Making sure Elected members receive quality advice

It’s important that elected members receive all the information they need before they vote and/or make a decision. Quality of reports presented to me in the past have caused me to take a stance on trying to improve this. This month I have taken on the role to chair the Quality Advice Political Advisory Group. The title is a mouthful, but the work of this group is important. Auckland's elected representatives need accurate information to help form their decisions and this group is tasked with making sure that the organisation is providing top quality advice. At present external ratings rank Auckland Council as 3rd in New Zealand for quality advice and I want to see this rise to being the best in NZ.

ANNUAL PLAN-What did Aucklanders think?

Thank you to all those who submitted on the Auckland Council’s Annual Plan. It’s important for elected members to listen to their communities and then advocate, vote and do their very best to deliver on that feedback. By way of background, the Annual Plan is a legislative process that Auckland Council must consult on. It has 2 main components, We request feedback from residents and ratepayers on the regional mayoral initiatives for the year, and secondly on whether local boards have their key priorities and advocacy in line with community views.

Every household was sent a copy of the Annual Plan submission form in the March edition of Our Auckland. In addition to this, Auckland Council put on, or was present at, seventy events around the region where Aucklanders could ‘Have their say’. The Orakei Ward is fortunate to have a resident’s association representing each of its ten suburbs. One of their key objectives is to assist communication between Council and communities. To that end, I asked each residents association if they wished me to speak to their members on the key regional proposals. Those who took me up on my offer were accommodated, with one public meeting in St Heliers hosting over 80 people. Feedback on the annual plan was via email, in writing, verbal and via social media channels. We received double the number of responses on the Annual Plan than last year, which was heartening.

This year, we consulted on more than just the level of rates - we also asked for your views on the relative level of business rates, paying for tourism promotion, housing infrastructure and paying council staff a living wage. Whilst not every Councillor agreed with every aspect of the mayoral initiative, we all supported asking Aucklanders for their views before making a decision.

 So what were the results, and were the views within the Orakei Ward shared by those living in other parts of Auckland?

Rates increase

54% of Orakei submitters thought that a 2.5% rates increase was the right level.

18% thought the rates should be raised by 3.5 Those that thought it should be higher preferred that additional funds be spent on transport

27% thought the rates should be raised by no more than 2%.

 Regionally 56% supported a 2.5% rates increase. 16% supported higher rates, again with transport being the focus for extra spending

Rating Stability

72% thought that business and residential ratepayers should have the same increase

Regionally 65% supported business and residential ratepayers having the same increase.

Paying for tourism promotion

72% thought we should raise a targeted rate on the accommodation sector to pay for tourism promotion.

Regionally 65% supported the proposal.

Paying for housing infrastructure

75% agreed with the initiative for housing developments to include a targeted rate to pay for the infrastructure costs incurred by that development.

Regionally 66% agreed with the initiative

Living wage

61% of Orakei submitters agreed that Auckland Council should pay a living wage to its employees

Regionally 71% supported the implementation of a living wage policy

Of course there is still much work still to be done before the Annual Budget can finally be adopted, so the next few weeks are packed with meetings for Councillors and the Mayor before final decision making at the Governing Body meeting on 29 June.

As for my vote on the above. Whilst my personal view does not always match the feedback, I did stand on an election platform of listening to locals. The results speak for themselves and those who took the time to feedback, should in my opinion be given the respect of being listened to.

Desley Simpson: Ateed beating drum for Auckland

The below column appeared in the New Zealand Herald on Friday 28th of April, 2017.

 

Just about everywhere I go, people ask me the same question: with huge infrastructure, transport and housing issues affecting the region, why does Auckland Council spend ratepayers' hard-earned money on its tourism, events and economic development agency Ateed?

As industry, commentators and the public debate who should pay the bill for promoting Auckland's visitor economy, the question has become "Do we even need an Ateed?"

I have spent time looking at why the agency exists, what it does, and - most importantly - what benefit it delivers to Auckland and its ratepayers.

