Cr Doug Hall - the owner of Hall Brothers Transport and Dunedin Crane Hire - is linked to 17 contracts awarded by the DCC during the last three-year council term.
Together, the contracts were worth more than $7.7 million to Cr Hall’s companies between 2016 and mid-2019, either directly or as a subcontractor.
The information was released to the Otago Daily Times by the DCC on Friday last week.
Council staff also confirmed on Friday his companies had been awarded more contracts before 2016, bringing the total sum — since Cr Hall became a councillor — to more than $11 million.
All of the contracts have been signed off by the Office of the Auditor-general.
Cr Hall, a businessman for more than 30 years, was first elected as a city councillor in 2013 and won a third term in last year’s local body elections.
He was no longer responsible for the day-to-day running of the companies or the contracts, having appointed a manager to the role, but still reaped some of the financial rewards.
On Friday, he told the ODT the contracts were all tendered openly.
"I win them all at the lowest price. It ends up being a saving to council," he said.
The contracts included 10 awarded directly to Hall Brothers Transport since 2016, for services ranging from storage to gravel supply and sand replenishment, and beach protection work at Ocean Beach.
An 11th contract went to Dunedin Crane Hire for work at Moana Pool.
Together the contracts were worth $161,495 over the three-year council term.
However, Hall Brothers Transport also had a stake in much larger, multi-year contracts, including the $45million, three-year road maintenance contract awarded to Downer in 2016.
Hall Brothers Transport was a subcontractor to Downer for the work, and earned $2million a year over the three-year period, generating a $6million return for Cr Hall’s company.
Other subcontracting work for Hall Brothers Transport included the Ross Creek Reservoir refurbishment ($811,500 over three years), sports field work ($50,000), footpath resurfacing ($600,000), demolition work ($56,760) and re-roofing the Dunedin Central Library ($87,780).
However, Cr Hall said the returns also included about $500,000 in recycled materials, sold back to the council for reuse in roading projects, diverting them from landfill in the process.
The details of other contracts awarded during Cr Hall’s first term, as well as since mid-2019, were not available.
He was the only councillor listed as having a pecuniary interest in council contracts during the last term, but Cr Hall said that was because "I’m the only one [councillor] that’s running a business that does council-type work".
It also reflected his company’s prominent role in the sector, even before he became a councillor, he said.
He had been forced to sit back from many council proceedings when first elected in 2013, because of commercial conflicts, and still did so when required, he said.
"Anything I have an interest in, I sit back on."
That meant he could not contribute as much as he would like during public debates, although he said he did "pass on a bit of knowledge here and there when they ask questions".
Council staff said all contracts were awarded by staff — with no elected member involvement — and signed off by the Office of the Auditor-general.
DCC finance and council-controlled organisations committee chairman Cr Mike Lord — who has Cr Hall as his deputy — said the contracts were all subjected to appropriate scrutiny and delivered ‘‘the best outcome for council’’.
The contracts
Cr Doug Hall’s company contracts (2016-19):
Hall Brothers Transport Ltd
- Bulk storage holding bays at Tahuna: $75,312
- Walton Park gravel supply: $22,364
- Ocean Beach sand replenishment: $6740
- Relocation of sand along St Clair Beach: $14,195
- Carey’s Bay silt removal: $4432
- Ammunition track development: $20,667
- Concrete blocks Whare Flat: $3360
- Tomahawk beach cartage: $4575
- Civil defence/flood preparation, sand to Mosgiel: $850
- Civil defence/sand movement: $7300
Dunedin Crane Hire Ltd
- Crane hire — Moana Pool: $1700
Hall Brothers Transport — subcontracting work for Downer
- Road network maintenance: $2 million per year for three years (2016-19)
- Ross Creek Reservoir refurbishment: $811,500 over three years (2016-19)
- Resurfacing, irrigation, turf establishment at University 4 & 5 sports fields: $50,000
- Footpath resurfacing: $600,000
- Demolition work, 91 Dukes Rd: $56,760
- Reroofing Dunedin Central Library: $87,780
Total (2016-19): $7,767,535
Total (since 2013): $11 million
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Comments
Only a partial list of the $7.7m. As long as he does not vote/influence the decision making process then there is no ethics problem. Unlike some former mayors/councillors who have voted for projects/jobs/contracts in the past and then after awarding them, they leave the DCC and suddenly join that company that won multimillion dollar contracts. That is what smacks of corruption and should be prohibited by law.
