Fridays Dribbling On

16 October 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but almost never in any of the text for these Friday updates.

Quote for today and it’s from me this time: “I’d rather be an artistic engineer, than an architect who only knows how to build on sand”.

Hi people and this week I have some things to tell but also some things not, because as mentioned last week I am withdrawing my attention from Council areas where my interest is minimal or proper scrutiny not being allowed. First lets get over with the some things not: (i) the third (or fourth) Long Term Plan (LTP) capital works workshop you can watch HERE with AI summary HERE – nothing too riveting that I can tell and includes some stuff about erosion control and EUL land etc; (ii) the Reserves Management Plan workshop you can watch HERE with AI summary HERE – this is an endeavour I opposed going ahead in the first place because it doesn’t seem warranted, but you will hear more about it later when it gets public consulted.

Talkfest at your expense: Several of your Elected Members have been attending the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) annual conference, this year conveniently being held 14-15 October in Rotorua. Now I wouldn’t have bothered going if it wasn’t so close to home, and even though this Council pays around $90K annual membership you still had to fork out around $1500 for each of us to go.

But the food was excellent (pork belly cutlets were a highlight) in the lovely Rotorua gardens setting even in the rain, and some of the people I talked and met with were pretty good value even though I am sure there are cheaper ways of doing those things. For anybody interested in reading about it you can read the programme HERE, but its not very informative and none of the presenters were required to submit any papers with their thoughts in writing. I did see some video cameras around, but the last time I enquired with LGNZ about recordings the response was that they don’t have the funds or personnel – I have my sincere doubts about that, and reckon its rather they don’t want too many outsider eyeballs looking in. Compared to the engineering conferences which I have attended numerous occasions in the past (which are not overly exciting), the topics were pretty dry and not very solutions-oriented.

The upcoming amalgamations did of course get mention and Minister of Local Government Simon Watts was game to turn up and face a lot of heckles, like our own Councillor Wahine Murch’s which you can watch HERE – but I didn’t really glean a lot from the spinning central government party politicians who did come along or even if they have much of a handle on local government. But Nelson Mayor and former central government minister Nick Smith did make a pointed spiel about locally collected transport levies of $45M which he reckons should go to them rather than Wellington, although that idea clearly deserves proper scrutiny. Matamata-Piako Mayor Ash Tanner’s pointed claim that they are doing quite well enough and that any amalgamation would be detrimental to them was interesting – I suppose there must be a few well functioning Councils, but I have heard that claim too many times around here to believe it at face value. The minor highlights for me apart from the food and company, was the playground disaster roleplay exercise when a heckler brought up fluoride, and Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown whose anecdotes on rate capping since 1977 will undoubtedly be taken as ammunition from both camps. Although she indicated rate caps clearly drive innovation and thinking outside the square, her passing mention that voters would surely un-elect politicians if gross wasteful spending was detected seems a little naive considering the Kiwi politically lethargic psyche.

I did have a chat with an employment agency for Chief Executives, and he agreed that New Zealand is very much a rotating inner circle for these people and the modern world expectations on them to in-depth understand all aspects of Council business is indeed quite inhuman. What else did I learn of value at the conference? Not much really, except only anecdotal things such as local government have to keep and maintain 25% of the nations infrastructure on only 10% of the tax take which is so grossly unfair – but as I said, this conference is very much off the public record and any outside scrutiny of what gets said is not made easy. So our Council Daisy felt quite at home, and perhaps she is feeling complacent that forced change isn’t coming like happened in 1989 as Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roache who recalls an LGNZ conference in 1986 where 99% of participants were dead against it. Oh yes, and Taupo District Council won the SuperLocal Award first place for the East Urban Lands (EUL) which is delivering cheap housing for locals.

Okay that’s enough about the party, so what other tidbits have we got?

So that’s how they did it: Remember last week I mentioned how Waikato District Council last financial year managed to keep rates at inflation and also get a surplus? Well it turns out they did it by getting rid of over a quarter of their staff or 125 of their roughly 450 employees, as you can read about HERE (including an expensive Chief Executive who resigned, but I suppose they will have to get another one of those). Wow that’s impressive alright, and it really does appear that their new mayor Aksel Bech is a guy who actually went in with a plan. Their Strategy and Growth group will be completely disestablished – the people who work on long-term planning, district development, housing supply and economic strategy. Perhaps its just because I am a mere doer engineer, but I have always wondered about the value of those people myself.

Smart contractors know how to game the system: That is my experience, and following some recent conversations I’ll try to tell some of my tidbits of wisdom below. Smart/disingenuous mean pretty much the same, and for jobs which really blow out it is usually the client who is most at fault. Contractors or consultants pretending to be naive about potential pitfalls can get paid dividends, and I have seen that happen first hand. Council clients who know much less about the job than the tenderer are at their mercy, a recent example which springs to mind is the $400k being forked out to a Christchurch consultant to tell us we need an $80M transport solution for Taupo town. At this Council we also have the Chief Executive with authority to discretely shovel up to $500K between contracts, and poof! that means we can have some perfect storms which hardly anybody notices. If a client can’t tell the difference between good and bad then the cheapest price will often win, and in a small town like this it probably also pays to be well connected (one of my former consultant engineer bosses made it his business to befriend key clients over coffee and lots of extras, a bit hit and miss but I have to acknowledge it helped educate that we were indeed the best option and it did get us work). Unlike yesterday, Councils are not the most rewarding and stimulating places they once were for motivated and experienced staff to stay on and innovate, so its the smart-ass contractors who will stay in business and nice guys who try to factor in all the eventualities who won’t often win. The moral of the story to all of this and I hope it doesn’t sound negative: its all about the client.

Sloppiness under the microscope: New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) released an audit report of Taupo District Council practices which you can read HERE (happens every several years), and I give an AI generated summary below in italics. I have noticed before the incomplete nature of safety audit reports from this Council – as in, somewhat vague record of just who exactly is taking responsibility. If some of you remember the Arrowsmith Avenue/ Kiddle Drive debacle around 2019, I pursued it further at the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) regional office to try and get them to understand that if they are dishing out swathes of money then perhaps they should keep an eye on how it is getting spent (road safety projects in general get around 50% subsidy). However, although the experienced middle management engineer I spoke to agreed with my sentiments he had no authority to intervene. By the time I escalated to the senior manager who could intervene, I was talking to a somebody who claimed it wasn’t in his job description to even properly understand. I have been down that road before at another large public institution (Auckland Transport), and it can be safe to say that I am not a great believer in the management ethos which preaches they don’t need ground experience in the field. In this regard I believe Councils are much worse than the private sector because accountability for results is much rarer, with senior management too often there for political reasons and relevant experience just one factor. Remember: Councils almost never go bankrupt, so the only real limit to their sloppiness is you at the voting booth. The AI summary if the NZTA report:

“A recent NZ Transport Agency audit of Taupō District Council’s roading operations has highlighted some important issues around value for money, road safety and long-term maintenance. While the auditors acknowledged that our roads are generally in reasonable condition and commended the capability of Council’s roading team, they also identified areas requiring improvement. Of particular concern was the finding that Council has not been routinely undertaking the required financial assessments to demonstrate that pavement rehabilitation and drainage renewal projects represent the best whole-of-life value for money. The audit also found that many of the road safety audits examined were incomplete, with insufficient documentation of how identified safety concerns had been addressed. This is particularly relevant given recent public concerns about the cost of some Council roading safety projects. Although the NZTA findings do not establish that those particular projects were overpriced, they reinforce the importance of transparent decision-making, robust financial justification and proper safety assessments. Ratepayers should be able to see not only that a project improves safety, but also that the expenditure is justified, proportionate and delivers genuine value for money”.

