Auckland Council agencies to merge, oversight criticised

Monday, 10 August 2020

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff speaks to media on the release of a report into the effectiveness of Auckland Council's Council-Controlled Agency structure.

Auckland Council’s events and facilities agencies are to merge, following an independent review of the city’s unique structure of five council-controlled organisations.

The six-month-long review, costing $650,000, made 64 recommendations, and said merging Regional Facilities Auckland (RFA) and Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development could save almost $7 million a year.

The review has also criticised political oversight of the CCOs, and found fault with the remaining agencies Auckland Transport (AT), Panuku Development, and Watercare.

CCO Review Panel chair Miriam Dean QC and mayor Phil Goff speak to media on the release of a report into the effectiveness of Auckland Council's Council-Controlled Organisation structure.

The review, chaired by Miriam Dean QC found AT did not collaborate enough with council on transport strategy, and that its handling of smaller projects was far from satisfactory.

* Auckland Council agency review: Consultants on up to $350 an hour

* Auckland Council agency review: $800k and done by July

Members of the independent CCO review Panel (left to right) Doug Martin, Miriam Deans (chair), Leigh Auton.

Panuku, which manages and develops council-owned property, was found to lack a clear purpose - its overheads were too high and its focus too wide.

The water company Watercare’s infrastructure work was found to be not well-co-ordinated with councils, its consenting was too slow, and it lacked strategic input from the council.

The review found the council’s role overseeing the five agencies was also problematic.

“There is insufficient face-to-face discussion and meaningful dialogue, between CCO’s and the (council) Governing Body,” it found.

The mayor Phil Goff, who called for the review during his 2019 election campaign, welcomed its “unvarnished look” at what needs to improve, as the amalgamated council approaches it’s 10th anniversary.

“Particularly important is the report’s recommendations on the need for strengthening the council’s ability to give strategic direction to the CCOs,” he said.

The mayor of Auckland Phil Goff and councillors Bill Cashmore and Tracy Mulholland

The model of agencies, delivering 70 per cent of the council’s business, is unique and was enshrined in laws creating the amalgamated Auckland Council in 2010.

The CCOs are technically companies, with their own boards of directors, which act in accordance with targets and guidelines set annually by councillors.

Plans for the independent review of how the CCO model is working, were first flagged as an election pledge in 2019, as Mayor Phil Goff launched his campaign for a second term in office.

'Public entities must act in the public good and must be accountable to the public – it's as simple as that,' Goff told the audience at his campaign launch.

Some of the agencies have become popular targets for political or public criticism, and Goff’s review call followed three years bookended by him publicly criticising ATEED, and in 2019, Auckland Transport.

However, the review has also specifically looked at how well councillors have exercised their oversight of the CCOs which must meet targets and directions set by the councillors.

Goff recently conceded the council could have done better to work with Watercare, which is scrambling to bolster the city’s water supply, after drought which has prompted unprecedented restrictions.

The mayor famously, and publicly, berated ATEED soon after taking office in 2016, for pursuing a half-million dollar global marketing and investment campaign, approved by the previous council.

In 2019, Auckland Transport found itself a political football during the election campaign, over its failure to front up at a rowdy public meeting in St Heliers over proposed roading changes.

Last year, it emerged several agencies had paid executives salary bonuses, earning criticism from the mayor and councillors.

The review panel considered 2250 submissions from the public before ending its consultation early when Covid-19 restrictions began in March.

The trio, chair Miriam Dean QC, and consultants Doug Martin and Leigh Auton, has carried out 100 interviews with CCO chairs and chief executives, councillors, local board chairs, council staff, and stakeholder groups.

The reports findings will be considered by councillors later this year as they prepare the next 10 Year Budget.