Cr Hall is the deputy chair of the DCC Finance and council-controlled organisations Committee.
This is totally wrong and needs to be further investigated, those in positions who knew of this and said or done nothing are just as bad, obviously he has no interest in making Dunedin better, just taking rate payers coin, this calls for an external audit and accountability that includes Cull and Bidrose. I've worked for a government department who purchased goods and services and staff had to formally advise if they had any interests in businesses that was down to owning a hotel room /unit where others might stay that was for everybody's view, I hope the Council has similar, IMHO tis is instant dismissal what a sham.
The 'Hound Cull Out of Office' Brigade.
95 % right Hill more or less but bot a Brigade. just my thought and how I've seen him pick and choose what he addresses, in another words the guy is a total - look at me look look at me I'm all that and a bag of chips, with no balance in what ever he does. old boys club comes to mind, what does it cost you for your membership to his Club?
Thé issue here is not whether outcomes result in any financial benefit. It’s rather whether there is any conflict of interest in the decision-making process. Here, Cr Hall and Cr Lord, as Chair of Finance, pass ODT’s Chris Morris’ stringent test, as do DCC contracts and tenders protocols, which were completely revised with independent external advice in the aftermath of the vehicle fraud. However, one loose end is social contracting. It is not good enough for a group to come to public forum and ask for work and then get it and this all being passed off as a staff decision or an operational matter. It’s not - it’s a political decision to be made by elected reps. And whether social contracting is awarded and to whom should be an open, competitive process.
I'm shocked by this revelation and thank the ODT and Chris Morris for bringing it to our attention. This should not continue.
"I win them all at the lowest price. It ends up being a saving to council," he said.
Now there's a coincidence!
How many didn't he win? If any!
Look in any DCC meeting Agenda on thé Council’s website and you will see ‘Members’ Declaration of Interest’. At every meeting, the Chair advises elected reps of the need to update this if anything has changed. A person elected to council retains all their rights as a citizen which include joining organisations, including political parties and earning a living which may include running businesses. Chris Morris’ investigatory journalism here shows no conflict of interest in decision-making. People worried about local government corruption are extremely unlikely to find it following a paper trail anyway. It is far more likely to be undocumented and carried out with ‘gentlemen’s agreements’, shoulder tapping and handshake deals. If people read Morris’s article as claiming that there’s smoke and therefore fire in respect of the Council contracts involved, then I think they are being unfair to both Morris and Cr Hall. IMO Morris’ report is a fair statement of the facts which show that there has been NO conflict of interest in decision making. A presumption of guilt before anything has been proven is just going to deter good candidates from standing for council.
This is so wrong. It's not about saving the DCC money, it's that the decisions that he makes on behalf of the ratepayers of Dunedin, are subject to influence by his business interests.
It's not personal, but anyone in his position should have to make a choice. Quite simply he should divest himself of his business interests, have some other entity manage the day-to-day running of the business and tenders, or lastly {and probably most practically} he should deem his company ineligible for any DCC contracts given the glaring conflict of interest. Other businesses who tender for these contracts, should be rightfully livid!
The nepotism we all have come to expect from DCC. The issue isn't the savings to the ratepayers, the issue is the PROFIT to the councilor. Convient how his bids just happened to be the lowest to win eh? I suppose the were no issues concerning inside knowledge of other competitors bids? Only an idiot would try to say with a straight face his efforts were in the interest of the ratepayers! At least give us some flowers when your screwing us Doug!