Dare to complain: For those of you unhappy with anything Council or any other government organisation, the Ombudsman has recently put out some advice for using AI for making complaints which you can read HERE. I really think they are trying to make their own life easier, but fair enough if it helps you get an answer any quicker. But my own experience with the Ombudsman is very hit and 90% miss because their jurisdiction is so very narrow, and my better bet is to broadcast any of my dissatisfactions to you.

Bad vibes from those in charge: Rotorua Lakes Council on behalf of Rotorua Airport is currently opposing on safety grounds the proposed expansion of a nearby maori-language immersion school which you can read about HERE. The school isn’t too happy because this opposition is going to load them with extra costs, and I must admit it is seeming a mite miserable because if a plane crashes into them it will already be quite bad. Is there more to it than just that?

Be enlightened if you dare: Ever wondered what your Covid so-called conspiracy theorist relatives are on about? Perhaps if you watch THIS you might have something to talk about this coming Christmas apart from just the weather, when you are obliged to socialise for a few excruciating hours.

Fridays live is life, so this week try to make the best of it:

Fridays Open Your Eyes

9 October 2026

Ecclesiastes 3:7 reads pretty much how I view my approach at Council: “A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak…”

Hi folks it is that time of the week again, and this post on Council is on the shorter side. We had the Long Term Plan (LTP) workshops pressing on, which I mostly haven’t bothered to attend since my last Tuesday experience which told me they aren’t being chaired to allow what I would call proper scrutiny of the staff led direction forward. However the yesterday Water Services I decided to turn up, and have used AI to produce some very helpful timestamped summaries for you to hone in on the things you might be interested in (links given below). What an amazing tool is this AI now at our fingertip disposal, so I suppose we will just have to get used to having more of those data centre thingies popping up around the place.

But the sour taste still remains – it is all very well to once every three years come up with a future plan, but locking it in as this Council does with few worthwhile check-ins to Elected Members in the interim is just not on. I think of my former experience at Waitakere City as an engineer, and can only imagine what the former members of Henderson Community Board would think of all this – they functioned very much like the empowered local boards would under my Waikato Together amalgamation concept, and I regularly had to present my projects for their approval which got turned down more than just a couple of times (and present all throughout the year one by one and properly, not just rattling through them all at once). I can tell you one thing – back then if I had suggested we run things like here in Taupo, I would have been laughed out of Henderson Chambers! The horse has indeed been ahead of the cart so long, there’s nobody around to pick up let alone see the dung behind – oh that’s right, its you.

Okay lets rattle them off shall we?

Roads, Reserves and playgrounds galore: Tuesday was part 3 of the LTP series, a 5 hr marathon which you certainly don’t have to watch if you don’t want (but if you do then watch HERE). As promised, here is my AI timestamped meeting 7-page summary. The theme was basically for Elected Members to indicate ‘Include‘, ‘Maybe‘ or ‘Exclude‘ projects on the basis of presented merits, but I can tell you the provided information was very skimpy indeed. I have requested pdf copies of what we get to hopefully share with you next week, but in the meantime below is a snippeted example of a project which I previously estimated could be done for several-fold less expense (the Chemist Warehouse intersection in town at an estimated $970K – which present Elected Members nominated to ‘include‘). Three million in todays dollars is roughly what I used to have allocated for minor safety improvements at Waitakere City pop. 200K, and I think there is no way we should be expending anywhere near much on fairly trivial intersections as these.

Water, water everywhere but soon enough not to drink: Yesterday we had the Water Services workshop for LTP capital projects which I did decide to attend, another 4 hr epic (watch HERE) but with a much more palatable AI timestamped 9-page summary you can read HERE. There were a bunch of items covered in water, wastewater & stormwater, and basically the format here was a staff presentation of the ‘musts‘ and ‘shoulds‘, although perhaps because we had a different chairperson there was no move to voting whether to ‘include‘. By the way if you hadn’t worked it out by now, water services are not currently proposed to be rate capped like the rest, and this is a serious shortcoming I feel. Clearly it is subjective opinion whether we really need to do many of the projects presented before us as ‘musts‘, and the necessity for some of them are dependent on extraordinary events such as an earthquake or lake algae bloom. My own view is that because Taupo is a relatively new town and we don’t have falling apart infrastructure like some, there really is no excuse we should be spending more than the inflation which ratepayers can afford. In my opinion it is just that simple, and we should be sticking to the 2-4% mandated by government as per the rest of Council expenditure. Hear me again: no excuse. But I am certainly in the very small minority of Chambers who am thinking along these lines, and on stating this yesterday received no accolades just a few sniggers. Shall I say it?…Ugh.

That’s enough of that, so what else do we have going on?

Why can’t we do that? Waikato District Council managed to end with a $26.7M operating surplus for 2025/26 which you can read about HERE. They also managed a 3.79% rates increase in that period, so it sounds as if they are certainly on the right track and could be a good partner to amalgamate with. I wonder what the government will next year decide for us?

Google better than signs: There was apparently some tensions near Turangi last week with the NZTA road closure of SH1 Waiotaka No.2 Bridge for several days, and all because some people chose to take the detour route of Waiotaka Road instead of driving all around the other side of the lake. But Waiotaka Road includes a small ford not exactly suitable unless you have a 4WD, so perhaps next time NZTA had better talk to Google because nowadays people drive by their phones and don’t necessarily see the warning signs.

Modus operandi common thread: The Ombudsman is apparently looking into allegations of secrecy in the Education Ministry which you can read about HERE, basically alleging bully tactics of management to public servants to not write things down. In my experience this absolutely applies to Councils too, and especially the one I talk about most.

Napier Highway $1M windfall: Recall a few months ago that I posted about the $1M job which Taupo District Council recently finished building? Those interested can read this consultant report which I subsequently LGOIMAed. Now it is clear that some thought did go into this with a few options explored – but I simply disagree the way things like this get handled. This was a $1M job left entirely to engineering judgement, and although it is of course too late now I would have preferred the much cheaper pictured option been taken more seriously. Yes the bank is failing and yes we seem to have made that problem go away, but I can think of better ways to spend $1M and buying time by moving the road further away from it was an entirely legitimate proposition. So another somewhat ‘ugh’ that Elected Members don’t get their proper say and that it just gets left to the engineers – back in the day it wouldn’t have happened in Henderson.

