In 2016 The area around the Point Chevalier Library was landscaped. I was astounded to hear that the Council had paid over $818,000 for this small job of planting, paving and installation of a couple of benches. I wrote to council and was provided with the following document from Auckland Council.
19 May 2016 Mr. Martin Fraser Sent via email: martin@martinfraser.co.nz]
Dear Mr Fraser Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 Re: Pt Chevalier library landscaping project I refer to your email, which we received on 6 May 2016, requesting information regarding the Pt Chevalier library area landscaping project. Our response to your questions is below: 1. What price Bespoke Architects tendered to get the Point Chevalier Job and how many other companies tendered ? This was tendered as a design and build contract. HEB Construction's tender was selected, cased on a design and build fee of $700,000, which included Bespoke's fee as part of their team and overall fee. 2. How many construction companies tendered on this job? This was a publically notified open tender and 3 tenders were submitted for this project. 3. What components made up the total cost of$818,000. E.g lawyers, consultants, fact finding missions etc? The breakdown of the total project cost is as follows:
Design and construction $700,000
Construction contingency $59,000
Parking study $4,000
Adshell bus stop relocation $10,000
Auckland Transport Engineer to Contract administration $45,000
4. Which Council official signs off on these contracts when they are awarded ? This tender was approved by Warren Ure, Manager Sourcing, Procurement, Auckland Council and John Dunshea, Manager City Transformation, Chief Planning Office, Auckland Council. Both John and Warren are the signatories of the Supplier Recommendation Report. Official Information Request No. 9000142472 (Please quote this in any correspondence) Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 | aucklandcouncil.govt.nz | Ph 09 301 0101
I trust the information provided will satisfy your requirements, however should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the Council on (09) 301 0101 or email enquiry@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz. Should you believe Auckland Council has not responded appropriately to your request, you have the right by way of complaint, under section 27(3) of the LGOIMA, to apply to the Ombudsmen to seek an investigation and review of the decision. Yours sincerely Isis van Geenen Privacy and LGOIMA Business Partner Auckland Council Private Bag 92300, Auckland 1142 | aucklandcouncil.govt.nz | Ph 09 301 0101 9000142472
(cont'd) The real shocker was the $45,000 for the Auckland City Transport Engineer to "administer" this very small project. I spoke to 2 private contractors who were also astounded, guessing the price of the whole job as about $200,000 at the very most.
This is an example of what is holding New Zealand back. The problem is not just in Auckland. The Margaret Mahy playground in Christchurch (A Christchurch City Council project) cost $20 million and toilet blocks at tourist locations routinely cost $500,000 each including "design".
City Managers are creating army's of officials, planners, and spin doctors, un-accountable to ratepayers. The ballooning staff numbers are paid with ever increasing fees (see above document).
The recent government decision to allow building of 30sq m or less be built without consent is a really good first step in releasing the handbrake that councils have on the energy and creativity of people just trying to house their families and make a living. We need more of the same.
Brisbane City (Bigger than Auckland) has 8000 staff and 149 are paid more than A$100,000.
Auckland City (inc CCO's) has 11,893 staff and 2322 are paid more than $100,000
it would seem that working for a City Council is the only place where a Kiwi can be paid more in NZ than in Australia !
see full article in NZ Herald https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11929637
More staff, more meetings, more overlapping responsibilities, higher overheads and those numbers are not counting all the consultants who end up doing much of the work.
More money spent on admin means much less left over to build our infrastructure.
Recent Auckland City blowouts
I.T. Project 100 million over budget
14Million blowout on Aotea Square
13 Million blowout on Quay St redevelopment
45 million for 234 Communications staff
30 Million + to re-clad Council Office tower (Council failed to do proper due diligence before buying this "bargain".
As long as this culture of largesse and incompetence is tolerated and funded we will get more of the same. The Council stands in the way of excellence and vision and stumbles from cock up to cock up!
Agree entirely with Martin Auckland Council a financial disaster for years, the salaries of executives when many no jobs now lost families suffering. A super city one council said, with how many rate payers , loss of revenue, obviously a stratigic plan required more vision. While back the School of Architecture young students given a competition to re design Auckland, waterfront was a brilliant low cost concept, with also rising sea and land temperatures taken into consideration. So far we have seen a wharf extension, for America’s Cup ? As a Senior person, will not appreciate a high rate increase. Watercare their increase substantial,
Auckland Council is wanting to raise rates again. 7 of its staff are paid more than Prime Minister, 86 staff are paid more than $250,000.
$275,000 paid to Art gallery manager. $775,000 paid to Manager of Watercare. Waste and spending out of control. 25 million spent on
900metres of Franklin Rd.
Give hard working business owners a break. If $25 million can be spent on 900 metres of Franklin Rd (a 2 lane street) we are dreaming about getting the city ready for the decades ahead if every council managed job is so out of control.
(Pay figures Auckland Ratepayers Alliance Rich List)
These self serving "Empires" are out of control and are not just limited to Auckland.
