‘We don’t do that’: CEO wants business cases to be the norm for Timaru council spending

Thursday, 17 April 2025

A discussion about the number of people using Timaru’s public library has led to an admission that the district council potentially selected the wrong systems for tracking user numbers at its facilities in the past.

It also came with an assurance from the council’s chief executive that a better process, with increased oversight of council spending, would be implemented.

Addressing the Timaru District Council’s community services committee on Tuesday, Timaru District Libraries manager Michael Priest told councillors that the system used for counting visitors at the library was changed about a year ago.

“Previously it was at the gates, as people came in. Now it’s on the ceiling. It’s a newer technology – it’s more accurate.”

That was not to say the numbers collected previously were “inaccurate”, Priest said. “But they were prone to over-counting.”

He said the new system did not “double count” people as they came into the library.

Councillor Stu Piddington asked what it had cost to install the new system and was told Priest would have to confirm that.

“I think it was comparable with the old system … It was installed a little before I came here.”

Priest started in the role in August, having returned to New Zealand from the United States to do so.

Councillor Michelle Pye asked whether the counter system had been upgraded because the previous one wasn’t working or because there was a better product available.

“That is a concern to me,” she said.

Mayor Nigel Bowen said he could recall there being a significant cost to upgrade the library another time during his tenure as a councillor.

“It’s only within the last six years that’s happened … I agree with you, it’s a lot of money to spend, potentially.”

A $1.8 million renovation of the library was completed in July 2020. The project included repairing and resealing the roof, new insulation, ceilings, paintwork, carpets, heating and energy efficient lighting.

Piddington said he would like councillors to be aware of any new systems introduced at council facilities so they were aware of them, their purpose and how much they cost.

Trainor said the senior leadership team would have a workshop to inform an information systems strategy in the next two or three months.

“It is quite clear in this organisation, historically, [units] have done their own thing. And then the CEO gets informed of what they have done.

“We’re going to stop that, and we’re going to have an information strategy that we all own.

“If there’s a project for something new, then we will all know about it.

“There’s some classics in this organisation, where potentially we’ve selected the wrong solution.

“And we’ve probably selected the wrong solution because there wasn’t a broader group of people involved … So we want to stop that.”

Bowen said he supported that and asked what criteria such a project would have to go through before it was approved.

Trainor said he was used to an environment in which business cases were prepared for any projects involving capital expenditure, or capex.

“We don’t do that. We might do it for the odd big one, like a theatre or a stadium.

“But for most capex, we don’t do a business case. We don’t say, ‘This is the need, this is why we’re doing it, and here’s the time frames.’

“We’ve got to get into that regime.”

Piddington said he agreed “totally” with Trainor on that point. “We need business cases.”