Under the gun: State of Florida is suing Pfizer don’t you know, which you can read about HERE – remember them? Florida’s complaint under its consumer protection law seeks $10,000 per violation plus disgorgement of profits, which sounds a mouthful but I am guessing could add up to quite a lot. I recall an educated pundit saying around 2022 that by the time these drug companies get revealed the ones responsible would be long gone and the money hidden away – I am guessing that will be the case but hope it isn’t.

Fridays don’t put on the glasses if you want to stay asleep:

Fridays Feast of Fools

2 October 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but almost never in any of the text for these Friday updates.

Edgar Allen Poe has a quote from the Cask of Amontillado (1846) which pretty much sums up my experience of Council this week: “Ugh! ugh! ugh! – ugh! ugh! ugh! – ugh! ugh! ugh! – ugh! ugh! ugh! – ugh! ugh! ugh!”.

Councillor Duncan here, and this week in Council has crossed a new threshold which I didn’t expect so soon and to which I see no clear path to return. Interestingly it was spurred by the same issue as last term and in a similar timeframe, about a topic I know deeply because it falls within my profession: the Taupo Northern Gateway project (or Northern Access as I have been referring to it). My challenge to the set direction was firmly sidestepped, which I knew would be attempted but was still disturbing enough that my apologies in advance if much of the following comes across as even more of a rant than usual.

So on Tuesday we had the first of our Long Term Plan (LTP) capital programme workshops (watch the full 2 hrs HERE) where as by far the most expensive item at $80M this got covered first – and it was nothing short of a predicated whitewash. Since 2022 I have taken great interest in this project with my own proposed way forward which I had been led to believe would be given opportunity to table – but just one hour before the meeting Mayor John Funnell said no! Instead all that we were permitted were questions to the staff and attending consultant (who flew up from Christchurch) about their own preferred option, and one which is pretty clear won’t be happening for decades because government funding is unlikely and forecast growth on the north side of the bridge is less than predicted (i.e. to accrue the developer contributions required to pay for around 70% of the project). So the reality is that Taupo town traffic won’t be getting better for a very long time unless we come up with something a lot more affordable. That something is what I have developed for free and which the Mayor didn’t allow me to table, instead only offering me backroom presenting out of public view – which is something I steadfastly refuse to do again after my recent Waikato Together experience that never saw the light of day on Council public record. But more dismally is that virtually all of the other Councillors agreed with the Mayors approach, largely on the basis that, and I am not making this up (my paraphrasing)“if we all were allowed to present our own ideas in Chambers there would never be enough time”!! I can only think that perhaps those others just don’t have any good ideas they are confident worth sharing.

This Council has already blown $300K on consultants to do work much of which we could have done ourselves, and are about to spend another $100K or so carrying it on. It is appalling and should be scandalous, and from my perspective most of all we have Deputy Mayor Kevin Taylor to blame – he is the one who chose to withhold information from the rest of Elected Members in 2024 which directly led to deciding on an $80M solution which might not happen in our lifetimes. To say this whole guttery episode is distressing is an understatement, and I am reluctant to participate in many future “workshops” which I now see as nothing more than brain washing sessions where alternative points of view are refused coverage. So this Council will have spent over $400K to basically achieve nothing constructive for the foreseeable future, and all because of petty politics and protecting some magnificent egos. And don’t be fooled people, it is not the system at fault here and I see this as the people you voted in to govern. Amalgamation might fix some things, but if voters keep on electing a bunch of people who are happy enough to rubberstamp everything put in front of them, then not much will change with your (probably capped) rates bill except perhaps a reduction in basic services. So its ugh alright, and for this term at least never have I viewed the place and people so low. At very least this episode should belie the fallacy that capital projects get line by line scrutinised, because this is the biggest line of all and it received none.

Okay so apart from getting that off my chest, what else have we got going on?

Sorry you feel that way: In case you were listening on Tuesday and didn’t know what he was on about, watch HERE for Mayor John Funnell’s roundabout apology for my recent labelling of dummy-like behaviour by a number of Elected Members last month. I rather think that it is time Councillors do some growing up to be able to take some criticism, but as per below it is possible something may have shifted.

Political views allowed but only just the one: On Tuesday I submitted my Notice of Motion Item 5.10 (which you can watch HERE, and for my transcript read HERE) advocating for Councillor views to get reinstated in ratepayer funded Council media (eg. Councillor Korero in Taupo & Turangi News), and also to be less censored than before. Apart from Councillor Hope Woodward it was unanimously voted down, but at least there was more than zero debate this month so was an improvement. What still somewhat astounds me though, is that we have a room full of politicians who aren’t interested in reaching people with their own views alongside the corporate messages of Council as does get practiced elsewhere – especially print media for the many people who are digitally disinclined. So I guess they aren’t as motivated springboards for change or have given up hope, because silence is the recipe for status quo to remain. Of mild interest there was a brief fracas at the beginning of that item with a member of the public wanting to make their own video recording – which was something I was going to do myself, but according to interpretation of these Chambers I apparently have less rights than a member of the public so had to ask someone else instead (the current setup does not record the rest of the room during speaker time, and the Chief Executive told me it would cost $10K to do it!). However I neglected to read the fine print from Standing Orders below, that the chairperson is meant to be notified at the commencement of the meeting when they only arrived part way through, because rules matter you know…

Other bits and bobs: There were a few other mentions during Tuesday meetings which I can recall: my of course repeating about rubberstamping exercises in Chambers; a dubious decision about power of attorney that I was apparently alone to not understand but four others voted against (watch HERE); my mention that the fireworks cancellation was not decided in Chambers (watch HERE for the outraged squeals); and my mention that although Water Services won’t be rates capped we can voluntarily chose to do so (watch HERE, including some later responses that we need to follow the rules and the Commerce Commission will apparently save us from overspending – which I know they have told us they won’t). Oh yes there was also the Part 2 LTP capital works brainwash session on Thursday which I declined to attend, a marathon 5 hour effort which I downloaded the transcript to instead produce this AI summary – in future I’ll be doing this more to save myself the hassle of attending, and if I have any questions can always LGOIMA them through to staff.

Five Mile Bay part VII: I have been writing to the Minister of Conservation Hon Tama Potaka about the illegitimate occupation of public reserves, and was recently forwarded this response from the Department of Conservation which boils down to this: Usually a public reserve administered by a public body if they aren’t living up to their obligations, could be subject to Section 27 of the Reserves Management Act (see below) to revoke ownership administration back to the Crown – but because these were part of a Treaty Settlement it doesn’t apply. So if the Te Kotahitanga O Ngāti Tūwharetoa (TKNT) failure to live up to its obligations and put in a Reserve Management Plan with public access (now at least two years overdue) is to be challenged – that appears to mean by individual citizens or organisations in the High Court. My response to the Minister is asking just what he is prepared to do about this very unsatisfactory shortcoming in the legislation and his supposed jurisdiction. Will keep you posted.

Don’t be fooled: Its nice to waste less, but our landfill consent which expires the end of 2027 wouldn’t be a significant problem except Taupo District Council have left it much too late to clear Environment Court hurdles and we will quite likely be paying up very large because of it.

