With the Pohutukawa decision resolved yesterday but the Port of Auckland reclamation issue still boiling away our Mayor has been rather silent on both issues. This is despite the Mayor previously getting involved in issues such as the East-West Link Option Four which threatened a motorway through South Auckland, or when Te Mahia Station was slated to be closed only now for it to stay open.
My first Weekend Analysis Podcast for 2015 asks: “Where has Mayor Len Brown Gone?”
UPDATE: Ummm what? Smacks of Gotham City style politics
Speaking of where the Mayor is check this piece out from the Herald this morning:
Auckland City’s $230,000 man in London
5:00 AM Saturday Feb 21, 2015 – Bernard Orsman
Exclusive: Auckland Mayor in dark over council agency’s envoy
Aucklanders now have their very own man in London, at a cost to ratepayers of more than $230,000.
Auckland Council’s economic development arm has created a special contract in London for one of its senior executives, Grant Jenkins, who has moved his family to England.
His English-born wife, Kate, was homesick and had been longing to return home for several years, according to a former council staffer.
The Jenkins have set up home with their two children outside London in the village of Bourne End in Buckinghamshire.
As well as paying about $196,000 for a 12-month contract, ratepayers are picking up Mr Jenkins’ work expenses and office costs at New Zealand Tourism’s headquarters in New Zealand House near Trafalgar Square.
Ratepayers have paid an administration fee of about $15,000 for his contract and contributed $19,841 to the family’s relocation costs.
……..
Last night, a spokeswoman for Mayor Len Brown said he was unaware of Mr Jenkins’ job in London and had asked Ateed to brief him.
This is the second time this week the mayor has been blindsided by council bodies. He knew nothing about Ports of Auckland plans to begin demolishing Marsden Wharf next week.
The former council employee who contacted the Weekend Herald about Mr Jenkins’ new role said it was a case of a “job for the boys”.
“His wife is English and has been very openly longing to return to live there for several years.
“Ateed’s senior leaders, in their wisdom, have decided that they should concoct a role for him, pay to set him and his family up and live in one of the world’s most expensive cities at the Auckland ratepayers’ cost.
“No one had the opportunity to apply for this role. It was never advertised, just announced and put in place. It is stomach turning.”
Okay this now becomes a Governance issue as it starts begging the question of recruiting and employment practices right across the organisation including the CCO’s like Auckland Transport. Governance insofar as this is the bureaucracy which provides its advice to our Governors (the Councillors and the Mayor) as well as the management of the City for which bureaucrats do.
If the above happened in ATEED I wonder what else is going on with things like:
or even blackballing external candidates owing to existing workers and managers afraid that “the candidate showing up the existing workers and their work with his or her own work (the candidate’s) – rather than the existing crew embracing fresh new ideas the candidate might bring on board.
Might be time for a full sweep through the organisation with a very far-ranging inquiry into employment and deployment practices of our biggest employer both in Auckland and that affects Auckland!
One thought on “The Weekend Analysis: Where is Our Mayor – UPDATE with Gotham City Style Politics?”
That UK job is just a rort, job for the boy. I would’ve thought that a job of this importance would have to be signed off by the Mayor or at least he know about it. All this sneaky going on, secrets and lies fall at the feet of 1 person, the Mayor. He has turned the office of mayor and the council into dishonest organisation. People look to their leaders for guidance. Comes down to Monkey see, monkey do.
Talking Southern Auckland 
That UK job is just a rort, job for the boy. I would’ve thought that a job of this importance would have to be signed off by the Mayor or at least he know about it. All this sneaky going on, secrets and lies fall at the feet of 1 person, the Mayor. He has turned the office of mayor and the council into dishonest organisation. People look to their leaders for guidance. Comes down to Monkey see, monkey do.