Consultant spend questioned
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Ashburton's council spent $1,118,973 on consultants in the past financial year.
But while councils can be accused of wasting money on consultants, the question should be around what an acceptable figure is when the work needs to be done, Ashburton's council chief executive says.
Ashburton District councillor Carolyn Cameron recently questioned how much the council was spending on consultants.
Chief executive Hamish Riach said people should think about the work as opposed to whether staff or consultants were the ones doing it.
"That’s just an input to get the job done.
“It’s just simply a way of getting the work done that council has approved.”
The council spent $1,118,973 on consultants in the 2022-23 financial year, down from the $1,124,084 in 2021-22.
The figures supplied by the council do not include multi-year projects.
The council also tendered a $3.67 million three-year three waters professional services contract that was awarded to Beca last year.
“We did that to try and speed up the delivery of projects,” Riach said.
“When we come to do a project, we know we are using Beca rather than having to tender the professional services [each time].”
Consultants are used throughout many areas of the council business, including engineering design and property services, to provide specific information for the council to make informed decisions.
But it is ultimately the council’s decision as to how any project proceeds, Riach said.
Consultants are used for a set fee and piece of work when the technical expertise sits outside the council’s workforce capability or capacity, Riach said.
“When there are the staff shortages that New Zealand is currently experiencing, or there are specialist skills needed that don’t sit within our staff group, or workload for staff means we cannot deliver outcomes without additional resources, consultants can help plug some of the gaps to ensure work is still delivered in a timely manner."
Tendered projects are made public, due to their higher dollar value or significance, as per the council’s procurement policy.
**Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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61.9% Summer
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36.6% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
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