Giving it away: Much better spoken than myself Rotorua Councillor Robert Lee lost a battle last week to apparently prevent the giving away of $250K of Council income to local Iwi via some revesting of Council administered reserves, previous gifts now being reclaimed. But if you watch the linked “debate” – ugh, its almost impossible to properly debate anything at all when the chairperson uses their position to disrupt the flow of conversation, not to mention flippant point of orders by other members. I would like to say it is just ignorant behaviour but too often its intentional, and having said that the Rotorua chambers come across as a little more civilised than here.

Back from the brink: Santas parades back on the cards for 5 December thanks to a last minute efforts by SB Events managing director Shannelle Barrett and I gather Mayor John Funnell also lent a helping hand – so he does have his uses even if he is liable to give short shrift to democracy in Chambers and therefore to you.

Ever wonder what they get paid? I was forwarded an interesting spreadsheet of Taupo District Council staff salaries from a LGOIMA request as per snippet below, its only indicative but gives you a glimpse to decide if you think they are under or overpaid:

Auckland scraps postal voting for local elections despite the “eye watering” cost of $10 per ratepayer which seems good value to me, apparently mainly due to integrity and fraud concerns in South Auckland last election. Yes, I think that could be good for here too, what do you think?

Iwi in or Iwi out? Iwi want to demolish the Chateau read about it HERE. Now I don’t know all the details and am only reading the tea leaves as I see them: The reason that the Chateau is not commercially viable is because of Iwi, and Iwi now want it gone. Please tell if you think I’ve got it wrong.

Crux of the matter: Read here for Queenstown Crux media taking on the Council for a $200M blunder. I wish we could have as polished local investigative reporting here in Taupo, then I could take a rest.

Criminals in charge: Yesterday Dr Matt Shelton begins a two week disciplinary hearing before the NZ Medical Council for which he has waited for five years unable to work as a doctor for the duration. His “crime”? In August 2021, while practicing as a GP, Dr Shelton apparently sent the following text to his 600 patients enrolled at his clinic: “Hi [name], your GP, Dr Shelton here. I cannot in conscience support Covid vaccination of, particularly, children, and pregnant and fertile women, from my assessment of current risks and benefits, best explained at [NZDSOS website) All to make their own best decision”. You can send your messages of support for Matt HERE

Fridays foolish catchy tune, but is he madman or a genius?

Fridays Much Ado About Nothings

25 September 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but almost never in any of the text for these Friday updates.

Matthew 10:16 tells us something most politicians can’t be accused of including probably myself too much of the time, but if it comes from God then it must be true: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves”.

Well, well, what about it then. The government has decided to hold off on their Council amalgamation decision until after the election, instead of announcing it this month as originally planned. So I guess instead of scaring the horses at this inopportune moment, they must really want to win this to-the-wire election instead. So touché, bravo and well played Prime Minister Luxon, and I have to admit not seeing that one coming but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense. Politics is a ruthless human game after all, and it takes ruthless types to excel.

Apart from that, what did we have on at Council this week? Nothing! For the first time in quite a while Elected Members had a whole week off, no meetings or workshops or anything at all! I took it as a very welcome break after some of the recent few months tumultuations, and yesterday even managed a bluebird day in the snow. Because this role can suck it out of you at times, and its not for the fainthearted if you want to stay true. Next week is looking a little busier though, and I will rattle off a few of the more important things below:

Northern Access Workshop: Next Tuesday we have the first of our Long Term Plan (LTP) Capital Programme Workshops starting at 10am, where the Northern Access project is scheduled to be discussed (that’s the $80M project for the new Waikato river bridge). It was originally supposed to happen this week, but for undisclosed reasons was deferred. Yes I do have a grievance because just like the Joint Management Agreement and countless other things that happened last term, this Council’s behind-closed-doors modus operandi makes things more complicated than they need to be. Anyway I expect to be finally able to properly table my idea for a three-lane bridge and Waikato Street connection which has been playing on my mind since 2022. Because $80M is a lot of money and its the biggest LTP capital item by far, and guess who’s paying for it: You. By the way anybody in the transport profession like me who have practiced in cities are basically socialists by profession – who do you think decides that for the betterment of everybody, people need to get on buses?

Publicity but only for those more equal than others: Next Tuesday at the monthly Council meeting (read the agenda HERE) I am tabling a Notice of Motion item 5.10 that Council funded media include some coverage for Elected Members. For example you may recall the Councillor Korero inserts which used to be in the Taupo & Turangi Times? They took a required pause during the local government elections of 2025 but still haven’t been reinstated, just why that is the case is still not clear. Not every constituent is digitally inclined or even tunes in to Duncandoestaupo.com, so I think it is important that you get to hear how Elected Members are thinking whether they feel like talking or not. There is also the question of political messaging: I figure that because Councils are political organisations and “politician” happens to be our job description then you are entitled to hear our views, but that is contrary to the previous Taupo District Council guidelines which said “no political messaging”. I want those guidelines changed because if its okay for Mayor John Funnell to espouse on Council media his own political messages, then it should be okay for the rest of us too.

Here’s the solution but where’s the problem? Item 5.4 at the Council meeting is to do with powers of attorney, and like anything legal its convoluted but here my antennae are up. I don’t take anything to do with this Council for granted anymore, and I note my favourite Deputy Mayor gets special mention in this piece. People say in this business we should be free of personal angst, but in a place where accountability is in short supply – what really else is there? Anyway it is what it is, and I have my suspicions. Anybody who is a lawyer out there is welcome to contact and allay my concerns.

Apart from that, what else do we have?

What about that bypass? I forgot to mention one thing from my meeting at last weeks Waikato Regional Council (WRC) Transport Committee meeting in Hamilton – the Taupo to Turangi Bypass running between Hatepe and Motuoapa. This was a project scoped out back in 2017 at quite some expense as you can see with this SH1 Taupo to Waiouru Indicative Business Case (IBC). However the NZTA web page on the close to $1B project more or less sums it up: “has not progressed due to changes in priorities and funding”. But what a great thing when it does get to happen (will be a toll road most likely), estimated to save 14 min drive time and then we get a lakeside road for meandering tourist traffic only (a downside is that Taupo District Council gets to own and maintain it)

Not what they said it would be: Well the Local Government Improvement Bill just got past its third reading, but the Taxpayer’s Union (TU) isn’t too happy because they claim it only strengthens a Council Chief Executives hand to hold on to information that Elected Members seek. Watch HERE for the interview with Minister Simon Watts. Last week I shared a submission of mine to this bill, but I clearly misunderstood because its far too late for that – and if they won’t listen to TU then they wouldn’t have listened to me anyway.

Just good business? Watch HERE for Duncan Garner talking about the trebling of Taupo District Councils rental arrangement with Tuwharetoa which most of us have already heard about, but he is also quite incensed about a culture of information clasping which I can absolutely attest to. Information is generally only released on a “need to know” basis, and this has been one of my major frustrations the past four years. Is it perhaps just a coincidence that our Deputy Mayor is an ex-senior policeman, and that happens to also be the attitude of NZ Police?