Every one of these Managers maintains their position and budget by finding new ways of bilking the ratepayers for fees while contracting out their own managerial tasks to contracting firms such as PWC. The ratepayers pay twice for the same job. The manager and the company they contract to do the managerial work.
A vision for the future must include defunding these empires, cutting red tape, so that hard working Kiwis can just get on with the job. The removal of the need for council consents for buildings less than 30sq metres was a fantastic start.
You forgot to use the words , incompetent , useless , and a complete waste of space and oxygen - Best solution shut the place down , interim solution , all PR people are terminated and Panaku is disbanded . Maximum salary for anybody "working " there is 200k and all " team leaders" on a max of 100k -Anybody below them is on 70k max - They are supposed to be "civil" and "servants"
Money saved returned to ratepayers
After researching more I found that the least expensive contractor is more often than not the successful contractor as "best design" is subjective and the council will pay a fortune for "good design". Also the Council has "relationship building meetings" with invited contractors and contracts are shared between different companies so that all can get an opportunity to do these jobs. The process is far from transparent and is very open to corrupt process as has already happened in Auckland City Transport.
See below article from NZ Herald regarding Corruption within Auckland Council
Corruption at council widespread, says Crown 28 Sep, 2016 5:00am 3 minutes to read Roading contractor Stephen Borlase and former senior Auckland Transport manager Murray Noone pleaded not guilty to charges of corrupting a public official by bribery. Photo / Doug Sherring By: Matt NippertBusiness investigations reporter, NZ Herald matt.nippert@nzherald.co.nz @MattNippert A rare prosecution of alleged corruption in the New Zealand public sector has heard of a claimed cascading culture of bribery that saw a senior Auckland Council manager collect $1.1 million and his subordinates taken for a $3000 lunch. The alleged gratuities extended to honeymoon expenses in Florida for the daughter of a senior council staffer, dozens of overseas trips, and regular monthly payments of about $8000 into the pocket of former Auckland Transport senior manager Murray Noone by roading contractor Stephen Borlase. Noone and Borlase yesterday pleaded not guilty to charges of corrupting a public official by bribery. Borlase, whose road maintenance firm Projenz is at the heart of the case, also declared himself not guilty of charges he inflated invoices. Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey said part of the Crown's case is that Borlase arranged matters so the Rodney District Council - and later Auckland Transport - effectively paid to have their own staff bribed. The case has drawn considerable interest from white-collar crime watchers as it wound through the system during the past three years, particularly given New Zealand's hitherto almost-spotless reputation for having an incorrupt public sector. Yesterday, at the start of what is expected to be a seven-week trial at the High Court at Auckland, fringe mayoral candidate and self-styled anti-corruption campaigner Penny Bright sat for a while in the front row of the public gallery. Dickey outlined what he described as a pattern of transactions: Projenz laying on expensive hospitality for Noone's staff; Noone invoicing Projenz for hundreds of thousands of dollars in allegedly sham "consultation" fees; and progressive larger contracts, first from Rodney District Council then Auckland Transport, being sent Projenz's way. At the start of the period of alleged offending in 2005 Projenz was said to be barely breaking even on revenues of $1.2m. By 2012, just before the relationship was exposed and terminated, the small company was making annual profits of $3.8m from sales - almost all from contracts with Auckland Transport overseen by Noone and his team - of $8.2m. Dickey said the Court would hear from nearly a dozen former staffers from RDC and Auckland Transport who would show - sometimes reluctantly as they were themselves implicated - that corruption was widespread and had become deep-rooted. "The extensive provision of benefits to staff at all levels of their teams resulted in a culture where corruption flourished and was normalised, with no questions asked," he said. "There was very little chance of disgruntled or principled employees speaking out as everyone was being 'looked after' or was compromised." Dickey outlined a range of former council bosses, from the former RDC and Auckland Transport, who would testify, as well as a forensic accountant who pieced together Projenz's spending and found the bribes were tagged as the cost of doing business with the council. Barrie George, Noone's deputy at both the RDC and Auckland Transport, is also scheduled as prosecution witness. Originally charged as a trio, George pleaded guilty on the eve of trial to receiving $103,580 in bribes from Borlase - mostly comprised including 20 overseas holidays for himself and his family - and was sentenced to ten months home detention. The trial, before Justice Sally Fitzgerald alone, continues.
Auckland Council is without a doubt wasteful, overstaffed and overpaid at upper levels. We are naive to believe that NZ is immune to corrupt practice, especially where there is lax or no oversight and big sums of public money involved in Public Contracts.
We need to have a vision where Government and Council Contracts are transparent. We will then get much more essential work done for the same taxpayer dollar.
Thanks Martin. You say the shock was the $45,000 fee but also that other contractors had estimated the main job at $200k. So why the discrepency between them and the 3 tenders from some pretty reputable contractors (for $700k)? Is there more to the job perhaps than first thought to explain that big difference?