"Lie back and think of England" - Aurora's at it again

 

 

Big salary hikes at under-performing Dunedin council-owned company 

A council-owned lines company has been described as a "train-wreck" as its costs and salaries balloon – but there may still be worse to come for customers.

It has been three years since Richard Healey turned whistleblower, exposing the perilous state of power poles and ageing infrastructure across Otago.   

------(continued after Richard Healey's facebk comment)....

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/116156058/big-salary-hikes-at-underperforming-dunedin-councilowned-company

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Richard Healey:

The price rise will be phased in over time - but stay in place forever. It's huge. The Commerce Commision and the politicians don't want to scare you too much - they hope you'll sleepwalk into paying double your current line charges. If you are in Alexandra or Wanaka you will likely end up paying about a thousand dollars a year more for your electricity - at a time when other companies are being told to REDUCE their prices by as much as 30%
How quickly will the rises come? The Commerce Commision have already signaled rises that total 52% over four years, 61% over five - but that's BEFORE the extra price rises that Aurora have applied for.

The AVERAGE salary increase at Aurora in the last year was 18.8%.
All this to fix a situation that Aurora board chair Steve Thompson described as a problem of perception!! The same guy who chairs the Board of Alpine Energy - the company that the Timaru newspapers tell is is under investigation by the office of the Auditor General.

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 Big salary hikes at under-performing Dunedin council-owned company

Hamish McNeilly13:08, Sep 29 2019

..........After going public and quitting his job at Delta, the Dunedin City Council-owned company has undergone significant changes of its own, including being split between Delta Utility Services and Aurora Energy and the announcement of a $748 million investment plan.

But the upgrade plan, including the number of poles Aurora has replaced or reinforced since last year, has "drastically dropped ... [and] the whole programme is in utter disarray", Healey said......

....The company's annual report – released last week by Dunedin City Holdings Ltd, an investment company owned by the council – revealed 48 employees were paid more than $100,000 a year,  including six paid more than $200,000.......

  

......Compounding the company's financial woes was that Aurora recorded a net operating loss of $10.9m, including a $5m provision for potential financial penalties prompted by a Commerce Commission investigation.

The investigation was for breaching regulated quality standards in 2016 and 2017.

 

Aurora Energy chief executive Richard Fletcher says the company had to increase wages to "employ and retain highly skilled and qualified specialists".

Aurora Energy's Annual Report is out (and it's a shocker)

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  Richard Healey

  12 hrs ·

  Aurora Energy's Annual Report is out.
  Bet not many people out there can say this! I work for a company that just made a record loss - and breached Commerce Commision performance criteria by 300% - but our remuneration increased, on average, by 18.8% for the year!! Glad someone's doing well out of this trainwreck.
  If you work for Aurora and didn't get an 18% pay rise you might be interested in this:
  Although staff numbers only increased by 2 (to 137 )this year, 48 of you earned over $100,000. Richard Fletcher was rewarded to the tune of $510,000 for steering the company to a record breaking operating loss that was only matched by equally stunning outage figures . Total increase in staff remuneration was close to $2,200,000 - not bad split 137 ways.
  

  I guess that puts you in the $300,000 bracket Glen Coates, congrats. At a time when reliability should be improving, because of the large renewal program, it is actually heading down the toilet. Unplanned outages alone this year were higher than ALL outages in years 2015 and 2017. Outage minutes exceded the Commerce Commision limits by close to 300%! That's going to look good on your CV.
  It won't surprise you to find that Aurora is now one of the least reliable networks in New Zealand and has (once again) exceeded the reliability limits set by the commerce commision by a huge margin. They however pat themselves on the back for "achieving" the target that they set for themselves - while at the same time storing away $5,000,000 in anticipation of the fine they will be shortly paying as a result of their appalling performance!!
  Wait for the next installment: How to turn a hundred years of profit into a multi-million dollar loss overnight.
  You can read the whole sad saga for yourself here:
  https://1drv.ms/b/s!AlwusqX1G1GsunhKKmJ2ZSerkL9J?e=iUHEsr

  

  
  

  Comments

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    Pete Pete Rhodes Our forefathers would be turning in their grave - and yet train crash still is allowed to carry on with no accountability

    
    

  
  

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    Richard Healey Pete Pete Rhodes like me you will remember when the network had some of the best reliability figures not only in New Zealand, but in the world. How in hell do you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on renewal and consistently INCREASE unplanned outage minutes?