Anyway it has stimulated myself to ask some questions, because as far as I was aware the building lease was already a done deal by the time I arrived as an Elected Member in 2022 (and it wasn’t on my radar list of priorities anyway). But I now have suspicions that it actually wasn’t a done deal: What if it was an option to not go through with, but never tabled? It has certainly happened before alright, but back in 2022 I was too green to have a clue.

Because we say so: Far North Councillor Davina Smolders recently put out an interesting post about confidentiality which you can read HERE. As an Elected Member the first thing I always challenge is the need for confidentiality in the first place, because that decision itself can be subjective. The Council staff response can be legitimate, but too often is effectively just: “because we say so”. In addition, some documents are held electronically not shareable including those not deemed “classified”, so feeding it through AI for advice is that much harder – I had a lot of problem with that last term, so far this term things are somewhat better.

Fridays sci-fi premonition of the week: Council Daisy in 2027?

Friday Stormclouds Gather

18 September 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but very rarely in any of the text for these Friday updates.

Accountability matters very much in positions of leadership, something we don’t always see a lot of in local government. And as said in Luke 16:10: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much”.

Not too much happened again this week in Council, as we await the axe to fall probably within the next ten days as the government tells us where we will be placed or left alone. As I mentioned a few weeks ago it seems like that we really could be left alone, because the National party really do want to get back in power and not rock the boat so that means their former promise of “we will do it to you” is now sounding rather hollow. I hope that doesn’t happen because the thought of things carrying on as they are for too much longer is quite hard to bear, so we will just have to see if the wave of change arrives and lethargic Council Daisy is required to amend her ways.

On that note there has been a recent report on what some Waikato Councils spent on consultants for their Head Start amalgamation efforts. Five Councils spent $300K with Thames-Coromandel (pop. 33,000) top of the pack at $181K with Hamilton City just $29K. For something as momentous as the first re-organisation of Council in nearly 40 years I think these figures are fairly pipsqeak, and the $0 which Taupo District Council spent is a reflection of its reluctance to see past its own nose. Elected Members and the people of Taupo district did not receive unbiased information about the potential gains for reform and it really shows. Anyway, lets cross that bridge next week and see what happens.

As for rates capping, instead of tackling the problems at their root the only recent messaging from Council leadership is cancelled firework displays, promises that basic services will inevitably suffer, oh and by the way your water bills will be getting higher because rates caps don’t apply to them. Incidentally I don’t think amalgamation is the only way to sort this Council out, but it sure is coming across as very convenient. The power of a Mayor to change anything is discussed in this somewhat despairing article, but the way I see it is that whenever Elected Members are scattered the Chief Executive can easily have their way. I had something of a workaround plan in my election campaign of 2025 and it doesn’t get around that, but at least I had a plan which is more than can be said for some.

On other things:

Who pays the bill? We had a Risk & Assurance workshop this week on Natural Hazards which you can watch HERE. This is largely on the back of the recent Mount Maunganui landslide disaster where Tauranga City Council is looking to be at fault even though nobody in particular seems to be held to blame, and this is a topic now receiving wider scrutiny in national media (pay walled). My basic take is that Taupo district is much luckier than most because we are away from coast, major fault lines and severe weather, and we only have a few volcanoes which hardly ever stir. But there is an interesting mention of the steep bank situation near Waihi Village which is on private land and quite a comparable situation to Mount Maunganui. My question of who is responsible or held accountable if a disaster happened there remains unanswered until we get some fuller reporting in November – so just like Tauranga, I am guessing it is nobody.

What about Turangi? I attended a very interesting meeting at the Waikato Regional Council Transport Commitee on Monday, which is usually quite geared to other transport challenges in our region much greater than ours like Hamilton Metro and Thames-Coromandel single-lane bridges falling into the sea. But we had a few things fall nicely into place which highlights what I think is the No.1 transport problem of the Taupo District – inadequate access to public or alternative transport.

For instance we had people from Raglan submit a petition for an improved bus service to that now in place, so that commuters coming back from Hamilton don’t have to wait all the way until the last bus at 6.15pm to get back home (which is also inconvenient if they want to stay in town for dinner). Watch the ten min public presentation HERE. This is a very comparable situation with Turangi, because Raglan has a population of around 3,700 (smaller than Turangi) and the distance to Hamilton quite similar to Taupo – yet Turangi doesn’t even have a daily service, and much more reason for a commuter bus given its higher social deprivation (I gather Work & Income won’t even consider clients for Taupo jobs because of the prohibitive travel cost). So as this Councils representative to this committee, I am now making it my top priority to get this sort of disparity addressed in the Waikato Regional Public Transport Plan which we will be working on early 2027. It could look something like below which I am developing and looks quite promising, so watch this space.

Tiresome but necessary: Submissions to the Local Government (Management of Local Authorities) Amendment Bill are due today, so thought that I had better submit something about sorting out the role of Elected Members which you can read HERE (WARNING: it was 98% produced by AI so is very long-winded), and I also intend to submit in person. My take is that the legislation should answer a practical question: What changes on the first working day after it comes into force? In its current draft form I strongly suspect: not much.

Taupo fireworks again: This time its Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board (TMTB) sticking their oar in, stating they don’t want them back over the lake again because of the rubbish left behind last time. I don’t quite understand why a few firecracker wrappers would cause much concern just once a year and some are quite rightly calling out that there are much greater polluters around, but as owners of the lakebed it seems to be their call. At least they are being forthright is all I can say, unlike slippery Council where Mr Nobody is apparently responsible for the decision last month to cancel.

Bed Tax out but visitor levy in: According to my sources, Taupo District Council will receive around $2M each year for the next four years from the distributed tourist levy which the government recently announced. This is very good news indeed, and according to my own previous calculations is roughly equivalent to around a $5 per night stay (don’t quote me on that though). What shall we spend it on you ask, perhaps some firework displays?

Waters double dipping? I was recently informed about Palmerston North City Council’s fixed water and wastewater charges (shown left) which are roughly half what we pay in Taupo even though they have much older infrastructure than us. So whats the give Taupo, and wheres the transparency?

Praise due: Taupo District Council recently won a Clearway award for application of risk-based Traffic Management which was received by Transport Operations Engineer Saravana Murugan and Infrastructure Manager Roger Stokes. I don’t often give out praise and don’t know all the details, but it sounds like these guys have been reducing road cones, saving money and doing quite a good job. Now there is always two sides to every story and apparently some kickback is still being received from a few traffic management operators, so if you are one of those please I would be interested to hear.

Fridays because if you haven’t heard The Fall’s Blindness yet, then you need to and turn it up loud:

Fridays Fairy Troubleshooting

11 September 2026

A well known quote from George Bernhard Shaw (1856 – 1950) which seems quite pertinent to recent happenings:

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man”.

