Just beginning…. inquiries into council company rogues

Updated post
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 at 1:47 p.m.

—

ODT 28.12.16 (page 12)

*smartphone tweak by whatifdunedin

****

THANK YOU LEAKS

Another demonstration, published via ODT today (see link below), of Lame Brains and Arrogance —Grady Cameron BULLSHIT and BLUSTER

Grady says !! “one of the largest construction projects in Otago during 2017” because…. since he was first appointed, Grady has COMPLETELY FAILED as chief executive of Delta and Aurora. Increasingly weak and witless. He is criminally negligent under New Zealand’s health and safety legislation. If WorkSafe tries to diminish that truth by applying the soft touch – there will be an Otago Riot.

As for Steve Thompson, given his latest offerings (and his past with Otago Rugby Football Union et al), he appears f’g clueless, a seller of hype, awesomely unfit to be (interim!) chairman of Aurora:

“Mr Thompson also told staff it was an “exciting” time to work for Delta…. “As a new chair and board we’re clear that the network needs modernising, that enough hasn’t been done in the past, that we’ll do more and faster in future.””

Modernising. Modernising.

One man dead.
Very little money at bank.

—

Whistleblower Richard Healey questioned Mr Brosnan’s appointment, saying his background was in management, not engineering. Delta did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.

### ODT Online Thu, 29 Dec 2016
Director for $30m pole project
By Vaughan Elder
Lines company Aurora Energy has appointed a director to oversee its $30.25million pole replacement programme. Two memos sent to staff at Aurora’s sister company, Delta, before Christmas have been leaked to the Otago Daily Times. One is from chief executive Grady Cameron and the other from newly appointed chairman Steve Thompson. Mr Cameron outlined progress on the company’s accelerated plan to replace nearly 3000 poles in Aurora’s electricity network which is spread across Dunedin, Central Otago and the Queenstown Lakes area. […] Godfrey Brosnan had been appointed programme director and would report directly to Mr Cameron.
Read more

Not an auspicious start.

[More poles! Let’s pull in slave labour from overseas….. hmm maybe we don’t even have money for that…..]

Lots of legal clouds beginning to hover over Delta/Aurora HQ at 10 Halsey St – how long can Grady Cameron, Gary Johnson, Godfrey Brosnan and Steve Thompson keep their pay ?

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Images: newshub.co.nz – Grady Cameron | 10 Halsey St (web image) tweaked by whatifdunedin

What GIVES : Aurora/Delta/DCHL/DCC ?? Energy Safety/WorkSafe ?? ComCom ??

Due process and natural justice demand a different outcome in the Delta/Aurora case, writes Robert Hamlin. (ODT)

### ODT Online Thu, 22 Dec 2016
Rotten process needs fixing, too
By Rob Hamlin
OPINION Employment law is a minefield, which only those who assiduously apply due process can navigate. After the publication of the damning report by Deloitte, there have been calls in this community and this newspaper for Grady Cameron, the CEO of Delta, to be removed. Any lawyer will tell you that even with this report in hand, there will be a procedure to be followed before any such removal can occur. […] Enough time has now elapsed since the Deloitte report was published for the boards of Delta and DCHL along with the DCC to make their intentions clear to the community.
Read more

● Robert Hamlin is a senior lecturer at University of Otago Department of Marketing, commenting in a personal capacity.

****

Comments at What if? Dunedin:

russandbev
2016/12/22 at 11:45 am
Of course the Dunedin Mayor, DCHL, Aurora and Delta will always say that the network is “safe” because once they admit to it NOT being safe then they are liable. Actually that raises an interesting issue. My understanding is that if an officer of the Council is aware, or made aware, of an unsafe environment or practice on or around any Council property – and that includes roadways, pathways, parks etc and does nothing about it, then that officer is personally liable for any subsequent issue. Surely Cull, as an officer, is now aware through his much delayed meeting with Richard Healey that the network is unsafe. He only needs to read the ODT to learn of the continued failures if he still can’t bring himself to accept the truth from Mr Healey. Why then is Cull not being pursued by Energy Safety or WorkSafe or the DCC internal Health and Safety personnel?