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  John Evans Owned by the ratepayers of Dunedin. Run by the appointees of the past council. Dunedins greatest financial disaster ever unravelling. What should have been a huge city asset, ruined by poor weak management and strident demands of the current and former councillors and Mayor to continue to forgo maintenance to pay down debt of the spendthrift council.

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  Richard Healey John Evans in a nutshell - yes.
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  Alan Garrick Well done Cull and co!! Imagine what he could achieve in the DHB......they already pretty advanced in spending and not delivering....watch this space?

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  Richard Healey Alan Garrick don't. If i think about that I'll end up using psych services and with Cull in charge that's not going to end well..

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  Lindsay Harris The DCC Electricitu Department used to have a brilliant maintenance programme my Dad designed, built and maintained many of the substations in Dunedin the last being South City , and also ran the workshops ALL on paper. He also helped design the data logger systems and built two of the Waipori dams ....such a shame when he retired he was replaced by two blokes with computers..

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  Dave Hanan It is really important to get greater control over this company as a Council. We need substantially better value for money and accountability from Aurora. Aurora should be stacked with engineering expertise and be way less corporate. The board (which has no engineering expertise) and the CEO needs to go. The result is a disgrace. The company needs a comprehensive overhaul.

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  Richard Healey Dave Hanan amen

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  Chris Sargent OMG.
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  Russell Garbutt None of this is a surprise of course. The company is filled with corporate speaking be-suited people who could well fit into the Fonterra model. From a good profit making entity staffed by good engineers it has become nothing other than what many see as a huge fraud. Just why Dunedin ratepayers have not taken more direct action to force accountability is a puzzle. From DCC Councillors acting as directors to employees who gouged the business, it seems amazing to me that the real shareholders - the ratepayers - have not gone down the path of demanding accountability. All that remains now is a mountain of debt and a network that is becoming less valuable as an asset. And therein lies a problem. Even though a lines company is virtually a money making machine, in this case I can't think of anyone that would buy this liability. And yet no ratepayer revolt - or even questions asked by the ODT.

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  Richard Healey Russell, the comparison with Fonterra is very apt. Christine Garey, when questioned about Aurora's first ever in more than 100 years of trading loss, said - well what do you expect, they have the huge cost of a rebuild to cover. I'm afraid she clearly can't read a balance sheet.
  
  They have been convering those costs since 2016 - without making a loss. In fact they did LESS work on rebuild last year than in any of the previous three and they UNDERSPENT the capex budget. The losses are OPERATIONAL losses, the rebuild is funded out of CAPITAL EXPENDITURE .
  
  The losses are the result of massive overspend to run the company NOT to replace the asset. $5M of the overrun is to go towards fines. The action the commerce commission is taking against the company relates to their failure to meet reliability targets many years ago. They have consistently failed to meet those targets, by much greater margins, in every year since that first breach. Nothing has been set aside for those years - clearly the Commission have come to a cosy understanding with Aurora.
  
  New in this year's accounts are a couple of million dollars in lease costs. Where did they come from? What do they relate to? There are a few things that have become apparent from these accounts.... watch this space.

Candidates: conclusions of the craft beer consultants

Elections are the time for careful fact gathering and mature consideration. Our mission : to bring the wisdom from the watering holes to Whatiffers. Next episode will be the new contenders, the unknowns. That's if enough people know anything about them worth repeating.

TOP PICKS

Lee Vandervis. We need him. Has a vital role. The pick for mayor. 

