Auckland Transport’s chief executive has been the director of a consultancy firm awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in AT contracts during his time in the job.
Dean Kimpton has declined to answer the Herald’s questions on the matter since March. He stepped down as a director of the firm late last month, Companies Office records show.
Former AT chairman Wayne Donnelly said the board “went through a meticulous process about identifying and dealing with any potential areas of conflict of interests” during the recruitment process that led to Kimpton being appointed acting chief executive in April last year on an 18-month fixed term contract.
Mayor Wayne Brown said in his view the situation was “not a good look” and that he welcomed people looking into it.
“Conflicts are an issue for the board. They employ the chief executive and we don’t do that,” he said.
“Is there an issue of a conflict that has been fully declared?” Brown asked.
Kimpton’s case appears unheard of for a chief executive within Auckland Council and its council-controlled organisations (CCOs) and among chief executives in the core public service.
Kimpton was a director of the engineering consultancy firm, Blue Barn Consulting Ltd, from April 1, 2021 until June 27 this year.
Asked if the board was aware of Blue Barn’s existing contracts with AT at the time of the recruitment process, an AT spokesperson said: “The board was fully aware…hence the appropriate protocols were put in place.”
AT said since Kimpton began in the top job, Blue Barn was awarded 20 contracts worth $837,293 between April 1 last year and January 31 this year.
All except two contracts were awarded under a professional services supplier panel that Blue Barn was a member of.
The other two contracts were for seismic assessment work. AT said Blue Barn ceased being a panel member on November 30 last year when the term ended and was unsuccessful in securing a place in an open competitive tender process for a new panel.
Donnelly said Kimpton had no financial interest in Blue Barn.
“We did recognise there might be a perceived conflict of interest around Blue Barn but we set up management protocols so that Dean was not involved in anything involving Blue Barn, and I think that was reciprocated from Blue Barn.
“We were very clear and precise about management of conflicts of interest with Dean’s appointment given his consulting background,” said Donnelly, the acting chair of AT when Kimpton was appointed chief executive. Donnelly stepped down in November last year.
Council CCO governance manager Alistair Cameron said: “We are not aware of any CCO CEO having a conflict of interest of any sort. If there had been any conflicts our expectation would be that they would be declared to the relevant CCO board.”
“The CCO governance team has not been notified of any potential conflicts of interest relating to Dean Kimpton,” said Cameron, saying there is no requirement for CCO boards to report interest declarations of its chief executive to the council.
Cameron said council chief executive Phil Wilson has no conflicts of interest.
A spokesman for the Public Service Commission (PSC) said it was unaware of any of the 41 chief executives in the core public service being the director of a company receiving work from their agency.
Asked if the PSC would be aware of a chief executive having a conflict of interest and have a record of it, the spokesman said: “Public Service chief executives’ individual employment agreements include conflict of interest clauses, which require chief executives to identify and declare any actual, perceived and potential conflicts of interest to the Public Service Commission.”
“This is a continuing requirement. For any that are identified, the commission agrees a plan with the chief executive to manage them,” the spokesman said.
The PSC covers the government and is not responsible for local government.
After leaving Auckland Council in mid-2019 after six years as chief operating officer, Kimpton worked as a consultant to the infrastructure and construction sectors.
Asked if the board considered asking Kimpton to give up his role as a director of Blue Barn, Donnelly said the board took into account the AT job was for a fixed-term agreement of 18 months.
Kimpton has not responded to questions from the Herald. Instead, Donnelly and deputy board chairman Mark Darrow have responded to questions. Darrow said the board takes the proactive management of the disclosure of interests, and managing any conflicts of interest, very seriously.
He said as part of the recruitment process for a new chief executive, Kimpton fully declared his interests before being offered the position, and this was discussed between him and AT directors involved in the recruitment process.
“When he started his role in April 2023, the chief executive provided a formal declaration of his interests as part of our onboarding process, as is required of all AT employees.
“In 2024, we began including interests in our AT board agendas. This is part of a proactive effort to have disclosures available in a public forum. Prior to this, AT executives declared their interests annually.”
The Herald asked AT for written documents relating to the recruitment process, to which Darrow replied: “Recruitment documents are private to the recruitment process.”
Mike Lee, one of two councillors on the AT board when Kimpton was appointed, expressed concerns about the recruitment process.
Lee said the connection between Kimpton’s interest in Blue Barn being a conflict of interest was not raised as a problem that needed to be addressed as directors. The other councillor on the board at the time, Andy Baker, said Kimpton’s interest in Blue Barn was identified at the time of the recruitment process, management of that interest was put in place, and his interest is noted in the “Interests Register” in the board agendas.
Said Darrow: “Dean made full disclosure at the start and throughout. The board were aware of them. Interests were [and are] managed diligently and appropriately, with strong attention during final discussions.
Richard Leggat, the current chair of AT, said the board is in “constructive discussions” with Kimpton whose contract ends on September 30 and will provide a further update later this month.
“While not chair when Dean was appointed I have looked closely at the mitigations put in place at the time of Dean’s recruitment to the Fixed Term CE role to avoid conflicts with his Blue Barn director position. I am satisfied they were appropriate and sufficient and given the short-term nature of Dean’s contract, I believe his retaining the directorship was reasonable.”
