RE: TE KOPURU SEWAGE RATE - INFORMATION ACCESS TO RATE PAYERS
=======================================================

Gentlemen, (for so, as Commissioners, you are. Lynda Osborne, cc in reading.)

At Ms Osborne's insistence (see 07SEP14 letter below) this matter, which commenced in friendly and very cooperative manner with your excellent archivist, has been "transformed" into a LGOIMA87 matter, and hence I wish to transfer the matter to a publicly accessible form, as a consequence.

Please request Ms Osborne to simply acknowledge the below correspondence to date (outside OIA context) and I will then reply in substantive manner to her more recent and less negative reply, on your behalf.

My thanks and regards, to yourselves.

===============================================================

To: KDC kind & helpful archivist lady, cc'd for courtesy [email address]. <<NOT SUBMITTED UNDER LGOIMA-1987>>>
From: Charles Barclay
Date: 11SEP14. 20:31

(Request Listing only shown - Attachments [KDC published on FYI.org.nz under LGOIMA previously] & Cover Mail omitted )

Requested for availability to examine / copy; meeting Xxxx Xxxxxxxs, 15SEP14 1400hrs

(Q-1) Minutes of Meetings, Official Books of Record: Years 1978 through 1981.
(A)Hobson County Council
(B)Te Kopuru "Community Council" (Sub-Committee of HCC)
(Q-2) TheArchived Copy of theP osted Poll Forms and Enclosures showing the Resolution to be voted upon, sent to TK Residents about Oct 1979.
(Q-3) Invoices, original or copy, but complete, totalling the shown sum totals, for expenditure with references shown, on below sheets.
(Q-4) NRC Resource Consent - 1102 and 1116; both are referenced to TK-WWTP (n.b. these are referenced in handouts but omitted; footer suggests file ref as follows: "Appendix A" - file: "Te Kopuru O&M Management Plan.Mk2.docx" !!! Pls ensure map or coordinate table showing sample sites is available. !!!)
(Q-5) Last Filed (no need to recover current in-use one from Contractors) of the <<LOG BOOK>> specified under contract 527 - Downers / TKWWTP. and referenced in "Te Kopuru O&M Management Plan.Mk2.docx"
(Q-6) A copy of Contract 527, as amended or extended: period y.e.09-13.
(Q-7) Details of Handouts shown item referenced:
<<H2032702. PH Risk Mgment / AMP's" - $38,091 in f.y.e.2009>>
i.e. Assuming this sum is a part allocation of a wider Risk Analysis, the terms
of reference to consultants, or contract under which this charge was accrued, and the basis upon which the split allocation was made between projects considered. And sight of the full invoice rendered by them.

I appreciate some items may take a little time to locate or source: But if we can have above Items 1 A&B - should be readily accessible in archive, if possible Item 2, and Item 4, available for Monday afternoon, that is probably all we can work through, that afternoon, with only 2 of us present. I am familiar with archival document handling procedures, and any copying will be untouched photographic. Thanks.

================================================================

From: [email address]
To: Charles Barclay
Date: 07SEP14 09:49

Hello Charles

Thank you for your email and your request to view files and documents relating to the Te Kopuru Wastewater. As requested Xxxx Xxxxx has agreed to make available information relating to the Hobson County Council on Monday as per your conversation with her on the 1 September.

We are treating the rest of the information you wish to view as an official information request under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987. While we are happy to provide this information, locating and collating what you have requested is going to take some time. Under section 13 of the Act Council is able to charge for this.

There will be no charge for the staff time on Monday to provide you the information relating to Hobson County Council. However for the balance of the request we have roughly estimated a timeframe of four to six hours. As per Council’s 2014/15 Fees and Charges the cost is $80.00 per hour.

A copy of Council’s 2014/15 Fees and Charges is available on our website under A-Z Forms and Documents.

Council is not able to allow members of the public to directly use our copiers, rather photocopies of Council’s documents are to be undertaken by staff members and made available to the public upon request. The charge for photocopying is also outlined in our Fees and Charges.

I would also like to point out some of the information you require may not be held by Council.

Please advise Xxxxx when you meet with her on Monday whether you agree to pay the estimated costs and I will endeavour to have the information and a staff member available the week of 6-9 October.

Regards Linda

Linda Osborne
Customer Relations Project Manager
Kaipara District Council
Private Bag 1001
Dargaville
P: 09 439 3123
W:www.kaipara.govt.nz

================================================================

From: [email address]
To: Charles Barclay
Date: 12SEP14 15:43

Hello Mr Barclay

Further to your request for information under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, I respond as follows.

Question 1A
I understand you met with Jane Rawlings for a period of two hours on Monday 15 September and you received documents relating to the Hobson County Council minutes 16 Nov 1979 and the Te Kopuru Town Committee minutes 09 Nov 1979 on the agreement to go ahead with the Te Kopuru Sewerage project. You also received details of expenditure from 2007 to 2012 and viewed the Hobson County Council Minute Books from 1978 to 1981.

Question 1B
We have located a box of files relating to the Te Kopuru Community Council of which you are welcome to view. Please let me know a suitable date and time and I will arrange a staff member to be available.

Question 2
Please find attached the archived copy of the posted poll forms and enclosures showing the resolution to be voted upon.

Question 3
It is possible to obtain copies of the invoices showing the sum totals. Invoices prior to 2012 were not scanned and will be archived therefore each invoice will need to be located and photocopied. As previously mentioned this will incur a charge. Please can you advise if you agree to pay the costs as outlined in my previous email and I will proceed with the collating of these invoices. Invoices post 2012 are likely to have been scanned and will be easier to locate.