Could have saved the city a small fortune if Cull hadn't been such a bitch, shutting him as far out of council as an elected councillor can be. No committees (well, it's easier if there is nobody asking the hard questions and demanding accountability, isn't it!) and then there was the South Dunedin flood, most glaring example of fingers in ears lalalalala. 

Caused by sea level rise (sick joke). Not so, as Lee had noticed taking his dog for walks regularly. The sucker truck had been missing though paid for and the mud traps were full of mud, crud and urban debris, in other words the severity of the South Dunedin flood was largely created by DCC taking its eye off the ball and Vandervis getting bitch-slapped for trying to get necessary things done. Too many examples of how his practicality and intelligence were nuked by the less able ex-TV personality's resentment.

Mike Lord. Steady performer. Has principles. Lightens spirits, says a seasoned council-watcher. 

-----------------------------------------

MIDDLE RANK

Jim O’Malley. Good brain. Doesn’t translate to good use of other people’s money (think taking Ocho to the brink of insolvency in short order. Could come right. Has a long history of overcoming difficulties using intelligence and mental flexibility to find work-arounds from a different angle

Andrew Whiley. Good in spots. Inconsistent. Struggles to be relevant outside drilling for gas and the economic development that could bring.

Doug Hall. Great contributions when he does become involved, which is not often enough. Would be interesting to see him chair of something. Underestimated because he's seldom in the media. Not one of Cull and Benson-Pope's flock.

Marie Laufiso. Improving. Finding her voice. Good to have as a perspective around the table but we don’t need too many of those views. (Nor any fewer for that matter.)

-----------------------------

AND BRINGING UP THE REAR...

Damien Newell. Once over lightly. Doesn’t add much to the DCC.

Christine Garey. Doesn’t seem to have much point. Poor listener. Poor speaker too, the words come out just fine, pity about the skinny content.

Aaron Hawkins. Talks well. Unfortunately all ideas about ever increasing rates. Prepared to override democracy any old time (Think $1 mill on climate change not in annual plan, supporting staff not doing report on local body amalgamation.) 

Notice he has pulled back from greenishness in the media in recent months, attempting to present a non-aligned persona.

Student politician who has never strayed far from the "Student Ambition Path To Career Politician". Top marks for consistency, I suppose.

David Benson-Pope. Great at getting his own way. Prepared to override any attempts at democracy (see Aaron above and other issues). A bully and unpleasant to be near if you don’t agree with him. Discussion about him usually includes the use of tennis balls, and there's always someone who recalls old gossip relating to his (apparently not all that private, if you believe what you've heard) private life which is always good for a laugh.

Chris Staynes. That the ODT still feels the need to put an asterisk beside him as a sitting councillor says it all. If you didn’t know he is a sitting councillor by now don’t vote for him. Even if you knew......  Like, why would you if you're not related?

 

 

Mayoral candidates - Rate them on how they want to rate you

Friday, 20 September 2019

Views on direction a dividing line

By Chris Morris

Big increases in Dunedin City Council rates and debt levels are either the costs of a growing city or an unnecessary extravagance, Dunedin's mayoral candidates say.
But the dividing line between the two camps seems to fall between incumbent councillors, who largely defend the city's current trajectory, and those seeking to replace them, many of whom argue cuts are needed.

The council is forecasting this year's 5.3% rates increase will be followed by others totalling 34% by 2028.
Core debt is also climbing after the council lifted its limit from $285million to $350million, while group debt - including that of council-owned companies - is forecast to increase from $658million to $926.5million by 2022.
The drivers of debt include the rebuild of Aurora's network and the increasing of council capital spending, including on flood alleviation and other major infrastructure projects.

The Bridge to Nowhere

Then there is spending on the more glamorous projects, including $60million for the central city plan upgrade, $20million for the tertiary precinct and another $20million for a new bridge to the waterfront.


Crs Jim O'Malley, Christine Garey, Aaron Hawkins, Rachel Elder and Andrew Whiley - who are all vying to be mayor - said they were largely comfortable with the council's spending plans.
.........
[Andrew Whiley] opposed the planned $60million central city upgrade, when a smaller $35million spend could reinstate an attractive surface environment, and wanted to cap rates increases at 3%.
Cr Lee Vandervis ... focus on core infrastructure and defer other non-essential projects.............

