A house hit by a landslide in Muriwai. Photo / RNZ, Tom Taylor
A house hit by a landslide in Muriwai. Photo / RNZ, Tom Taylor
A search is underway by Auckland Council for a recovery manager to respond to and recover from the impacts of the January floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.
With nearly a third of homes in Muriwai red-stickered, Piha facing great adversity and with the only way out of Karekare on foot, councillors today put out the SOS for someone to lead the recovery.
So far, the response to the storm-hit city has been handled internally, but the council is now reaching for powers in the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act for someone to perform the role of a recovery manager.
The act requires recovery to be led by a suitably qualified and experienced person, with the council saying the person should have senior executive or similar leadership experience, and a strong profile and reputation.
Houses came toppling down in Karekare after 16 slips in the area caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / RNZ, Leonard Powell
Once appointed, the recovery manager will report to council chief executive Jim Stabback. Council governance manager Phil Wilson, who has been overseeing the council’s response to the weather events, will be acting recovery manager in the interim.
The decision to appoint a recovery manager was taken at today’s extraordinary civil defence and emergency management committee.
At an earlier governing body meeting this morning, councillors received an update on the floods from Stabback and group chief finance officer Peter Gudsell.
Stabback said he was incredibly proud of the work staff have done to support Aucklanders.
“Given the extent of the impact of the flood and cyclone, our response will never feel like enough, but I can assure you our people have been incredibly committed. Over 2000 staff have been volunteering and working on a range of support activities,” he said.
For example, he said, from midnight on January 27 the catering team was delivering the first meals to evacuated people at the Kelston hub by 2am and since then delivered 28,000 meals to shelters and other emergency centres.
Gudsell said staff are still compiling the cost of the storms - Finance Minister Grant Robertson has given an early estimate nationwide of $13 billion - but said the council does have the short and medium-term financial ability to respond and recover from the events.
The remedies include debt, reprioritisation of work, insurance, rates and potentially Government support.
The financial impacts of the floods have come at a difficult time for the council with Mayor Wayne Brown’s first budget containing a $295 million hole and difficult cost-cutting proposals to balance the books.
With the council finances under the microscope, several councillors sought to tighten the screws on discretionary funding by Stabback, council, council-controlled organisations (CCOs) and Local Boards.
This led to a lengthy debate on an amendment to encourage managers to find discretionary savings and the inclusion/meaning of the words “encourage” and “discretionary”.
Brown said the amendment was an encouragement to officers and should be seen in that light, but several councillors were uncomfortable with how discretionary spending could be interpreted, and the impacts.
Manukau councillor Lotu Fuli said she could not support encouraging the stopping of discretionary spending if it meant stopping the flexibility there was to provide PPE gear to help the clean-up response at Mangere.
Manukau councillor Lotu Fuli.
Franklin councillor Andy Baker also opposed the amendment, calling it a waste of time when staff understand the situation facing the council “and don’t need us to keep telling them”.
Other councillors thought the council was not going far enough and the amendment should be worded to “direct” staff to find more savings. Albany councillor John Watson said the word “encourage” was an incredibly weak verb.
“It’s a grave financial situation,” said Waitemata and Gulf councillor Mike Lee, adding you “encourage” people to go and exercise.