It's become clear to me that regional economic growth is a complex dynamic. Every major international city has some form of tourism promotion and economic development agency.

Cities compete in a demanding global environment. It's cheaper and easier than ever before to visit different destinations, and for investors, skilled migrants, students and companies to cross borders.

Unless we make Auckland's voice heard and secure the best for our region, investment and ultimately jobs and prosperity will go elsewhere.

Before Auckland Council came about in 2010, promoting Auckland was piecemeal. Central government promoted destination New Zealand, but not specifically Auckland, which was only positioned as a gateway.

The legacy councils did their best, but a single agency was needed to deliver the crucial strands of regional economic development.

Since then, Auckland's visitor economy has grown from less than $5 billion to more than $7.4b and 2.5 million international visitors a year. In 2016, the tourism industry employed 55,670 people in Auckland, up 5.6 per cent on the previous year. The sector is now our 8th biggest employer.

The major events work, and tourism and business events promotion undertaken by Ateed has played a major part in that growth.

Ateed's major events portfolio investment on behalf of council adds enormously to the vibrancy and excitement of Auckland and has generated new GDP of about $250m and nearly 1.5 million visitor nights to date.

Independent research shows incremental spending by visitors attending Ateed-secured major events alone has averaged $50m a year.

For example, the 2017 Downer NRL Auckland Nines brought in more than $8m with new incremental accommodation spend of $2.7m. Last year's Pop-Up Globe yielded $1.6m with nearly half a million dollars spent on accommodation.

Ateed pitched for and won a second rugby test match at Eden Park during the upcoming DHL New Zealand Lions 2017 tour. This means that our region will benefit twice by hosting the estimated 17,000 travelling Lions fans.

The World Masters Games 2017 has attracted 25,000 competitors - more than double the number of athletes at an Olympic Games. The games will bring nearly 250,000 extra visitor nights.

From a tourism marketing perspective, Ateed's long-term collaboration with Flight Centre to promote Auckland in the Australian market has fuelled a $30m increase in accommodation, transport and attraction packages.

The 30 international conferences Ateed has helped to attract to Auckland will add more than $35m to the regional economy. The agency's work has seen Auckland's cruise ship economy grow from $100m in 2011 to more than $250m in 2016.

The agency also does some great work supporting the growth of selected industries where Auckland is globally competitive, and is helping the city become an Asia-Pacific innovation hub.

Ateed has supported the development of the new Kumeu Film Studios and plays an important role in bringing international productions worth tens of millions to Auckland.

A key target growth sector identified in Council's Economic Development Strategy, production activity alone generated more than $900m annual gross screen production revenue in 2015. One recently completed production generated more than 13,000 visitor nights alone.

Assessing the real added value of each dollar spent through Ateed initiatives is not easy.

The consultancy PWC estimates the return on such work to be on average $4.40 for each $1 spent.

This council term we have strengthened the accountability mechanisms for all council-controlled organisations.

I want to see Ateed put more effort into showing their worth to ratepayers and I'll be expecting to see more tangible measures and results when they next report.

Which brings me back to "do we need an Ateed?" I say yes. But more importantly, should it be funded by the residential ratepayer?' I say no.

Auckland is challenged by its own success with a great need for infrastructure to support the growing number of people visiting and doing business here.

My challenge to Ateed is for them to use ratepayer funds as a last resort not a first resort, and work towards becoming Auckland's first essentially self-funded CCO.

Auckland needs Ateed because it adds so much more to our city than it takes. Having it pay its own way would make it even more of an asset.

Having your say on Easter trading

Easter means different things to different people. For some it is a special time of the year that has strong Christian meaning, others see it as a holiday; one of only three and a half days a year people can rely on having off work (those being Christmas Day, Good Friday and the morning of Anzac day). For others it is family time or an opportunity for a busy day of trading.

