22nd - Kaipara Konnection

The Kaipara Konnection
An Alternative View of Things
Volume 1 No 41 a
News Flash!
22 Feb 2012
Two news items which are of significance to all residents and ratepayers of the Kaipara
District follow.
With the Minister of Local Government’s requirements for the Kaipara District Council to
ensure that they are trusted by the community we believe that there is now no option but for
the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and all second or more term councillors to resign immediately.
A petition is being raised to press for this to happen and a Commissioner to be appointed to
govern the District until a final decision is made on the restructuring of the four Northland
councils.
When you see it please consider signing it. We need to rid ourselves of any further
incompetence and regain our vibrancy and vision as a District.
The Radio New Zealand interview this morning with Mayor Neil Tiller has certainly raised a
lot of eyebrows.
In the interview, it is alleged that Mayor Tiller stated that he has always been a staunch
opponent of the Mangawhai EcoCare scheme. The editor of this newsletter has not been able
to find any entry in the Council Minutes to support this claim, The Mayor needs to be a bit
more specific as to dates and times to give a semblance of credibility to his claims. As much
of the construction and budget blowout has occurred under his mayoralty, it is an interesting
claim he makes.
Former Councillor Bill Guest has written an open letter to all residents and ratepayers which
was published in the Kaipara Lifestyler yesterday. A copy of this letter is attached.
Former Councillor Bruce Rogan has written an open letter to the Mayor and news media
about the Radio New Zealand interview with Mayor Tiller this morning. He has subsequently
published an addendum which is included in this newsletter.
If there are further important developments in this disgraceful saga we will keep you informed
if possible.

If people behaved like governments, you’d call the cops.
--Kelvin Throop
Advertisment
An open letter to the people of the Kaipara
‘‘Our once proud district is on the verge of financial collapse.
Contact your local councillor and demand that the council resign, then contact your
local Member of Parliament and demand a commissioner be put in place to salvage what we can”
The council’s new management team have already identified $4.5 million in errors in the Annual Plan which will
require trimming $2 million in services that were planned, and borrowing an additional $2.5 million on top of the
$5 million being borrowed to finance the annual plan. A $4.5 million error
The Salter Report from the law firm Simpson Grierson just released by council has confirmed fears that the
EcoCare rate struck by the council is without legal substance. A $9.5 million error
Can we really expect the same group of people who are
responsible for the massive financial crisis we are in, to fix the problem?
Demand that a Commissioner be appointed — Now
I personally find it ironical that when I was a councillor on the Kaipara District Council, I continually warned the councillors at
that time, namely Mayor Tiller, Julie Geange, Tom Smith, Mrs Sutherland, Richard Alspach, Brian McEwing, Brian Burnett and
Graeme Taylor, over the issue of inadequate financial reporting, authorising loans without reliable data to back it up and failing to
challenge the then Chief Executive’s performance.
I have a quiet smile when I think how Mayor Tiller laughed at my warnings and made comments in the press regarding me
personally, and accusing me of scaremongering and spreading falsehoods, while the rest of council simply dismissed my numerous
notices of motion regarding the above and persuaded Mayor Tiller to remove my portfolio responsibilities in regard to finance.
The chickens have come home to roost. I am predicting that rates will have to increase a minimum of 20% each year for the next
three years to cover monies needed to service the $90 million worth of debt that Kaipara has around its neck and to service the
extra $2 million a year that will be required to fund the Mangawhai loan, when the current interest rate of 3.5% plus the premium
increases in 2013 to normal market rates.
It is also possible that to cloud the issue, the council may decide to increase the rates by a smaller percentage and borrow more
money. Either way the Kaipara District will have to pay.
I also believe that it is almost certain that the rest of the Kaipara District will be required to pay towards the sewerage system
in Mangawhai. In fact one may ask the question, should the Mangawhai ratepayers continue to pay their sewerage rates as they
have been charged $9.5 million in error.
We are facing amalgamation of local government caused by a lack of
professionalism and incompetent governance by elected councillors. If we
think that Whangarei or the Far North will take over Mangawhai or Kaipara’s
debt of $90 million, the reality will be that any new form of local government
structure will require that the current $90 million debt will stay and be paid for
by Kaipara ratepayers.
The rest of Northland will not accept the responsibility for what clearly is
mismanagement.
The councillors should resign, as I believe they must accept their share of
responsibility for the predicament that the Kaipara District Council ratepayers
are now facing.
It is not good enough for them to dismiss the financial reviews that are
now becoming public, as simply documents that state that Kaipara has made
one or two mistakes. The Mayor has implied in the press that this has been
because of staff issues. Under the Local Government Act, councillors can be
held responsible for the decisions they have made. It is high time for Kaipara
ratepayers to demand that the Minister of Local Government holds a formal
commission of enquiry into the decision making processes of the Kaipara
District councillors involved past and present.
Bill Guest — ex councillor and Mayoral candidate
They are burning
the boat to fuel
incompetence