 Mayoral candidates from outside the council leaned more towards spending restraint.
They included Carmen Houlahan, Malcolm Moncrief-Spittle, Bob Barlin and Mandy Mayhem-Bullock, who are all arguing for a greater focus on core infrastructure before other projects.
 https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/views-direction-dividing-line

Sea level at Sydney Harbour

Cable car project is making good progress

Dunedin steampunks feel right at home on restored cable cars in Mornington. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON

Stunning effort. From the start this has been a grand vision which unlike too many of the over-talked under-thought "Vision$$$" was carefully assessed from all angles before being presented to Dunedin people. Without hype, without extravagant promises of profits flowing into every corner of town, Phil Cole told us how he thought it could be done. Step by step, each step providing a usable asset that could stand alone till money was raised for the next step.

 From http://www.dunedincablecars.co.nz/history.html :
 The initial impetus for the present project came after the launch of Don McAra’s book Hold Very Tight Please! in 2007; Don has been instrumental in the restoration and return of the cars now in Dunedin. A website from 2008 documents progress at that time, and also provides a gallery of Don's paintings:
 dunedintrams.co.nz/donsbook.htm. 
In 2013, the cause was taken up by Phil Cole, who brought engineering expertise to the table; tragically, he died, at the peak of his career, in 2014.
The reins were then picked up by Neville Jemmett, who has been the driving force behind the building of the Interim Cable Car Building, and the bringing to Dunedin of the cable cars previously stored (and lovingly restored) at Ferrymead. 







***

From the ODT, full article  https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/cable-car-house-opens-mornington

Saturday, 31 August 2019

Cable car house opens in Mornington

By Jono Edwards

 

Hundreds of spectators turned out in Mornington this morning to see historic Dunedin cable cars emerge from their new home.

• Cable car book offers glimpse of yesteryear 

Bagpipers set the tone as two restored cable cars - Roslyn number 95 and Mornington trailer 111 - were rolled out of the shed for the crowd to look through.
It also marked the beginning of fundraising for the next stage of the project, expected to cost $6 million to 8 million.

Dunedin Heritage Light Rail Trust chairman Neville Jemmett (left) and member Stuart Payne, both of Dunedin, display an artist’s impression of the proposed cable car house and museum building in Mornington Park. PHOTO: SHAWN MCAVINUE

 

 

Overseas trip worth while! Solution to diabolical Port noise

How about this - not a public-purse jaunt with a bunch of cobbers. Surprised? Shocked? 
Have a little sit-down and a cup of tea. That worked wonders during the Blitz, apparently. 
Let's hope the Maersk chappies do the right thing. 

 

 

 

Sunday, 8 September 2019

Way to silence noisy ships found

By Jessica Wilson

Port Otago’s chief executive has returned from Denmark with a solution to silence noisy ships.
Earlier this year, residents in the area complained about the noise coming from the Rio class ships, which they described as akin to a V8 car idling in their driveway.
Port Otago chief executive Kevin Winders said the solution may be a silencer which would be retro-fitted into the six Rio class ships.
Mr Winders travelled to Copenhagen last month to meet Maersk engineers and said things looked promising....... https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/way-silence-noisy-ships-found

Candidates: Rachel Elder, Malcolm Moncrief-Spittle, Bob Barlin

Rachel Elder

• Age: 63.
• Brought up: Broadlands, Bay of Plenty.
• Occupation: City councillor.
• Council/governance experience: One term.
• Political orientation: No set political view.
• Describe yourself in three words: Commitment, vision and action.

