The Wellington Water fiasco
The Herald reports:
Wellington Water chairman Nick Leggett is right to “pause for thought” about whether his position is tenable, given the company he is accountable for has ripped off ratepayers.
More scathing reports about the water company’s failings have been released today – the latest of many reviews into Wellington Water in recent years.
The Taxpayers’ Union called the revelations “nothing short of scandal”, while Wellington City councillor Ben McNulty said the region has been “betrayed” by Wellington Water.
At least one mayor in the region has already called for Leggett’s resignation but another said that would be “stupid”.
The reports found Wellingtonians have been paying nearly three times that of comparable councils such as Hamilton and Christchurch for unplanned pipe maintenance.
The problems with Wellington Water go back many many years. Nick was only appointed in mid 2023 to try and fix the problems. His position may no longer be tenable, but no one should think the long standing problems at Wellington Water are the fault of Leggett.
Ultimate control of Wellington Water lies with the Wellington Water committee. They appoint the board and set the overall leadership and direction. The members are:
- Campbell Barry, Chair (Hutt Mayor)
- Ros Connelly, Deputy Chair (WRC)
- Anita Baker (Porirua Mayor)
- Tory Whanau (Wellington Mayor)
- Martin Connelly (South Wairarapa Mayor)
- Melissa Sadler-Futter (South Wairarapa Deputy Mayor)
- Wayne Guppy (Upper Hutt Mayor)
- Lee Rauhina-August (Mana Whenua)
- Helmut Modlik (Mana Whenua)
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said she was horrified by the higher costs ratepayers in the region were paying but said talk of resignations was “absolutely stupid”.
“Pat Dougherty and Nick as chair have led this report and driven these findings and it’s taken a while because we’ve needed to get a new chief executive so, I think what they’ve done is really good and I would not understand why you would want to throw that out.”
What the Councils should be doing is setting clear performance targets for the board such as that the costs of pipe maintenance should be no higher than other water entities.