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good
conscience to remain silent. --Thomas Jefferson
To Mayor Neil Tiller
An email I sent at 9:44 today, of which the text is reproduced below, is factually incorrect in that my recollection
of who was behind my ouster from council was defective.
I did ask for the voting record from that time, because I called for divisions at nearly every vote, but was
told by council that no records were kept of divisions until recently. Fortunately others were present who
took notes.
In the incident that I recounted it was councillor Taylor (not Tiller) who moved that I be excluded from
council. Councillor Taylor represented the Otamatea (Mangawhai) ward, was deputy mayor, and was on
side with then Mayor Graeme Ramsay, in their concerted drive to ram a sewage scheme down the throats of
the Mangawhai community, come hell or high water.
Neil Tiller’s support of Ecocare came later, and he is correct when he says that at that time he was seeking
more and better information on which to base any council decisions. I therefore apologise to him on that
point. In fairness to Mr Tiller he abstained from voting in support of my ouster, and even expressed the view
that he could not see where I had breached council confidence or done anything outside standing orders.
I am indebted to the Northern Advocate for bringing this matter to my attention, and I note that during the
debate over Ecocare and my exclusion the then mayor said….. We must pull together or we will end up like
Rodney….. Well I think the record shows that by “ pulling together” we have ended up so far beyond Rodney
that we are never going to come back. If we could get back to the level of dysfunctionality of Rodney
in its darkest days we would be in heaven, relative to where we are now. Elected councillors simply MUST
stop thinking that they cease to represent their ratepayers the day they are sworn in. At every point where
they are being asked to vote on a resolution, they must ask whether their agreement is in the best interests
of those they represent, and they must have the courage and conviction to vote NO if their conscience tells
them they should. That won’t in itself prevent their ratepayers from being shafted, but at least they will be
able to say that it was not because of their actions that it occurred.
Tangowahine Farm and Rural Retreat
Centrally located, self contained - stay with us and enjoy Kaipara, Whangarei and the Bay
of Islands - or just relax and enjoy the hot spa in the bush, farm and bush walks.
www.tangowahine.co.nz
TWF Darg Online advt Jun 11.indd 1 11/07/2011 10:04:47 p.m.

Subject: for attention of the mayor
Dear Mr Tiller,
I heard with my mouth dropping in disbelief your scurrilous interview with Mary Wilson of Radio New
Zealand.
You had the effrontery to claim that you resisted the disaster that is the Mangawhai sewage debacle
and that it happened over your dead body.
You were in favour of it in your role as infrastructure portfolio holder in 2002 when I was on the
council desperately trying to get some brakes put on the insanity being pursued by you, Mayor
Graeme Ramsey, the now unfrocked CEO McKerchar at the time, and a bunch of carpetbaggers
and mountebanks from the construction sector, whose saliva used to spray all over the assembled
marks whenever they spoke. When I finally got the council to agree that if the project went wrong
it would be a debt on the whole district and not just on the ratepayers affected by the scheme, and
we instructed the CEO to write to the Australian crooks who were hatching the whole thing up with
Beca Carter as handmaidens, you might recall that McKerchar did not write as instructed, because
he decided on his own recognisance that it might have “frightened the horses” if he did. I wrote
to them myself with the news that if the project went wonky they might not get paid because the
district as a whole would have to agree to funding the shortfall,. And it was you, Mayor Tiller who
moved the (illegal) resolution that I be barred from future council meetings and be stripped of all my
responsibilities.
Then you went on to tell Mary Wilson that you personally live near the beach and pay only $750
in rates and ought to pay more. You’re damn right you ought to pay more. I live about the same
distance from the beach and I pay over $4,000 in rates directly as a result of your incompetence
and arrogance, and all because my sewage is processed by a second rate badly engineered faulty
scheme that is already at the limits of its capacity, and over the limits of its effluent disposal field,
despite having cost over three times the amount that the community was told it was going to cost.
The suggestion that Kaipara is the Greece of local government in New Zealand would have some
applicability if there was the slightest chance that a bunch of German bankers would come down
here and sort you out. Unfortunately, that task, given the head-in-sand, hands-off, let the locals
stew, attitude of the minister, is going to fall on the shoulders of the district’s ratepayers. You might
need the diplomatic protection squad to follow you around and pick up any stray microphones left
on tables in coffee bars you frequent- I believe they are now very good at that..
Bruce Rogan.
The essence of good government is trust.
--Kathleen Sebeliusson
Tangowahine Farm and Rural Retreat
Centrally located, self contained - stay with us and enjoy Kaipara, Whangarei and the Bay
of Islands - or just relax and enjoy the hot spa in the bush, farm and bush walks.
www.tangowahine.co.nz
TWF Darg Online advt Jun 11.indd 1 11/07/2011 10:04:47 p.m.

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