Councillor Duncan once again on Friday to make your life more interesting. This week Council was mostly just fluff which I make a few notes on below, but I’ll talk first about the rift I appear to have caused with my latest assertions about the conduct of some of my fellow Elected Members followed up with some support from my Aunty. Now I am generally a straight talking kind of guy from West Auckland, and realise not all appreciate that approach down here in the provinces. However I am also somebody who believes in due process, and Council’s Standing Orders expressly require open, transparent and democratically accountable decision-making, while our Code of Conduct requires members to work constructively and transparently, make decisions on merit, and expressly protects robust debate. Where a substantive motion(s) is defeated without a single member of the majority articulating the reasons for opposing as happened on 25 August, the public is entitled to ask how those principles of transparent and accountable decision-making have been satisfied. In that instance nobody can claim it happened, so I say this is dangerous and that’s why I am making such a fuss.

But from this some interesting things also came out of the woodwork, like local blogger/investigator Sophie M Smith’s pushback with her article HERE accusing me for “losing the room”. I find it quite extraordinary that someone like her who advocates for transparency and accountability, not only decides to castigate me for only insisting that it happens, but as a Facebook group admin also block censored me from posting my responses! Now Sophie has written some excellent articles in the past so I don’t want to give her too hard a time, but I really hope she uses this episode to rethink what she is about. Councillors like me get paid to do a job which people vote us in for, why doesn’t she instead start asking about the ones who say nothing at all?

There was also an interesting question regarding my general conduct which was put to the Mayor and his Deputy at the Kinloch Councillor Connect session which I didn’t attend but got a tip-off (watch HERE). The member of the public who asked didn’t identify himself, but he did make an interesting observation which I will paraphrase: How come I am getting away with being so disruptive? The answer friends, is that Council Chambers are not like Cabinet in Parliament, and there is no “collective responsibility” which applies for us to acquiesce with decisions we don’t agree – although it certainly gets strongly implied. Instead you should think of us as a Parliament, and just as you wouldn’t expect Te Pati Maori to shut up about Act’s latest musings about the Treaty of Waitangi you shouldn’t expect us to remain quiet. That’s if we are doing our job of politicians of course – and a lot of them aren’t. They are instead being conned it is like a rugby game, that it’s all about teamwork and for the greater good you had better toe the line.

That is a recipe for every minority view to get squashed whatever its merits, and for the status quo to remain. I bet the All Blacks (when they win anyway), are more astute than that.

Apart from all that carry on, what else?

Staff first: We had a few Councillor Connect Forums in Kinloch and Acaia Bay which I didn’t attend because I also happen to be a working man, and also the Owen Delaney sports hub opening. On that note I have several times over the years brought up the topic of Council meetings which seem to nearly always suit the calendars of Council staff than the public at large. At Councils I have previously been employed Chamber meetings were nearly always in the evenings so that not just unemployed or retirees could attend. Then again I suppose if more public came along, that might be more open and transparent right? And we can’t have Council staff missing out on their evenings at the gym.

A lot of money not voted on: There are some workshops scheduled in the near future on significant infrastructure projects, the first at 10am on Tuesday 22 September is for the Northern AccessTransport Project (est. $70M) (public included, I presume). People this project is quite close to my heart, and in fact the origin of my ruptures with the rest of Elected Members last term. In 2023 I was elected on the basis of my engineering knowledge especially transport, and I can’t help it if I am most probably the most qualified in the district by a country mile. But the transport study which happened 2023/24 I was completely excluded from contributing to and on no stated grounds at all – and let me tell you that I was a heck of a lot more accommodating back then than now. Imagine if a Maori ward councillor was excluded from anything to do with Maori – yes I consider it really was that bad. But personal grievances aside, I have put together this special page with timelines and some info along with my suggested option which still has never yet been tabled. People we are talking about a $70M line item in our Long Term Plan (LTP), which has never been properly scrutinised, debated or discussed! Now we have staff spending $150K this financial year carrying it on, when the question has not even been properly addressed of: Do we really need a second bridge?

Ratepayers, or Iwi interests first? Five Mile Bay came up in our backroom conversations Tuesday, and a current theme for Taupo District Council getting involved at all seems to be around public communication versus institutional risk and convenience. Its true that Council cannot directly force Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa (TKNT) to honour their Treaty obligation to manage the public reserve portions properly, but in my mind clearly we could be advocating on behalf of the public who wish to enter. As for the building and regulatory breaches which are apparently also happening, it seems all of that gets discussed in the backroom of the backroom and Elected Members like me will not be seeing anything much of it. Its all about “relationships” you see, because we cannot possibly risk our Iwi partners getting offended.

Factchecker checkmates themselves: Not really Council related but since it concerns Selwyn Councillor Elizabeth Mundt whom I am acquainted with, I’ll mention this factcheck article on late term abortions in New Zealand. If its a topic you’re not interested in then give it a miss, but I think it is quite ironic that the fairly cynical factchecker at least did a competent job of proving Elizabeth largely right.

Not quite what I expected: Our Chief Ombudsman John Allen gives an impassioned speech at Turangawaewae watch HERE. Not sure in his position where in the spectrum of politics he thinks that he should be, but this guy certainly gave it all and perhaps we might yet see him in parliament.

Wouldn’t happen here: Councillor Mesh Macdonald gives a useful insight of the mechanics of Hamilton City Council which you can watch HERE This is about reallocation of $415K of a cancelled project which their elected members got to vote what to do with. At Taupo District Council this is unlikely to ever happen, because anything under $500K is at the Delegated Authority of the Chief Executive to more or less distribute as they please to anything else on the programme. I did an AI examination of the financial policies with the differences quite telling as per below, and symptomatic I think of the new regime in place there this term. In essence: Hamilton keeps much more “operational” level spending decisions with Elected Members, whilst Taupo delegates them to staff.

Speed bumps for safety: Hamilton has quite a few more nowadays which you can read about HERE. I was fairly influential in starting off the trend in Auckland a while back, and especially at roundabouts to save both money and lives. Hasn’t caught on in Taupo yet, but if amalgamation happens it might.

Never happens here? Maxim Institute discusses the issue of voting fraud watch HERE which I attempted to investigate in the 2025 local body election but was stifled by our electoral officer who would not provide any double-up voting data which might have provided evidence of fraud. Did I have any evidence or suspicion? Not at all, but that not really the point, is it?

Nuclear option: Bryan Leyland is an experienced power generation engineer I am acquainted with, and he just put out this submission to Engineering NZ which is the professional body which people like me are members of. This is following a discussion briefing to new Ministers which the organisation is putting together, and to which Bryan is quite at odds and challenging any members to contradict his assertions. My own experience with Engineering NZ is that they have been quite politically captured, so good luck with that.

Fridays lesson on how to nicely make an impact, should I start dressing up too?

Aunty Says Dummies Too

8 September 2026

Councillor Duncan here with a brief 10 min interview with my UK Aunty Ann Harley who is an experienced Councillor of North Somerset Council until 2023 (pop. 220k). She agrees with my former assertion that my fellow Councillors acted like dummies in a recent public meeting when they declined to say anything before voting in unison against.

Wouldn’t it be great if a local independent person picked up on this to regularly hammer your local Elected Members on burning issues of the day?

