KEY POINTS:
Senior Auckland City staff shrugged off the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance when introducing an expensive new logo, official papers reveal.
Documents obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act show chief executive David Rankin and the executive team took no account of the likely shake-up of local government when replacing the old logo for a wavy blue triangle.
The logo controversy means the council has ended up with four logos - two old and two new - which are likely to disappear in 2010 if the royal commission recommends major changes to Auckland governance.
In an internal question and answer sheet for staff about the new logo, change to Auckland governance was downplayed as something "that might occur at some unknown time in the future ... if it were to ever happen".
The logo is part of a rebranding exercise that, officially, has cost ratepayers $329,000. But the documents show the figure is nearer the $1 million claimed by a senior council source - not the $25,000 originally claimed by the council
The documents revealed a plan to "withdraw" and replace $312,000 worth of branding and new signage for the council's parking business, ParkRight, in "November/December" 2007. It is now planned to phase out the new signage.
The documents also show officers knew the new logo resembled the Triangle Television logo, but made no contact with the broadcaster.
Instead, they relied on legal advice from Buddle Findlay that the Intellectual Property Office had not cited similarities between the two logos.
The upshot was Triangle did complain about the new council logo, leading the council to redesign its logo for entertainment purposes at a cost of $37,000 in legal fees and design costs.
At last October's local body elections, where frontrunner John Banks was campaigning on claims of a culture of waste, brand and channel adviser Tania Perkinson emailed staff about the "highly politically sensitive" nature of the rebrand and the need to avoid the logo being leaked.
Only a handful of officers had access to the logo and suppliers had to sign confidentiality agreements.
A "low key" strategy was devised to introduce the logo to new councillors. This included a short memo - part of a "massive pack of information to sift through" - and a bag, umbrella and stationery carrying the new logo.
When flak over the logo started flying after the election and councillors refused to have the image on their business cards, Tania Perkinson vented her fury in an email to marketing manager Dale Clements.
"Quite frankly I think it is appalling that our own councillors do not endorse the logo of the council that they represent," she said.
The documents confirm the lengths executives went to to take ownership of the logo, which was only briefly shown to a handful of councillors and never put to a council committee.