—

Alex Brown
2016/12/22 at 12:39 pm

Click to access leadership-sme-guide.pdf

Page 2 Directors Duties – “ensure company has appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise those risks and uses them”
Prioritising funds for a sports stadium would not be a defence.
Ask any small business (easy target) slapped with instant fines for incorrect scaffold or any commercial truck driver who receive huge fines for safety issues.
If ever the law should be applied it is in this case. WorkSafe needs to send a clear message to troughers who love sitting on boards under the safety of Council always backed up by the ratepayer.

Alex Brown
2016/12/22 at 12:51 pm
Penalty for the Directors – 5 years imprisonment, $600k fine.
So our lawmakers also intended it be taken very seriously.

█ 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: googlesnipers.org – topsecret1

DCC rates increase, despicable 3.8%

### dunedintv.co.nz June 29, 2015 – 6:09pm
DCC to raise rates for the coming financial year
A rates rise is being implemented by the city council for the coming financial year. The council’s just adopted its long term plan, which sets out rates. That’s resulting in a 3.8% increase for the 2015/16 financial year, starting on Wednesday. The council previously set itself a 3% limit on annual rates increases, but big ticket items like the proposed Mosgiel swimming pool have put pressure on councillors.
Ch39 Link [no video available]

****

### ODT Online Mon, 29 Jun 2015
Long term plan to be decided
By David Loughrey
The Dunedin City Council will sit today to decide on a long term plan that should result in a 3.8% rates rise when rates are set for the next financial year. What Mayor Dave Cull called “a bloody big agenda” will include debate on the Government’s Remuneration Authority review of councillors’ pay, under which Mr Cull’s pay will rise in the new financial year by 2.9% to $150,150, and councillors’ up 7.3% to $54,500.
Read more

—

█ Agenda – Council – 29/06/2015 (PDF, 124.3 KB)

█ Report – Council – 29/06/2015 (PDF, 1.2 MB)
Setting of Rates for 2015/16 Financial Year

█ Report – Council – 29/06/2015 (PDF, 96.4 KB)
Adoption of the 2015/16 – 2024/25 Long Term Plan

█ Report – Council – 29/06/2015 (PDF, 6.5 MB)
Adoption of the 2015/16 – 2024/25 Long Term Plan – Introduction, Sections 1 and 2

█ Report – Council – 29/06/2015 (PDF, 14.6 MB)
Adoption of the 2015/16 – 2024/25 Long Term Plan – Sections 3 – 7

█ Report – Council – 29/06/2015 (PDF, 421.8 KB)
Management Report on the Audit of the LTP Consultation Document

█ Other Council Reports

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC rates 2010/11

### ODT Online Tue, 22 Jun 2010
Overall increase of 5.5% as council sets rates
The Dunedin City Council’s rates were officially set for the year yesterday, with a 5.5% overall increase.

The city had always managed its debt “very, very competently”.
-Richard Walls

Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

D Scene – “hoping the stadium roof provides good shelter for the city”

### D Scene 27-1-10 (page 2)
Looking into stadiums – for research
By Mike Houlahan, editor
As you read this, I will be in Melbourne checking out roofed stadiums.
{continues}

Ratepayers may bear cost (page 4)
By Michelle Sutton
Dunedin’s ratepayers in future years have been eyed up to shoulder a larger chunk of city costs. At last Thursday’s Dunedin City Council meeting, depreciation costs for water and waste was suggested to be deferred in order to reduce rates in 2010-11. Cr Noone was wary of the impact deferring 100 per cent depreciation would have on future years, and young ratepayers.
{continues}

