Wellington Water chairman unlikely to be forced to resign after extraordinary meeting

By Nick James of RNZ

Wellington Water’s board chairman is unlikely to lose his job after an extraordinary meeting with the water provider’s leadership group.

Wellington Water released summaries of two reports last week, which showed its unplanned maintenance spending was far higher than that of four other comparative councils, and that it had not managed contractors well, with poor financial oversight.

In a covering note attached to the full report by infrastructure consulting firm Aecom released on Thursday, Wellington Water said its higher spend was because the network was older and in poorer condition – so it broke frequently and cost more to fix.

Wellington Water’s shareholding councils – Wellington City, Greater Wellington, Porirua, Hutt City, Upper Hutt and South Wairarapa – make up the Wellington Water Committee.

An extraordinary meeting to discuss the reports was called for the group and held this afternoon.

At the meeting, Wellington Water board chairman Nick Leggett said they had been making progress with fixing issues with the water company.

“I’m okay to take criticism for not having moved fast enough at times, because I’m really confident that the action we have taken has been significant.”

Leggett addressed claims of a conflict of interest with his chief executive role at Infrastructure NZ – a lobby group for the infrastructure sector – and a small not-for-profit organisation he runs.

Wellington Water chair Nick Leggett. Composite photo / Mark Mitchell, insert, Jack Crossland

Leggett said it did not seem there was any such interest that compromised him in either entity.

“Neither Wellington Water nor Infrastructure New Zealand have any financial or any other relationship that would be capable of leverage or influence to the advantage to myself or others.”

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau said it was clear she did not have the support to remove Leggett from the position.

“The issue with the Wellington Water committee is that it needs a unanimous vote for that to proceed, I don’t have that currently.”

On the topic of overspending, Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dougherty said the company would not spend money on reports to find out how much they had been overcharged on projects.

“It really is a question of how much money do you want to spend to look back?”

Dougherty said he would have a better idea on the overcharging when they started to get more competitive contract prices.

In the meeting, he spoke highly of Leggett and said it would be bad if he left.

“I can tell you from my point of view and the organisation’s point of view that would be a disaster.”

The reports highlighted that automatic payments had been set up to contractors.

Dougherty said that was the part of the investigations that most concerned him.

“That was the one that I absolutely hit the roof over.”

He would not release any details of the alleged fraud that related to a former staff member.

“I am not trying to be awkward but I don’t want to risk a prosecution.”

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