Latest news with #TomBrooks
1News
4 days ago
- Politics
- 1News
Road works 'pointless' if bridge is underwater
A councillor is calling for a Bay of Plenty highway bridge to be raised and lengthened, in the wake of last week's flooding that closed the important route. The issues with Matekerepu Bridge turning into a "choke point" during flooding was discussed at an Ōpōtiki District Council meeting this week. Councillor Tom Brooks described the new Matekerepu roundabout as 'pointless' if traffic from Ōpōtiki couldn't get over the bridge less than 50 metres away. He said when the new roundabout was announced, he queried at an Eastern Bay Road Safety Joint Committee meeting why the bridge wasn't being replaced at the same time. The committee includes a representative from NZTA. 'I was told that there was no budget for that, and it was never considered.' He raised the issue a second time at a meeting of the joint committee last Friday after the bridge had been under water the previous day, cutting off traffic between Ōpōtiki and Whakatāne. ADVERTISEMENT He pointed out that there was no detour available when the bridge was closed. 'The nice new roundabout that is being built is superfluous if we can't get over the bridge,' he said. He described the bridge as a 'choke point' for traffic, not only from Ōpōtiki but from the entire East Coast, including Gisborne. He said he was sharing some thoughts with the secretary of the joint committee who would draft a letter to the Bay of Plenty Regional Transport Committee and the Minister of Transport about the importance of the bridge. He suggested other councillors put their concerns forward as well. He felt Gisborne District Council also needed to be made aware of the issue. 'Because that's one of the choke points for them if we're cut off with these storm events. The new Matekerepu roundabout is under construction, less than 50 metres from a bridge that becomes a choke point in flood conditions. Photo supplied The Matekerepu Bridge on State Highway 2 between Ōpōtiki and Wainui Road. (Source: Supplied/Karen Richardson) 'It affects the resilience of our town and up the coast.' He felt both Gisborne and Ōpōtiki should put pressure on the Government. ADVERTISEMENT 'If you're going to do something, let's do it once, and do it right. If that bridge was raised and had a bigger span, that water could go right under there.' Councillor Maxie Kemara agreed the bridge needed to be updated. He attended a pōwhiri at Roimata Marae at Kutarere earlier this year when the local hapū welcomed the contractors constructing the roundabout. "One of the NZTA staff got up and said it wasn't in the budget to update that bridge. They said there was a 20-year life expectancy left in that bridge.' Mayor David Moore said it was a good issue to raise with the Bay of Plenty Road Transport Committee. He made East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick aware of the issue last week when she visited the area. Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Scoop
01-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Over Budget And Late: Ōpōtiki's Most Difficult Audit To Date
The cost to ratepayers of having the annual report and other documents audited, both in auditor's fees and in staff time, was the subject of complaint from councillors at an Ōpōtiki District Council meeting on Tuesday. The council adopted its Annual Report for the financial year ended June 30, 2024 this week, four months after the due date. The report was due to be adopted by the end of last year but due to flow on effects of the late adoption of the Long-term Plan 2024-2025 and a difficult audit process, the council is in breach of legislation by not adopting it by the deadline. It will also incur extra auditing costs due to the longer than anticipated auditing process. A report by council management to Tuesday's meeting said the audit process had been one of the most challenging that Ōpōtiki District Council staff had experienced, to date. 'Long-serving staff members, who have been through multiple audits over many years, have expressed that this particular audit was the most difficult they have encountered,' the report said. 'Further investigation needs to be carried out to determine what key factors are contributing to this cost increase and what improvements can be made by council staff and Audit New Zealand to reduce the audit inefficiencies that are occurring.' While it is not yet known how much the audit process will cost, Audit New Zealand had previously quoted a fee of $231,429 including GST to complete the Annual Report audit, which was estimated to involve 975 hours work. This year's audit had taken more than 1630 hours. Councillor Tom Brooks suggested writing to the appropriate Government minister about the prohibitive costs of the auditing process. "It's between 1 and 2 percent of rates and the ratepayers of this community can't afford this sort of money.' He also felt auditing both the long-term plan and the annual plan, which is based on the long-term plan was 'doubling up' of work. Mayor David Moore agreed with Mr Brooks and said he also hoped to align with neighbouring councils and Local Government New Zealand to bring the matter to government. He would be raising the issue at the next Bay of Plenty Mayoral Forum. 'One voice is not enough. The more the better,' he said. Chief executive Stace Lewer said he had arranged a meeting with Audit New Zealand and the Office of the Auditor General to discuss how the process could be done more efficiently. He said audits played an important role in assuring communities that councils were delivering on what they set out to. 'I think it's a good opportunity to take a step back and review if there is an easier way to get the result that we want to without costing the community and staff time,' he said. He felt auditors could provide councils with better information about the information they needed rather than 'catching them out' with unexpected information requests. Audit New Zealand's David Walker said he understood the impact the auditing process had on smaller councils. He said a lot of what auditors did was driven through the Auditor General Standards which were what would need to be looked at if the process was to be changed. The audit report included two qualifications, identifying significant issues with performance measures relating to the time it took to resolve sewerage overflows and customer service requests relating to roads and footpaths. Mr Walker said changes in both contractors and internal staff from previous years had made the auditing process more difficult. 'They had obviously adopted their own way of doing things and we didn't have access to the supporting documentation. That led to us not being able to test and confirm the response times which led to the qualification,' Mr Walker said. He recommended putting better internal quality assurance processes in place and suggested looking at how other councils did these. The council achieved 50 of the 74 non-financial targets it had set for the year in its 2021-2031 Long-term Plan.
