project Benefits:

“It will be a unique, exceptional stadium. It will have regional benefits and will project strong, positive images of Dunedin and Otago to New Zealand and international audiences. We therefore seek the Trust’s support and commitment to bring this ambitious project to fruition.”

Safe? Light and dangerous.

As Horwath HTL comments, “Our report and work have been undertaken on the basis of a limited scope. This is particularly the case with our adopted capital raising assumptions which, although prepared with due care, have a high degree of uncertainty.” (Horwath report, ‘Update of Financial Feasibility Projections: Summary Report’, in white paper, page 2.104).

Horwath identifies (section 1.5 of its report) six key risks that could impact on the achievability of its revised operating projections. They are lengthy and I won’t list them here; nevertheless the peer review of the ‘Proposed New Otago Stadium Forecasts’ by PricewaterhouseCoopers concurs with Horwath’s assessment and notes amongst other things there is a major risk if government funding (a $15m underwrite) is not secured, and $16.3m of borrowings will be the obligation of the Dunedin City Council, either directly or indirectly. PwC recommends that because commencement of construction is a major commitment “a contingency plan needs to be developed to deal with a funding shortfall” (white paper, page 2.127). You mean they haven’t got one?

In terms of venue operations, PwC says, “the challenge then becomes delivery of an events programme that will induce patrons to renew their commitment to the Stadium on expiry of their existing licences and rights” (white paper, page 2.127). The Stakeholders Group has not tabled a likely multipurpose events programme for the stadium. The weight of reporting continues with the main focus on rugby, despite all. PwC again: “given the uncertainty at this time about the future structure of the [rugby] competitions, it is not certain how the changes might translate into the number and quality of games played in Dunedin” (white paper, page 2.130).

Read the agenda and reports for Monday’s Council meeting (the white paper) at:
http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/your-council/minutes-and-agendas

There’s much more to pick around, to analyse, to be intuitive or serious about. Ahead, a weekend of mondayitis, flaring to the hypertensive at the Council meeting if Councillors rise, or cannot rise, to accept either of the two options given by Chief Executive Jim Harland – these in the face of everything offer one cogent and reasonable decision.

Option 1 – Stop the project now – expenses to 31 December 2008 of $13.84m, and any expenses incurred up to the date of stopping the project to be amortised over five years.

Option 2 – Delay a final decision until a response from the Government is received.

Author: Elizabeth Kerr

Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza

ODT 30 Jan 2009

The $188 million stadium in Dunedin, if it goes ahead, will be named Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza.

Principals of the Dunedin-based sharebroking and investment company yesterday signed a 10-year agreement with the Carisbrook Stadium Trust for the “head naming rights”.

Neither party would say how much the deal was worth.

Forsyth Barr chairman Eion Edgar would say only that it was a “significant sum”, but was “certainly not” what the trust would have liked “and probably more than we would have liked to pay”.

While the suggested value of the naming rights has not previously been divulged publicly, in December 2007 trust marketing adviser Brian Meredith reported to the Dunedin City Council that head naming rights would equate to up to 22% of the $45.5 million required from private sector funding – a sum equivalent to just over $10 million.

After a signing ceremony for the media yesterday, managing director Neil Paviour-Smith, of Wellington, said the move would give the company profile, “putting our name on an asset that will have some prominence, not just in Dunedin, but throughout New Zealand”.

The company was founded in Dunedin in 1936 and the opening of the stadium would coincide with the company’s 75th anniversary, he said.

Full story here…