For some background, here is a stuff article from 2013 on the Collmog Bridge at Otaki — editors
Open letter to KCDC Councilors
Due to the late and unexplained cancellation of the Regulatory Management Committee meeting after our advisement that we wished to attend to raise our concerns and complaint of our current treatment by KCDC staff, we provide copies of what we wanted to say [below].
Bullying, persecution,vexatious, retaliatory and threatening behaviour, unreasonable, inconsistent bias, non-compliance with the KCDC’s own policies, misleading and deceptive presentation of legislation, withholding of information, are all words that sum up the KCDC treatment of us.
Having purchased a property — subject to KCDC compliance sign off — and title issuing, we have been victims of a self protecting bureaucracy that is not prepared to see JUSTICE done, nor the correction of their past incompetence and complete lack of oversight.
The Mayor says, “It’s the putting right that counts” — Yeah, right!
KCDC Propaganda says they are, “Caring, Dynamic and Effective” — Yeah, right!
The CEO [Dougherty] has even told us it is all our fault. What!
We came to your RMC meeting at the start of this triennium where the CEO
stated that council had already been lenient for the previous 18 months
since the Collmog Bridge was condemned and proven to have never been
compliant(!) from the day it was built.
Councilors called for an independent external inquiry. Staff decided that was not necessary. We wonder why.
Yet here we still are with no access to our property, and the Council is now
threatening a $200,000 fine and demolition of the temporary sheds we have
built to store construction materials, due only to the fact that the Council
has not cared about our plight, not been ‘dynamic’ in their approach and has been anything but ‘effective’ in putting right this injustice.
The KCDC has not even carried out the required inspections, monitored, or
as claimed, done any ‘ongoing management’ for the past 2 years, has no plan
moving forward when the consent expires on 28 August 2016, and is stating
it will just give the developer further extensions of time — disgusting!
We make a formal objection to contemplation of any time extension and
refer you to your previous resolution of more than 2 years ago.
“That the Committee requested that Council review progress after 4
months (31 May) to ensure a satisfactory building consent had been
submitted and if satisfactory progress was not made by 30 September 2014, then Council would consider approaching the Environment Court.”
When is enough, enough, and when will this Council apply ‘Natural
Justice’ to this situation, and utilize the legislative powers it holds
to mitigate?
And now staff have precluded us from putting our concerns to you, and
further are refusing to even put this matter on the agenda for the last
meeting of this Triennium, even though we have patiently waited for the
extended and unreasonable 2 year deadline to complete (28 August 2016)
The fact that the ‘Machine’ does not want any bad publicity and the Chair
of this Committee wants everyone to think that she has been Caring, Dynamic
and Effective during her reign at council, we would like to point out that
her ongoing lack of oversight of the Collmog Bridge rectification has
been appalling.
.The photo is an example of the standard of workmanship being
undertaken with the alleged repairs, although no work has been done for
over 16 months: ‘unsupervised cowboys’ comes to mind: would you
drive over a bridge with this sort of welding?!
‘Regulatory Management’ one would assume entails following
Regulations and the act of Management; but alas not at the KCDC.
Gary & Lynne Hertnon
