The stark figures in paragraphs 11 and 12: out of total operating expenditure of $51.2 million, $24.5 million went to consultants and $876,593 to lawyers in just one year! Note that the highly paid Tim Power was employed internally by former council boss Mr Dougherty from 2012 until the beginning of this year when his status was changed to “external” on contract, so the true amount spent on lawyers was even more. What Nicola Tutt does other than “managing the relationship with external legal advisors” and why she is needed for that should be asked.
Another startling figure is the number of staff resignations in the past year: 68 out of 322 full time equivalent employees (as at 30 June 2019), and resulted in $161,225 of cost for recruiting new staff!
Do the Mayor and present councilors care about any of this? It’s apparent they don’t — so time to replace them all with new blood.
I would also ask if the reason for the change to the lawyers contract was to meet a legal requirement. Ie independent audit work. Not sure I would trust internal legal team to manage council legal affairs all on their own without exposing ratepayers to more risk and costs if they get it wrong. Also was this because council no longer needed him full time? I.e. actually a cost saving
When you consider what Mr Power’s hourly rate is, it won’t be a cost saving. At a council meeting in June he sat on the side bench and spent most of the time flicking through social media feeds on his smartphone. How much did that cost Ratepayers? $1,000?
Current elected members have voted for a review to take place, proactive I say!
It was an initiative of Cr Cootes of Otaki in late May, but just the previous month he was warning in his column in the Otaki Mail about people who say this is a priority: “Don’t accept answers like ‘reduce spending’ — reduce spending from where? Or ‘cutting staff numbers’ — tell me what roles are surplus to requirements?” he said. The reasons for his U turn on this are the subject of speculation.
I’m assuming the contracts include out roaring contractors? That would account for a large chunk of the spend. As a previous post has pointed out, the terms of reference for the review include looking at value for money.