Fridays Worm Turning

4 September 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but very rarely in any of the text for these Friday updates.

Ecclesiastes 3 1-3 is about death and life and turning things around, things we need to do almost every day: “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;”

Hi all its Councillor Duncan calling again, and this week in Council not so much went on – oh we did have a Water Services Committee on Tuesday which you can watch HERE but there isn’t much to report as no decisions were made and the talk was fairly idle. But we did have a few things of interest being put out by some politicians, like Prime Minister Chris Luxon last week now saying that they perhaps won’t force any Councils to amalgamate – which is completely contrary to the previous messaging put out by his Ministers Chris Bishop and Simon Watts. I think National are possibly now thinking that getting re-elected now means everything, and anything they said before might count for less. But we won’t have long to wait and see if that’s true, because the amalgamation announcement is set to come out in just a few weeks time.

There is also now some confirmed and legislated rates capping being set in place, but they won’t apply until 2029 and Taupo Mayor John Funnell is already putting out some warning signals that public services will inevitably suffer. But his message comes without much explanation of how or where we are making any savings now, and of course the Annual Plan (AP) just recently signed off at just 0.1% less than forecast didn’t give many hints either. I recently put a list of specific questions about AP projects which still remain unanswered, and Mayor Funnell told me to not waste staff time! Water services are unfortunately excluded from rates capping, and as they make up roughly 40% of expenditure it is a moot point if ratepayers will much notice the difference anyway. We have a Water Services Committee which could dictate some capping on the basis of affordability, and a Water Services Strategy is currently being developed to be public consulted late this year which potentially could include that. But there is no willingness to include rates capping at present, so the pressure for it to happen will have to come from the public – that’s you. Until then, I guess Council Daisy will carry on with the high life as she’s been doing for so long.

I would have thought more informed decision making for Elected Members would be a key way forward to keeping costs down, yet when I tabled two items last week including to help make that happen Mayor Funnell and most of the other Councillors declined to even make comment before they voted against. After I pointed this out publicly as dummy behavior a few of them took offence, but not enough to yet explain themselves why they took that stance. Which is a shame for transparency to the public, whom from my social media responses seem to find it hard to discern between a convenient or wise silence. To that I say that dummies can still be dignified, but they are dummies all the same.

In other news:

You get to pay for our mistake: On Tuesday we did have an update around the Taupo Landfill resource consent saga, and I’m afraid its not looking good. The last time I reported on this was in May and the trajectory is roughly the same. To cut a long story short – the landfill is forecast to be full by end of 2027 with a new resource consent required to expand, and Taupo District Council have left things too late to get it for Environment Court hearings to be done and dusted in time if objections are received to drag things on – and it is looking like the working group which includes Deputy Mayor Kevin Taylor and Councillor Wahine Murch haven’t been able to placate affected natives enough to stop that happening. Yes folks, that could mean up to around $4M or so a year additional costs to truck our waste out of district, and all because we didn’t start the consent process a few years earlier. I wonder if the Chief Executive should be chipping in out of her salary, who after all must be the one most responsible for letting this thing slip? Or perhaps it would be cheaper to pay some $$ to objectors for their inconvenience and make them go away (isn’t that what the Resource Management Act is all about)?

Chipping away: Hamilton Councillor Mesh MacDonald recently broadcast about a change she instigated for getting the more conservative contract estimates out of the mix. I don’t have a problem with staff putting in conservative estimates in a Long Term Plan and before a tender goes out, because as the staff say at least that means they know it can be afforded. The bigger issue is what is in that tender in the first place or even if it should be going out, and if just like in Taupo Elected Members aren’t able to properly influence that – then Houston we have a problem.

Heroes in the fold: I really admire Far North District Councillor Davina Smolders for being an Act party candidate up north, exposing her Council for what they actually are. If I ever thought my job here in Taupo is tough, then get a load of her. The latest is she got booted off a Council committee for only being contrary, but I think they only make themselves look even more stupid to the public and for the government to perhaps step in. So well done Agent Smolders, and maybe somebody should tell Mayor Moko Tepania that Council is not a rugby team, and that Councillors are not his players.

A little left field for me but I’ll say it anyway: New Zealand could be setting itself up for a big fall alright, hear about what is being lined up for the agricultural sector, and how we could be once again snatching for a defeat.

Fridays bit of nostalgia: Anybody remember the political worm which got Peter Dunne into Parliament?

Your Elected Dummies

2 September 2026

The above picture is pretty much how I felt at the last Tuesday 25th August meeting of Taupo District Council after tabling my two Notice of Motions about improving staff information in reports and requesting a staff report on the New Years fireworks. Because apart from one minor exception, all the Councillors I have labelled as dummies had nothing to say before voting to the negative. Only Councillor Hope Woodward online (who also Seconded) contributed anything of worth to the debate on both counts, and although the recording doesn’t show it many of the others were heavily engaged on their devices throughout my presenting (watch the 20 min recording HERE).

What did I say, what did I do, to deserve such a ceremonial boo?

I cannot recall ever voting against any item without at least justifying because I figure at very least the public are owed an explanation, and otherwise isn’t that only what dummies do? So I challenged Councillors on this yesterday at our weekly backroom catchup, and apart from Councillor Kylie Leonard who left the room so outraged at such an accusation, was only able to get one piece of useful feedback and from a new elect – “we had discussed it all before”. Folks, the only reason I table any item at all for a public meeting, is because the issue isn’t getting properly addressed out of public view. I don’t completely blame the new elects though, because they were only following the lead of some more experienced who also played dumb.

Last week I labelled this as a conspiracy of silence, and I don’t think I am wrong. So I encourage you to tell them that they need to lift their game, and next time that it happens I will post again to shame.

Because it’s not just me they are disrespecting, they are also disrespecting you.

Fridays Best and Worst of Times

28 August 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but very rarely in any of the text for these Friday updates.

Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities (1859), a book I once started and never had the patience to finish, and somehow it just resonates in the times of today: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way”.

I sometimes get accused of being too negative, yes really, and manage to somehow brass off somebody every week. But I can’t help how I come across at times, and I can’t understand how anybody can be motivated to fix something unless they first point out what’s broken. After I posted the video last Friday showing Dr John Campbells (no relation) breakdown of the white blood clots phenomenon, I was contacted by a local medical professional who berated me for broadcasting (my paraphrasing) unsubstantiated tripe . He also seems to think that politics is like say science and engineering, and that compelling truths are always liable to be accepted if only they are well presented..

My answer to the above: (i) The medical establishments reputation is thoroughly tarnished for its absence of ethical behaviour during covid, but I mostly blame the politicians who created this great divide in our society with the unwarranted vaccine mandates; (ii) Politics is not like science or engineering or law, where we like to think that most of the time truth and reason will prevail. Politics is about people: some who are truthful in the main, but enough who are devious and manipulative with their own often unspoken agenda; and (iii) as to the compelling argument idea – what if it isn’t even allowed to be presented? A Chairperson can politically intervene by simply excluding disagreeable voices from being heard, and some decisions come predetermined. In other words its a pretty rotten game, and I think we have enough local examples to go off.

