Poor management plagues Tauranga City Council in four major projects

Monday, 15 April 2019

A culture of finishing tasks, rather than achieving the best outcome, has been identified as an issue at Tauranga City Council (FILE).

Over promising and under delivering by Tauranga City Council has been identified as the cause for several major projects being flawed, a damning report has revealed.

The report, authored by Max Pedersen Consulting, investigated four embattled council projects all marred with issues ranging from unfinished consultation, bad project management, bad budget reporting, costing and omitting key details from the public.

An emphasis on staff to complete tasks, rather than facilitate the best outcome for the community, was identified in the report.

'There is a clear link between the culture of an organisation and its performance,' Pedersen said.

Mayor Greg Brownless said the Max Pedersen report into council culture was part of a 'warts and all' look at council process.

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'If consistently better performance is to be achieved by council staff, the culture needs to change so that the community is at the forefront of all services provided and projects that are undertaken.'

One project investigated by Pedersen was the Greerton Village Road upgrades where it was revealed key information about how congestion was likely to become worse after a major roading project was completed was omitted from consultation.

'The predicted negative impact of the project on traffic flow on the overall network from Cornwall Street to Pooles Road was a fundamental piece of information that should have been communicated to the community,' Pedersen said.

'The fact that it was omitted means that the community did not possess all relevant information about the project and accordingly could not reach an informed opinion about it.'

Another project was the $2.5 million Phoenix car park transformation which found 'unrealistic' designs which were more expensive than the budget would allow by about 40 per cent.

This resulted in a scaled-back version of the project which has significantly less green space and has been likened to a skate park by local residents.

Mayor Greg Brownless said the report was part of a 'warts and all' look at council instigated by new chief executive Marty Grenfell who replaced Garry Poole in August 2018.

'He [Grenfell] was aware there were certain projects where there have been concerns,' he said.

'He wants to get to the bottom of it as do we.'

Brownless said the report has been released in the public domain for the community to read.

'These issues have built up over a few years and it is what we are trying to change,' Brownless said.

Pedersen's report follows another damning report from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment into how council handled the Bella Vista Homes development.

The report showed council staff intervened with standard practices which contributed to the downfall of the development resulting in a $14.2 million payout to homeowners.

Councillors will respond to both reports at a council meeting on April 16.