Interview, video:
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/consultation-ending-city-congestion-and-sth-dunedin-issues-are-priorities

Malcolm Moncrief-Spittle

Age: 44.
Brought up: Dunedin.
Occupation: Rare-book seller, part-time student.
Council/governance experience: None; council meeting observer.
Political orientation: Classical liberal.
Describe yourself in three words: Kind, compassionate, scholarly.
Interview, video: 
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/desire-see-lessalarmist-climate-change-response-council

Bob Barlin

Age: 67.
Brought up: Auckland, moved to Dunedin in 2002.
Occupation: Taxi driver, former army soldier/officer, United Nations logistics officer, Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies roles, business owner.
Council/governance experience: NZ Army attendee at Waiouru ward board meetings, 1980s. Chamber of Commerce member in Republic of Georgia.
Political orientation: Independent.
Describe yourself in three words: Happy to serve.
Bob Barlin's resume details a long career of service to others - first with the New Zealand Army, and later while working overseas for the United Nations and Red Cross.

Interview, video:  
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/first-thing-listen-people-then-work-together-change

Dave Cull : Rattling the Chains, pre-election series on OAR FM.

Rattling the Chains: Dave Cull

Dunedin's outgoing mayor Dave Cull fronts up to Ian Telfer about his nine years in the job, the intense workload and his disappointment about not landing a five-star hotel in Episode 1 of Rattling the Chains by Otago Access Radio.

Mayor Cull discusses his decision not to run for the top job again and his campaign to get elected to the Southern District Health Board. Rattling the Chains is a six-week pre-election radio, podcast and video series on OAR FM. Each week, aspiring mayoral candidates will be paired for a half-hour interview discussion live from the OAR FM studio in Dunedin Community House.
They will be questioned on their ideas, their influences, their values, maybe even their favourite music. And most of all, why they want to be the Mayor and wear those chains of office.

ODT profiles: Barbour-Evans, Campbell, Hawkins, Whiley, Seager

Printed interview and video are in the links.

Scout Barbour-Evans

Age: 24.
Occupation: Student.
Brought up: Dunedin.
Political orientation: Former Green Party member, politics haven’t changed.
Council experience: Candidate 2016.
Describe yourself in three words: Smart, compassionate and bold.
 Continued at
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/youngest-mayoral-candidate-focuses-housing-community

Finn Campbell

Age: 27.
Brought up: Dunedin.
Occupation: Unemployed and volunteer.
Council experience: Community representative on the Dunedin City Council’s environment strategy.
Political orientation: Classic left and green.
Describe yourself in three words: Thoughtful, compassionate and caring.
Continued at
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/moving-circular-low-waste-economy-seen-vital-city

Aaron Hawkins

Age: 35.
Brought up: Invercargill, Southland, then Dunedin.
Occupation: City councillor.
Council/governance experience: Two-term councillor, chairman of community and culture committee Refugee Steering Group, Creative Dunedin Partnership, Mayor’s Taskforce for Housing; Dunedin Fringe Arts Trust chairman, former Blue Oyster Arts Trust board member.
Political orientation: Progressive, Green Party candidate.
Describe yourself in three words: Effective, fair, curious.

Continued at
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/strong-track-record-building-political-support

Andrew Whiley

Age: 53.
Brought up: Wellington, moved to Dunedin in 2003.
Occupation: City councillor, business owner, ex-golf professional.
Council/governance experience: Two-term councillor, deputy chairman economic development committee, bylaw hearings chairman, NZPGA board member, Volunteering Otago chairman, Institute of Directors member.
Political orientation: Centre/centre-right.
Describe yourself in three words: Dependable, hard-working, focused.
Continued at

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/central-aim-get-dunedin-moving

 Richard Seager

Age: 57
Brought up: Waikato and the Bay of Plenty
Plenty Political: Left but cynical, more focused on democracy
Council experience: None
Describe yourself in three words: Open-minded, resourceful and dedicated.
 Continued at
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc/more-climate-change-action-cycle-precinct-priority

Cemetery roses "some of rarest breeds in existence"

Sunday, 8 September 2019

Poisoned heritage roses now replaced

 The poisoning of hundreds of heritage roses in a Dunedin cemetery remains a mystery but as a rally to replant nears an end, the celebrations are set to begin.