Rates plan under fire (page 4)
By Wilma McCorkindale
Head of one of Dunedin’s foremost charitable organisations, Gillian Bremner, believes Dunedin City Council should have considered the impact of the recession sooner. D Scene asked Bremner, chief executive of Presbyterian Support Otago, for her views on the affordability of a rates rise for Dunedinites.
{continues}

Register to read D Scene online at http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

Support there Brown says (page 5)
By Wilma McCorkindale
A Dunedin City councillor who this week called for a report into deferring three large developments says supporters are stopping him in the street. Syd Brown called for the report from council managers into the implications of deferring developments at the Dunedin Town Hall, the Otago Settlers Museum, and the Regent Theatre to reduce this year’s rate hike.
{continues}

****

Talk: Dunedin on Dunedin (page 11)
Your say: Letters to the editor

Stadium veil of secrecy
By Peter Attwooll, Dunedin
CST / DVML Chief Executive, David Davies, refuses to show D Scene stadium construction drawings with stand dimensions and rows. (D Scene 20.1.10) Yet they hotly dispute Dr Rob Hamlin’s figures showing a scaled-down stadium, given his sighting of the latest plans, at the Stadium Open Day a number of weeks ago.
{continues}

Annual Plan
By KJ Hale, St Kilda
In regards to the financial problems that our mayor and his councillors are presently trying hard to address. It is becoming quite obvious that what the majority of ratepayers including business people and academics predicted is now a reality.
{continues}

Lovelock Avenue
By Calvin Oaten, Pine Hill
Cr Michael Guest, at the council budget forum made the surprising comment that there were “still at least 600 residents in the Opoho area strongly opposed to the plan to remove Lovelock Avenue from the Gardens precinct”.
{continues}

****

Details: The finer points (pages 12-13)
Sports academy sets bar high
In a quiet corner of Logan Park, some of New Zealand’s top athletes and coaches are honing their skills. Mike Houlahan tours the South Island Academy of Sport.
{continues}

Game: Beyond the scoreboard (page 20)
Hoping for a good 2010 team
By Mike Houlahan
The Highlanders have to learn from their mistakes if they are to be a force in this year’s Super 14, flanker Alando Soakai says.
{continues}

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC Annual Plan: classic comment at ODT Online

Libraries, or rugby and a stadium – the sweetest of damned comparisons.

### ODT Online Sun, 24/01/2010 – 12:01pm.
Comment by kkeogh on DCC priorities
The Highlanders and Otago rugby teams show alarming reductions in home attendances, which I estimate would be down to around 50,000 total at Carisbrook for a season. For their efforts they get a quarter billion stadium built for them. Cont…
Read full comment

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC Annual Plan, arise the told-you-so’s

Blame attaches to the decision to fund the Stadium for creating the pressure on council finances.

### ODT Online Sat, 23 Jan 2010
Deferrals could have high cost
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council faces a double whammy of lost revenue and community anger – at least from some sectors – if it defers some or all of a list of major capital projects in an effort to save money. The proposal to consider staging or deferring work on planned upgrades of the Regent Theatre, Otago Settlers Museum and the Town Hall/Dunedin Centre was raised by deputy mayor Syd Brown during Thursday’s council pre-draft annual plan meeting.
Read more

****

### ODT Online Sat, 23 Jan 2010
Deferring depreciation saving for council
By David Loughrey and Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council has managed to wring some money from its budgets using a method it has been using for some time – deferring its spending on depreciation. Since 1992, councils have been required by Audit New Zealand to list all assets on their books and set aside depreciation; an amount to maintain them and pay for their eventual replacement.
Read more

Other stories:
Cuts likely to hit libraries
Road decision long way off
On the trail of Lovelock
Last chance for Lovelock Ave opponents

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC chief executive responds to ODT editorial

### ODT Online Fri, 22 Jan 2010
Harland attacks ‘offensive’ media commentary
The Dunedin City Council annual plan meeting began with finger-pointing yesterday, when council chief executive Jim Harland launched an attack on the media.