We had our monthly Council meeting on Tuesday, and it was a lengthy one. As always you can find the agenda here, and for the entire over three-hour meeting you can watch HERE. There were quite a few items of interest this time, and incredibly I was still perky enough at the end (and sitting through all this guff is not like a real job). I will rattle through the main items as per below in their respective order:

Lakeside troubles linger: We had two members of the public make their submissions about the proposed new roundabout about to start construction at Maunganamu Drive/ Lake Terrace near Wharewaka, (watch from HERE). The first was Dean Stockwell of Pukenamu Road with a well presented summary of events which you can read HERE, as well as the Council produced community engagement summary which spells it all out loud and clear – 91% of the 55 surveyed Lakeside people don’t want to be connected. This issue seems somewhat convoluted and I also gave a report to it last week, but in short the Council’s position to connect Pukenamu Road has always hinged on this one opinion of a lawyer regarding a previously stated commitment of the Lakeside developers: “External legal advice provided to Council was that not proceeding would leave an unmet obligation and expose Council to legal and funding issues”. Personally, I don’t believe in putting lawyers in charge of running our streets, and indeed the Lakeside residents asked Council last year to support their case in Environment Court if there was any uncertainty (the answer: a resounding “no”). In any case, my recent questions to the Council lawyer look as if they will be going unanswered:

“Where has the Court determined that the particular configuration now proposed by staff is legally required? If the Court has made that determination, could you please point me to the relevant paragraph? Also when you identify said persons who would conceivably make a legal challenge, as well as an evaluation of their possible chances to succeed – please let me know”.

Immediately following was Murray McCallum from the Maunganamu side, whose main gripe was that he only received a few days notice of the construction happening. Murray spoke very well, and to be fair it sounds as if the things he is concerned about have since been addressed and in quite a short time. So I fear the main points could be lost: it is common decency to consult not just inform; and as the Road Controlling Authority this Council is still responsible to its residents even though a developer might be building it.

Maori plans change: Item 5.2 Plan changes including Maori Purpose Zones got the final tick (watch from HERE). I didn’t have anything much to say here, except about a year ago I did write a more cynical social media post that these were being foisted upon us without much discussion – but at least I accept the well intentions, so lets see what does result.

Pedaling backwards but we didn’t look cool: 5.4 Review of Annual Plan Projects (watch from HERE) where Mayor Funnell is attempting to make some savings with a relook at projects already approved for the next 9 months or so. But we didn’t get very far, and the expected list for closer inspection never actually was agreed to. Councillor Rachel Cameron used it as a chance to berate the Mayor for looking backwards, and I talked about my already submitted in list of projects a month ago along with specific questions – the Mayor responded last week telling me not to waste precious staff time!

But I also challenged Deputy Mayor Kevin Taylor about his audacious behaviour last term, when he was directly responsible for inserting a $70M line item for a new Taupo township bridge and transport solution in the 2024-34 Long Term Plan (LTP) without any deliberation or debate. Kevin headed a Steering Group for the consultant $300K Northern AccessTransport Study which as far as I know has not seen the public light of day even two years later. In 2024 I felt strongly enough about this one matter that I refused to vote affirmative for the 2024-27 LTP, but the other Elected Members of the day were not so discerning. There is $150K set aside to continue this work in the next 9 months which I opposed going ahead until this gets revisited, but nobody took me up on that so I suppose will have to repeat myself about it. Oh yes, Kevin also mentioned that he managed to get this on the 2024-2054 Waikato Regional Land Transport Plan, but as No. 30 out of a total of 30 projects regionwide I can’t see that being of too much consequence. So what was the outcome of all this debating to and fro? Not much that I could tell, so somebody please wake me up in 2028 when this is all over.

Accountability yeah right: 5.5 Review of Chief Executives Delegated Financial Authority Limits (watch from HERE). Now this is where things get interesting. The staff item quite clearly identifies the problem, and even Deputy Mayor Taylor agrees – even though we decided on Tuesday to introduce a $1M limit to the Chief Executives signing authority, because Elected Members only get to see things at the very end of the process it will be a rubber stamping exercise only. So I now better understand why the spending limit was increased from $500K to unlimited two election cycles ago – they were just tickboxing then, just as we will be expected to tickbox now! So I brought along my suggested addition as per below, only for acting Chief Executive Sarah Matthews to point out it might be against the Local Government Act (LGA)! I still find it hard to comprehend what spanners get thrown my way, but anyway confusion then reigned so it will have to wait another day – probably until after our new elects get to see for themselves what rubber stamping really looks like. In the meantime, Council Daisy will continue to remain obliviously tipsy and at your expense. My suggested addition:

“That Council requests the Chief Executive to report back to Council on a pre-procurement governance gateway for significant projects, to ensure elected members have an opportunity to consider the project scope, practicable options, estimated costs and key strategic risks before the procurement process commences and before the project has substantially committed to a particular solution”.

Yay we get a binding referendum: 5.7 Electoral System for the 2028 and 2031 Triennial Elections (watch from HERE) where we agreed to a binding referendum to let you decide if we want First Past Post (FPP) as present versus the more interesting Single Transferrable Vote (STV). The referendum will be included in the 2028 local election papers so won’t cost much to make happen, and I am happy this will be a chance for Taupo residents to get a taste of some direct democracy action.

Silence of the lambs: 5.9 & 5.10 Notions of Motion (NoM) from myself to amend the standard staff report template for better informed decision-making, and also an item requesting a staff report on the New Years fireworks. Now the only thing of consequence from both of these which I think you should be aware – apart from some brief commentary from Councillor Hope Woodward who seconded, not a single other Elected Member had a word to say before voting to the negative. Watch the whole 20 min clip HERE to see for yourself, and although the camera unfortunately doesn’t show you can take it from me that during my presenting many of them were thoroughly engaged on their devices. I will probably do a special post next week to break this down further, but I’ll let you know in advance that I have fairly good reason to believe there was a conspiracy of silence going on. Because you know, being a team player is the main thing in Council chambers, right?

Apart from all that less than highly edifying business, what other tidbits are happening about the place?

In Rotorua money goes missing too: Sounds like over there they have some similar problems to us, and last week Councillor Robert Lee tried to get to the bottom of a $70M line item which managed to get slipped into their 2021 LTP going forward, but most of their elects weren’t interested in getting to the bottom of it. “Relitigating the past” some of them called it, but to me this sounds like they are just as bad as us at not wanting to learn from past mistakes. Watch the 28 min reel HERE if you like, I found it interesting.

Whistleblowers wanted: An interesting social media post appeared on the Taupo Noticeboard during the week from Daniel Gray who seems to know something the rest of us don’t. But anyway wish that I could help but I can’t, and good on him for asking because we absolutely need more people around here asking questions.

Who owns your child: Did you know what goes on behind closed doors in todays education? The idea that a school could connive with your child to take sex transitioning drugs and without parent consent is quite mind boggling, yet it is happening. Watch it HERE if you don’t believe me.

Fridays why we can’t do away with AI now that its an art: