The whole ODT article hasn't a word about WHY they are striking. Perhaps this is the achievement of April Strategy - see Zzhuzhing up the culture, first SDHB now OU - "improving the culture". By decreasing visibility? I had to find the reason at Stuff.co.nz
....APEX Southland MIT delegate Shahn Smith said the removal of backpay and
higher wages for more advanced positions were the two issues that were
not resolved in last round of negotiations.
Those who work in CT or MRI or nuclear medicine have a more
stressful job than someone working on X-rays and under negotiations they
are not being rewarded for the larger workload, Smith said....
I'd have picked the stream of media revelations about nastiness, muddles and XOS egos damaging all the hard-working people within a clapped-out workplace running on the smell of an oily rag got a few people to pull their heads in and fingers out.
Perhaps a few bum-kickings took place. Them's my thinks.
Yet possibly it was due to a squad of imported consultants improving the culture.
Me, if I wanted some culture improved I'd look at SDHB and go, "Nah, I want heaps more improvement than that for the money." But then, I'm looking at it from the point of view of someone spending their own money.
The
University of Otago has engaged a UK-based consultancy firm previously
hired by the Southern District Health Board in a bid to improve its
culture.
odt.co.nz
The University of Otago has engaged a UK-based consultancy firm
previously hired by the Southern District Health Board in a bid to
improve its culture. April Strategy is involved in an exercise branded "Shaping Our
Culture, Together - He Waka Kotuia", led by the university's HR
department.... ...[T]he Tertiary Education Union (TEU) has said the mood at the
university is at "a low ebb" following that review and others, with both
academic and general staff worried about job security.... ...TEU Dunedin organiser Phil Edwards said staff had experienced a period of "constant change and disruption" in recent years. A TEU survey had found the support services review had entailed
"three years of considerable uncertainty about the future ... and a
significant loss of organisational knowledge caused by redundancies,
redeployments and workload and workflow changes". Other university reviews in recent years have involved humanities,
physical education, human nutrition and the centre for material science
and technology, and the current review into the Department of Marine
Sciences. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/university-of-otago/university-hires-uk-firm-improve-culture
Wouldn't the culture be more effectively enhanced by not continuously
reducing education provided, by not restructuring services such that the most
effective experienced support staff were replaced by less experienced
appointed to roles above their competence level?
Is hiring a firm to improve the culture, after mishandling the basics of respect
for people and education brought the mood to "a low ebb", not so much
a problem-solver as a mission to put lipstick on a pig?
Steve
Thompson is the Chair of both Aurora Energy and it's South Canterbury
counterpart Alpine Energy. It's becoming clearer to me by the day that
his management style has produced the same results for both sets of
ratepayers - total disaster.
Read this piece and the attached
report. It seems to me that this man has the reverse Midas touch -
everything he touches turns to crap. FIFTY PERCENT lopped off the value
of Alpine in just a couple of years.
Could this be the reason
that the Office of the Auditor General recently spent a month and a
half in the Alpine offices? I hope the people of Timaru are smarter than
the people of Dunedin when it comes to wrenching back control of their
floundering power company.
This could have massive consequences for Aurora and Dunefin. What is the
true "fair value" of the company? One thing is for certain, no one at
the DCC has a clue.
Heavily redacted Alpine Energy valuation report 'almost meaningless'
Matthew Littlewood, Oct 25 2019, Stuff.co.nz https://tinyurl.com/y52n3xqq
See what he means?
Tbere are numerous pages of this kind of thing so for simplicity the text
has been omitted leaving only a representative sample of redactions.
Admire this as creative use of bold stripe motif,
or make up your own fragments to fill in the blanks.
You could even go to the link and see the redacted pages,
just for the lols.
A
report which provided part of the basis for the proposed sale of lines
company Alpine Energy has finally been released - almost a year after it
was requested - but most of the information it contains has been
blacked out.
The report was commissioned by EY (formerly Ernst Young) for Timaru
District Holdings Ltd - the Timaru District Council's holdings company
- which owns a 47.5 per cent share of Alpine Energy.
The other shareholders are Lines Trust South Canterbury (40 per cent),
Waimate District Council (7.54 per cent) and Mackenzie District Council
(4.96 per cent).
Business commentator Rod Oram says the heavily redacted EY report is "almost meaningless".
The EY report says "our assessment of the Fair Value of 100 per cent of
the equity in Alpine Energy Ltd lies in the range of $182.4m to $206.1m
with a mid-point of $194.1m".
In 2017, Deloittes valued Alpine Energy at $362m-$423m.
Joseph Kelly/Supplied
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub says the extent of the redactions of the EY report were "farcical".
However, the EY report is so heavily redacted that it does not give
much of an indication as to why there is such a big discrepancy in the
values.
Stuff
asked the Timaru District Council for a copy of the report under the
Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) in
November 2018 - a request which was initially declined by the council at
the request of Alpine Energy.
Stuff
then complained to the Ombudsman's office in December 2018 arguing that
the information was in the public interest, as the company was publicly
owned. This week a heavily redacted version of the report was finally
released.
Supplied
Newsroom journalist Bernard Hickey says 'commercial sensitivity' is often invoked for political means.
Alpine Energy chief executive Andrew Tombs would not be drawn into what
was blacked out, other than to say it was "commercially sensitive"
information.
When approached for further comment, he said he had "nothing else to add".
In a letter to Stuff,
released this week, council chief executive Bede Carran explained that
the EY report was originally withheld "at the request of Alpine Energy".
"We have been liaising with the officials from the Ombudsman's Office
on the matter, and have also consulted with Alpine Energy," the letter
says.
"We are comfortable that the attached redacted version balances the
interests of disclosure of information with protecting the legitimate
commercial interests of Alpine Energy."
However, business commentator Rod Oram says the heavy redactions "make the report meaningless."
"It's difficult to tell what is genuinely 'commercially sensitive' and
what isn't, because the report is so heavily blacked out," Oram said.
Last year, the Timaru District Council proposed to sell down TDHL's
47.5 per cent share in lines company Alpine Energy, but this was
abandoned after a major public backlash, with hundreds of submissions
against it.
"The council says the business is no longer up for sale. Even if it
was, potential buyers would do their own valuation anyway, so to invoke
commercial sensitivity is a bit of a stretch," Oram said.
Oram said the appendices of the EY report, which were not redacted,
listed a series of 'comparable companies' and 'comparable transactions'.
These, though, would have been of little if any use to the council or
TDHL.
"EY are not comparing apples with apples. They're mentioning huge
international electricity companies alongside smaller lines companies.
"Likewise, their comparisons of New Zealand lines company transactions
range from $2.7m to $2.7billion in value, with a wide range of price to
earnings multiples across those acquisitions. What the council got out
of the report is really hard to determine."
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the extent of redaction was "farcical - but common in my experience"
"It speaks to some bigger issues in terms of how council staff appear
not to understand where the boundaries are between public interest and
confidentiality," Eaqub said.
Newsroom journalist Bernard Hickey said the level of redaction signalled that the LGOIMA was "broken".
"The information shouldn't be secret but commercial confidentiality is often used and abused for political ends," Hickey said.
When you look at how the electorate's No 1 choice for mayor was overtaken at the last minute by transferred votes, and from whom those crucial votes came, it's hard to avoid cynicism at best, suspicion of ethically dodgy-as practice by ODT + Cull is another viewpoint option.
"Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has thrown his support behind two of the
candidates vying to succeed him, but now faces criticism from those on
the outer.
Mr Cull said yesterday he supported two incumbent city councillors -
Aaron Hawkins and Christine Garey - in the mayoral race, although he
would not pick between the pair.
Cr Hawkins thanked Mr Cull for his support, while Cr Garey said she
was also ''humbled by the confidence Mayor Cull has shown in me''....."
Councillor Christine Garey has been appointed Dunedin's new deputy mayor.
Mayor-elect Aaron Hawkins announced the appointment, and committee chair positions for the Dunedin City Council this afternoon.
Runner-up in the mayoral elections Lee Vandervis will not be heading up any committees on the new council.....
"Well, that's a surprise!" said nobody who was awake during Cull's reign as mayor.
The election results, confirmed tonight, saw emergency doctor and
former SDHB member John Chambers top the poll in the Otago constituency,
followed by Mr Cull, community health council member Ilka Beekhuis and
oncologist Lyndell Kelly.
The election results, confirmed tonight, saw emergency doctor and
former SDHB member John Chambers top the poll in the Otago constituency,
followed by Mr Cull, community health council member Ilka Beekhuis and
oncologist Lyndell Kelly.
Having
cancer isn't all laughs. Surgery, you hope it'll be a nice cancer so
the surgeon can remove it all, you hope it hasn't had time to metastasise, you hope if it has its demon spawn will be given the heave-ho by the improved treatments available now. Chemo. Radiotherapy. There's a helluva
kaleidoscope of emotions, first finding you've got cancer then finding
out what needs to be done, then after that.... Being wheeled along Cumberland Street for radiotherapy? NO! NO! For heaven's sake NO!
...Initial plans for the new $1.4billion hospital development showed
oncology services slated to remain in their present building, on the
corner of Hanover and Cumberland Sts.
Clinicians had lobbied against that decision but their pleas had not
been heeded, Lyndell Kelly, a medical specialist in radiation oncology,
said.
"I'm annoyed oncology will not be moving with the new hospital, and I
just don't know how we are going to be treating our inpatients with
radiotherapy," Dr Kelly - a candidate in the upcoming Southern District
Health Board election - said.
"It will be a major problem, and I have let the Health Minister know
that. He thought it would be fixed in the final plan but it hasn't been.
"We are going to be pushing stretchers down Cumberland St with patients who have received radiotherapy."....
Keeping the oncology department separate from the new
Dunedin Hospital, as intended by planners, will mean 1400 ambulance trips a
year between the two buildings, a cancer clinician
estimates. Dunedin Hospital radiation oncologist Lyndell Kelly
raised concerns about the proposed separation, saying radiotherapy patients
would end up being pushed down Cumberland St in stretchers. Southern Partnership Group chairman Pete Hodgson said he
had been told there would be about two or three patient transfers a week, and it
had been decided to retain the oncology building as it was relatively
modern. Dr Kelly disputed both Mr Hodgson's estimate of patient
transfers and the oncology building's suitability.
She said there were actually two to five transfers to and
from oncology per day. Mr Hodgson declined to comment, other than to say Dr
Kelly's views were "at some variance'' with advice he had
received.
I suppose an explanation could be, there may be patients having to be transferred more than once each per week. If not that, I'd be surprised if Dr Kelly isn't sharply aware of the number of patients since her source of information hasn't been collated by someone at distance from sick people.
DoC used to be about conservation, keeping NZ's plants and animals safe for NZers. Pressure to become a tourist attractions provider is resulting in an awfully muddled mission message.
The Department of Conservation stands accused of a “blast now and think later” approach in a West Coast national park.
In July, a four-tonne sandstone block sheared off, coming to rest at
the bottom of a set of stairs from a viewing platform on the Truman
Track, part of the Paparoa National Park. The track, just north of
Punakaiki, funnels more than 35,000 walkers a year to a spectacular
coastline with cliffs, caverns, a blowhole, and waterfall.....
....Geotech’s managing director Ant Black has some sympathy for DoC, having
to look after “bloody nutty”, mainly urban, foreign tourists, who often
wear jandals and have no sense of self-preservation. These popular,
easily accessible areas of the front country he calls “Muppetland”.....
Dunedin
mayor-elect Aaron Hawkins says hitchhiking to work from his Port
Chalmers home is more efficient and gives him a better understanding of
community views. Photo: Peter McIntosh
Gerard HylandOnce the cycleway Port - Dunedin is completed I suspect he'll be one of the first users, along with another new Councillor.
Simon ShortGerard Hyland unless he's not a cyclist. Not everyone is comfortable on a bike.
Daniel ProcterGerard
Hyland will be years before that happens. The way the council lowball
contractors and minimise the room for funding on variations, there isn’t
any money in it for them. The last section from Maia - St Leonard’s
lost the contractors nearly $400,000.
This was all down to the low starting price just to get council work,
lack of additional funding for variations and complications that they
encountered, and then getting daily fines for being past the
unattainable deadline
Gerard HylandDaniel
Procter NZTA, but not wrong otherwise! Just look at the proposed design
to go over the hill to Sawyer’s Bay - huge expensive concrete
monstrosity that blew the budget. Need designers with the proper
experience to do the work, then realistic contractors.
So a funny thing happened in the mayoral poll Dunedin. It seems like 28% of people didn't want *either* Hawkins or Vandervis, and ranked neither. (I need to check this). But at Iteration 1, there were 42000 votes, and only 30000 at the end.
Possible. Would be worth checking against other cities. I'm off to bed, so can't verify now. It's also perhaps obvious here, because there were neck and neck for so long. I get the impression other cities may have had an outright winner sooner.
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)....
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.
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.
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
Richard HealeyPete 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?
John EvansOwned
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.
Alan GarrickWell
done Cull and co!! Imagine what he could achieve in the DHB......they
already pretty advanced in spending and not delivering....watch this
space?
Richard HealeyAlan 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..
Lindsay HarrisThe
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..
Dave HananIt
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.
Russell GarbuttNone
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.
Richard HealeyRussell,
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.