At present some areas are allowed to trade over Easter while others are not. This creates variability which is potentially unfair, prescriptive and lacking in transparent reasoning for those granted exemptions 

In August 2016 the Shop Trading Amendment Act 2016, came into effect giving Councils the power to decide whether shops in all or part of their district could trade on Easter Sunday from 2018.

The act whilst giving the choice to Councils, does protects the individual choice of shop workers. They can refuse to work on Easter Sunday and can bring a personal grievance if they are compelled to work or treated adversely for their choice. The Act also states that Councils cannot require shops to be open so on an individual and business level, freedom to observe Easter or spend time away from work is protected.

I didn’t believe that the mayor and Councillors should make a decision on Easter trading without consulting Aucklanders and  so that’s what we are doing.

At the time of writing, consultation on this is due to open in mid-May and run into June. For more information please visit www.shapeauckland.co.nz

Tamaki Drive/Ngapipi Road intersection works

Tamaki Drive was built during the Depression era and with over 33,000 traffic movements a day, is one of the busiest roads that directly enters Auckland’s CBD. The vision shown by our city forefathers to build a road along the Waitemata coastline to open up settlements between the city and St Heliers was quite outstanding. You have to admit even after 80 years its holding up pretty well considering the huge increase in vehicle movements and public use over that time. However there are sections that are showing great need of reinvestment.

 

The Tamaki Drive/Ngapipi intersection is one of those. In its current configuration, this intersection has significant safety flaws. There have been 21 crashes in the past five years, over 60% of which resulted in an injury. For an intersection that is unavoidable for many Orakei commuters as well as being the gateway to the eastern beaches and the CBD, statistics this bad are unacceptable and whilst there still remains the debate on roundabout or lights within our community Auckland Transport have confirmed the intersection will be signalized. This year works will start on delivering a major revamp of the intersection.

 

Vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists will be separated with safety the key driver for that decision. The separation of those modes of transport also meets the Tamaki Drive master plan direction which our community inputted into so well. Many wanted a roundabout as they (correctly) identified that lights will delay vehicle movements, but  an independent panel approved a design that will increase the space available for all road users including vehicles as well as controlling movements so that everyone is kept safe. The traffic signals will be connected to Auckland Transport’s operation centre so that signal phases are kept optimized and synchronized with the wider network.

 

In a perfect world Auckland Transport would do this work in conjunction with raising the section of Tamaki Drive before the intersection which regularly floods, but sadly, Auckland Transport’s prioritization logic and money didn’t follow that train of thought.

 

Value for Money in our Parks and Community facilities

Ensuring our town centres are clean, our parks mowed satisfactorily, our community centres well presented is core Council business and important for all communities. There has been ‘significant criticism’ of the levels of service in this area since amalgamation (don’t start me on losing our berm mowing). Local Boards have responsibilities for parks and community facilities but not the budget or oversight to monitor and improve the delivery of their maintenance. We have had different contractors responsible for different service tasks that specified the frequency of each activity but not necessarily the outcome. For example a lawn mowing contract might be to mow a park every two weeks. This would occur regularly throughout the year even though at times in summer, the grass hadn’t grown at all.   In the same park there potentially was one contract for mowing, another for weeding and another for tree maintenance. Each contractor would work independently and all ratepayers would see is days of orange cones!.

At our 30 March meeting I voted to change that. Now local boards will be able to work with communities to set the standard of outcomes and have those outcomes reported on every month.

This way the grass will be mowed when its need to be mowed not just because a set time has passed since it was last mowed and rubbish bins will be emptied before they are full. Contracts will be also grouped together so a visitation to one park will cover mowing, weeding tree maintenance all at the same time.

Its more efficient and effective. There are also added environmental and ecological benefits.

Mechanical edging for paths and playgrounds within parks has been negotiated as the standard service level within these contracts with year on year glyphosate reduction included. Monthly reporting on any herbicide use on a site by site basis will be provided to local boards too.

Suppliers and subcontractors will also be required to establish and document an environmental management system. At a minimum, this will monitor and measure energy conservation, water conservation, waste management and recycling.