Mr Harland devoted his address to attacking an “offensive” Otago Daily Times editorial published on Wednesday. The opinion piece, entitled “Annual plan sham”, criticised the council for being “as profligate as any in the city’s history”, questioned the value of the annual plan process and queried senior managers’ motivation to “decrease the size of their empires”.

Read more

20.1.10 ODT sounds the warning!

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC Annual Plan dilemmas

### ODT Online Fri, 22 Jan 2010
Plea to defer city projects
By Chris Morris
Three of the most expensive capital projects planned by the Dunedin City Council, together costing tens of millions of dollars, could be temporarily shelved in an effort to ease the burden on ratepayers. The idea to defer planned work on the Otago Settlers Museum, the Town Hall-Dunedin Centre and the Regent Theatre was raised by deputy mayor Syd Brown during yesterday’s pre-draft annual plan meeting.

A report on changes to stadium funding for the Forsyth Barr Stadium and Dunedin Venues Management Ltd, the company tasked with running the venue, would also be presented to the [council’s February 1] meeting, Mayor Peter Chin confirmed.

Read more

****

### ODT Online Fri, 22 Jan 2010
Lovelock Ave realignment plan queried
By Chris Morris
The future of Dunedin’s Lovelock Ave realignment appears to have been thrown wide open, after serious doubts emerged among some councillors at yesterday’s annual plan meeting.

Cr Bezett said if residents got organised the way Judith Medlicott and Harrop St extension opponents had, they might be able to stop the [realignment] plan.

Read more

Other stories:
Lower Octagon initiative fails to impress council
Request for fairer rent rise
Waste money back
City CCTV network still some time away
Redevelopment still being planned
Approval to consult on changes

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

ODT sounds the warning!

Ah, prudence…

### ODT Online Wed, 20 Jan 2010
Editorial: Annual plan sham
After 50 hours of annual plan meetings last year, the Dunedin City Council managed to achieve a reduced rate increase for the following financial year of a mere .9% down from an anticipated 7.8%. Ratepayers, anxiously observing this week’s commencement of the annual plan process, ought not on this record to expect a great deal from a council which has been as profligate as any in the city’s history.

The draft at the moment proposes an increase in rates for the next financial year of 7.3% – considerably more than the annual rate of inflation.

Read more

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

City councillors plump for 7% rates increase

UPDATED

Channel 9 News

After long deliberations the Dunedin City Council has decided on a 7% annual rates increase.

Attracting some debate, the council has also accepted the Long Term Council Community Plan 2009/10 to 2018/19.

ODT will have full coverage tomorrow.

****

ODT Online Tue, 23 Jun 2009
DCC lifts rates by 7%
By David Loughrey

Dunedin’s rates were finally set yesterday, with a 7% rise. Mayor Peter Chin told a short meeting for that purpose it was the end of a long process of “decisions, debate, deliberation and recommendation”.

The meeting also voted to proceed with a plan for changes to representation in the city, beginning a process to possibly put in place a new 11-councillor super ward, but not before another debate on the issue.
Read more

Eckhoff: ORC is "not a subsidiary of the DCC".

The stadium will be funded by borrowings, to be repaid over 15 years by the ratepayer…

### ODT Online Thu, 18 Jun 2009
Opinion
Change site and save our money
By Gerrard Eckhoff

The Otago Regional Council is about to increase its rate take for 2009-10. Gerrard Eckhoff suggests the rises are unsustainable. On the 24th of this month, the Otago Regional Council is set to increase the actual rate take by 35% for 2009-10.
Read more

• Gerrard Eckhoff is an Otago regional councillor.

DCC and ORC rates – DROP the stadium, and more

UPDATED

Rate increase running beyond the rate of inflation…a bunch of city councillors show no mercy to citizens.

### ODT Online Fri, 5 Jun 2009
Editorial
Incisive leadership

The sight of Dunedin city councillors wallowing in crocodile tears on Tuesday as they completed what is likely to be their last debate on the rates rise for the coming financial year was disappointing and disturbing.
Read more