‘It’s just wrong’: Cheap, fast footpath fix lands councillor in legal hot water

Saturday, 27 June 2026

Waikato District councillor Mike Keir at the section of footpath he fixed and widened on Matangi Rd, by filling in an open drain where a young cyclist had a nasty accident in March.

Under-fire councillor Mike Keir had a choice - wait for official sign-off before fixing a dangerous footpath or take a rare opportunity to fix it cheaply.

He chose the latter.

Now the Waikato District Council is investigating him for doing the work before receiving the required approval from the Auditor-General.

Keir says he upgraded the 300m Matangi Rd footpath for $47,000, compared with council estimates of up to $150,000.

Waikato District Council councillor Mike Keir on the footpath he fixed.

He admits he didn't wait for the required sign-off before carrying out the work, saying he felt he had a 'window of opportunity' while Matangi Rd was closed during construction of the new 'Peanut' roundabout on SH26.

The footpath has been 'at the top of his list' since he was first elected Tamahere-Woodlands General Ward councillor in 2022.

'The footpath was narrow and dangerous and there's a history of accidents on it,' Keir told the Waikato Times.

Safety concerns peaked in March when a young boy fell off his bike and broke his wrist after plunging into a half-metre-deep open roadside drain.

The footpath Mike Keir fixed on Matangi Rd while work was being done to build the new ‘peanut’’ roundabout at the end of the road.

Keir said he and at least one other councillor had repeatedly pushed for the footpath to be upgraded, but the council had been unable to proceed because it did not have the required 50% NZTA subsidy.

Keir, whose engineering company has previously completed tendered work for the council, said he saw a chance to complete the project while the road was closed, eliminating the need for traffic management.

A council estimate to widen the footpath from 1.5m to 1.8m came back at $150,000, which Keir said was too expensive.

Construction of the ‘peanut’ roundabout gave Keir a window to get the job done without traffic mangement.

The contractor building the roundabout was then asked to quote the work and returned a price of $115,000.

'I said I could do the whole thing for $70,000 for 1.8 metre wide footpath, but of that the surfacing part was going to be done by the roundabout contractor and I was going to do the rest of it for $50,000 so I gave council a quote.

'They requested a quote from me, and I gave them a quote for $50,000 and I did it for less than that. I did it for $47,000.'

Because Keir is a sitting councillor and the work exceeded the relevant monetary threshold, approval from the Auditor-General was required before the contract could proceed.

However, Keir said more than four weeks after submitting his quote there had still been no response from the Auditor-General and work on the roundabout was nearing completion.

'So, I made a choice to do it. I didn't tell anyone, I just did it because I was hoping the approval would come through.'

Instead, Keir says he is now the subject of a legal investigation commissioned by Waikato District Council.

'They did an assessment, they hired a lawyer to do the assessment and I expected at that point to be spoken to because I had a different case than what council presented.

'The assessor didn't speak to me, didn't look at any of my stuff and decided, made a deliberation that it was a serious offence and so then it was escalated to a point, at more cost, another lawyer to do an investigation.'

Keir is appealing that decision and is seeking retrospective consent from the Auditor-General, saying he wants the council to 'stop spending money on lawyers'.

'They haven't paid me anything, and they're spending ratepayer money on a legal process to investigate me,' Keir said.

'It's just wrong that our council system would spend money on lawyers and not on infrastructure that keeps kids safe.

'This is symptomatic of the problems in local government and it's why it needs to reform badly.'

Waikato District Council chief executive Craig Hobbs confirmed a Code of Conduct complaint was being investigated 'in accordance with the council's adopted Code of Conduct process'.

Hobbs said it would be 'inappropriate' to comment on the specifics of the complaint or any matter that might be considered as part of the process.

'Council will allow the independent process to run its course and will not be making any further comment.'