Our beaches are beautiful, but how do you know they are clean?

A significant upgrade of Auckland’s Safeswim beach water quality monitoring programme will be delivered by Auckland Council in time for the 2017/18 summer swimming season.

Monitoring programmes have been in place at beaches in various parts of Auckland for the past 18 years but are now being updated. I seconded the motion to upgrade the Safeswim programme at the Environment and Community Committee meeting, using existing budget, to give Aucklanders not only current but forecasted information about water quality.

Although the water quality of our beautiful Ōrākei bays and beaches is generally good, there are still times that due to rainfall, tides and water temperature, the bacteria levels in the water make it unadvisable to swim in certain areas.

The new system uses sophisticated technology using information on rainfall, wind, tides and bacteria levels, enabling us to not only ‘read’ the water’s safety but to also to predict it.  The current system only reports the water quality that has already occurred and obviously that’s too late to be helpful.

Information gathered will be able to be promoted across multiple communication channels such as SMS and social media. The public can easily access water quality information in advance, allowing them to make informed decisions on when and where to go swimming.

This upgrade is an advanced tool to complement confirmed council projects such as the Central Interceptor Programme which will ultimately improve water quality as it will increase the capacity and resilience of central Auckland’s storm and wastewater networks so that wastewater overflows are much less frequent.

Putting the ‘control’ back into the Council Controlled Organisations

Since starting as a councillor for the Orakei Ward at the end of last year there has been some good progress towards the improved accountability and transparency of Auckland Council and the Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs).

CCOs are given a degree of independence from the Council by design, making it easier for them to operate commercially and to dedicate themselves to the task that they are focused on delivering for Auckland, be it Auckland Council Investments Ltd getting the best possible return on council’s commercial investments and shareholdings or Panuku Development Auckland’s role in making the most out of Council’s property assets. This freedom has at times created a source of tension between public expectations of CCOs to be transparent and accountable.

Late last year, after consultation with councilors at the Finance and Performance Committee, the Mayor sent detailed letters of expectation to each of the CCOs. This was an important first step in setting the tone for the relationship with the CCOS. These letters emphasised the need for CCOs to be accountable to the elected representatives and responsive to ratepayers and to transparently reflect their performance. Later in the year, the CCOswill respond to these letters with Statements of Intent, saying how they will operate in the coming year. Improving accountability in this area of Council operations will be an ongoing piece of work and a review of CCO Accountability is currently underway to ensure that Council is effectively and appropriately exercising control over the CCOs.

Some early steps taken include some good work by Auckland Transport and Panuku to improve the transparency of their organisations. Auckland Transport has recently published a list of its contracts, allowing the public to scrutinize the contracts that they have awarded. Auckland Council itself has been doing this for a number of years periodically publishing contract lists on the council website. Panuku has opened some its board meetings and is publishing the open board papers to improve its transparency. Given the nature of much of their work involves negotiating commercial deals this is something that can only be done in certain cases.

Transparency and Accountability: Victoria Ave Road Works

Business owners in Remuera contacted me recently,  concerned that the combined effects of several pieces of road works occurring on Victoria Ave would cause significant loss of revenue, and in some cases, threaten the viability of their business. Auckland Transport and their contractor had not followed the correct practice of informing affected parties and had neglected to tell the Remuera Business Association that works impacting on the footpath were even coming. On top of that they did not design the works in such a way that would allow normal business to continue.  To Auckland Transport’s credit, once alerted, the mistake was quickly admitted and corrected; the works were postponed and were split into two sections to minimise the effect on businesses with footpaths and carparks remaining open at all times.

As an elected representative I have a dual role in making the high level direction for the council and then in holding the council organisations to account in performing its duties. When this happens against a background of low trust and scepticism towards the organisation's ability to deliver there are additional challenges. Receiving an email that says that Auckland Transport will be responsible for putting shop owners out of business through failure to communicate is the sort of thing that can never be acceptable from an organisation that serves the public.