Heritage Roses Otago committee member Rex Thomson and Southern Heritage Trust trustee Ann Barsby enjoy a cuppa in Northern Cemetery in preparation for the Savoy afternoon tea next week to celebrate the replanting of heritage roses in the cemetery. Photo: Shawn McAvinue

An investigation proved the herbicide used was different from the one used by the Dunedin City Council contractors which worked in the Victorian garden cemetery.
‘‘It’s all very mysterious and unexplained.’’

Northern Cemetery was opened in 1872 and back then tombstones were imported from Italy and ‘‘hellishly expensive’’ so many people planted roses instead.
After waiting for the soil to recover Heritage Roses Otago members replanted about 300 rose plants last winter, and another 70 rose plants this winter.
The replanting was nearly complete and the final 10 plants to be put in cemetery soil would finish the project.

Heritage Roses Otago committee member Rex Thomson, of Saint Leonards, said the replanted roses were some of rarest breeds in existence.

★ The public afternoon tea to celebrate the roses of Northern Cemetery is on at The Savoy in Princes St at 2.30pm on Thursday, September 12. Reservations essential. Call 477-4649.
★ Heritage Roses Otago (HRO) and the Dunedin City Council will celebrate the return of heritage roses to the Northern Cemetery with talks and tours on December 7 and 8.
SHAWN.MCAVINUE@thestar.co.nz

Full article:
https://www.odt.co.nz/rural-life/horticulture/poisoned-heritage-roses-now-replaced

Would-be Dunedin Mayor Malcolm Moncrief-Spittle takes on Auckland Council

• Wednesday, 4 September 2019

  Mayoral hopeful fights for divisive pair's speaking rights

  
  

  A Dunedin mayoral candidate and a University of Auckland lecturer are listed on documents as the two applicants fighting for the speaking rights of two controversial right-wing Canadians in Auckland's High Court this week.

  

   Malcolm Moncrief-Spittle. Photo: Craig Baxter

   

  On the court documents, University of Auckland anaesthesiology lecturer David Cumin is listed as one applicant, would-be Dunedin Mayor, climate change denier, Donald Trump supporter and rare books dealer Malcolm Moncrief-Spittle the other.
  

  
  

  Representing the Free Speech Coalition is the Queen's Counsel Jack Hodder, who was recently snapped up by the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners to oppose changes to the country's gun laws.

   According to Williams, the exercise has cost about $200,000 so far and, if they didn't succeed in the High Court, he said they'd appeal.
  
  The group's claim: Auckland Council broke the law and undermined New Zealand's democracy by stopping alt-right activists Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux from speaking at the council-owned Bruce Mason Centre last July.
  https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/mayoral-hopeful-fights-divisive-pairs-speaking-rights 

Regional council election - article

Please, PLEASE bring all your critical faculties to this election. Bring them out in public now, start discussions, talk to strangers in supermarket checkout queues. Anything to get people involved, interested in voting, telling good or bad stories about their experiences with aspiring City and Regional Council candidates. 

They all tell us why they are the best person for the job. It is our job to search past the public profile so we can vote like responsible grownups. We are - aren't we?

Candidates, you are welcome to contribute to this site. Email whatiffer@gmail.com - unfortunately the "add comment to page" doesn't work.

August 27, 2019

Why you need to pay attention to Regional Council races

Alex Braae | Staff Writer

Among the hundreds of local government races under way, just over a dozen could have an outsize impact on environmental issues. Alex Braae explains why Regional Council elections matter.

....So for voters, the best time to start looking at candidates running for Regional Councils is now. If you have questions for the people seeking to govern the environmental management of the country, ask them is during an election, when they’ll be most keen to talk. More than any other branch of local government, Regional Council decisions can linger long after those making them are gone.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/local-elections/27-08-2019/why-you-need-to-pay-attenhttps://thespinoff.co.nz/local-elections/27-08-2019/why-you-need-to-pay-attention-to-regional-council-races/tion-to-regional-council-races/