Council projects need ‘outside eyes’

Queenstown Lakes’ new mayor says an independent investigation may be required to determine what has gone wrong with past council projects.

Mayor-elect John Glover campaigned on improving trust in the council and now has suggested bringing in a Crown observer to investigate what he called failed projects — the Shotover wastewater treatment plant and the $130 million arterial road project.

Issues at the wastewater treatment plant led to discharges of treated effluent directly into the Shotover River on an emergency basis, and the arterial roadworks went "massively over budget".

These raised red flags for him over how the council managed big projects and how ratepayer money was spent.

"We need fresh and outside eyes and it’s not about blame.

"It’s about understanding what’s failed and how we manage accountability ... to a certain extent you do need to go backwards to move forwards."

Mr Glover said he planned on testing the desire to bring in a Crown observer or outside support with the new council.

The observer’s job would be to provide guidance to the council chief executive and elected members on how best to improve governance in the future.

"There’s huge amounts of money being spent on projects that, for whatever reason, have failed."

He said resolving any issues in the management of large projects would be fundamental in minimising future increases in rates.

It was also a way for the council to be open about the projects it had under way or planned.

"That’s part of healing and restoring trust and expectation that there’s a clear and transparent scrutiny."

He was also eager to look further into the present recruitment process of the council’s new chief executive.

The process faced backlash during the campaign when Cr Niki Gladding (who was re-elected at the weekend) questioned its openness, arguing it should wait until after the elections.

Mr Glover said he was yet to get a briefing on the process and could not say whether he thought the council had jumped the gun but felt it was crucial all elected members were updated.

"It’s the most important thing that councillors will do over the next couple of months is to appoint a new CEO, so it’s really important to know where that process is at."

He said the new council was not set to have a full meeting until the end of the month and, in the meantime, he planned to meet councillors to further understand what the priorities were.