Question 4
Please find attached the NRC resource consent 1102 for the Te Kopuru Wastewater which includes maps. I note you mention Consent 1116 however this consent is for the Kaiwaka wastewater and not related to Te Kopuru.

Question 5
A log book is not held at the pond. As you can appreciate there is no place to keep it however please find attached the contractors worksheets for the Te Kopuru Wastewater. These worksheets are completed by our contractors after each visit to the site and are dated from April 2013 to August 2014. A monthly maintenance report that covers all the wastewater and water plants across the District, including information relating to the sample takings is also received from our contractors. These cover a number of years and you are welcome to view these at Dargaville Council office.

Question 6
Contract 527 covers not just the TeKopuru Wastewater but all of the wastewater and water schemes they manage. The Contract document consists of roughly 250 pages and I am unsure that you would require a copy of the whole document. Again you are welcome to view the contract and select the relevant pages you would like us to photocopy.

Question 7
I believe it is possible to locate the invoices relating to the PH Risk Management/AMP’s. There will be a charge to locate and collate these documents, please can you let me know if you agree to pay these charges.

To recap the information you are seeking has been estimated to take between four to six hours at $80.00 per hour. This timeframe includes a staff member to sit with you for one hour while you are viewing files. Please confirm you are willing to accept these costs and I will proceed with the collating of the relevant information.

Regards Linda
Linda Osborne
Customer Relations Project Manager

Kaipara District Council
Private Bag 1001
Dargaville 0340

Dargaville Office: 42 Hokianga Road, Dargaville 0310
Mangawhai Office: Unit 6, The Hub, 6 Molesworth Drive, Mangawhai 0505

P: 0800 727 059
E: [email address]
W: www.kaipara.govt.nz

Gentlemen,

Please thank Ms Osborne for her kind acknowledgement. (Below makes reference to her numbered items as per letter of 07OCT14)

(Q1a). Thank you. 90% Completed. In the time made available to me (15SEP14) I was UNABLE to locate & photograph the Council Minute relating to <Issue No.1 - Te Kopuru Sewage Loan 1979> (I have data for Issues 2-6 OK thanks). If your kind archivist is able to copy this missing Issue, I would be very grateful. (It should show in Minutes just prior to Vol 38 Pg 185, similar format to Issue 2, thereon shown) I currently infer and assume it was for $43k, "Sinking Fund", Lender unknown (¿Not NPF?), Interest ¿13.5%?, biannual, Principal Repayable ¿¿86-89?? - I am currently constructing an estimated revenue, interest+repayment, expenditure, depreciation & surplus spreadsheet 80-14

(Q1b). Thank you. I would like to quickly check these for any reference to the contemporary understanding of the Loan duration. Extant Members of that Board, vehemently recall a term of about 10 years being then understood, but this may not be referenced in the brief & colloquial minutes of the people & time. Since there is low probability of achieving any research target, may I quickly scan these without charge, as this para of Ms Osborne's letter seems to suggest?

(Q2). Thank you. Question closed.

(Q4). Thank you. I received this prior to Ms Osborne,'s copy, without charge, from my helpful contact at NRC

(Q5). I suggest we "pend" this question. I was advised 15 SEP 14, "all the log books from the inception of the current contract remain in the custody of the contractor, none have been submitted and available on file at KDC Office here." (To that effect anyway.). May I suggest that in the interests of good engineering & contract monitoring, all such logs (not currently in completion) be recovered to KDC custody? They may prove the ONLY contemporary record of work ACTUALLY carried out on these systems at TK location ONLY, rather than district / purpose amalgamated & contractor selective reporting.

The following two issues are what I would like to here pursue in detail and as our priority: (Simplest 1st)

(Q7). PH Risk etc: ye'09
My original question (as above) was NOT (other than "sight of") the Invoice per se, but for the TERMS OF REFERENCE & BASIS OF ALLOCATION. It is THIS question that remains outstanding. This is not a file search task. It was a Very Major item of expenditure in that year (viz: it accounted for 50% of my SEWAGE RATE alone in that year - ie about $200 for EVERY TK HOUSE, of the Target Rate of $399; and perhaps while we are on the subject some KDC guru can explain (to a lay ratepayer) the relevance of the Greek Formula by which it is defined, and it's function in "OPERATING" the system for the safe and compliant disposal of my $h*t / effluent, via a gravity fed pond? All I can understand is the "Distortion Factor" involved?

(Q3+6). Real Costs @TK Incurred v's ¿Allocated?: ye '09-'14
I sought detail of these purported TK-Specific Work Invoices, as I believed they would reveal the extent of work carried out by our contractor UPON THE TE KOPURU SEWAGE & STORMWATER SYSTEMS, as they are represented to, in the handout to April Public Meeting. I am now coming to believe what Ms Osborne is insinuating without actually acknowledging, is that part or all of the individual sums listed, may yet again be ALLOCATED SUMS, part of wider applicable, generalised contractural functioning. IF every invoice sum shown in the handout relates exclusively to work carried out on TK-Systems, then yes, I require to see them. If ANY OF THEM are an "allocation sum" of a greater, non-exclusively TK Work-Invoice matter, then it is the SCOPE OF THE MATTER involved and the BASIS OF ALLOCATION that become the relevant matters. And this would then open up a whole new "can of worms", viz "District Wide Operational Cost Pooling" way before your purported heads up to the matter in 2013, and the emergence of the actual consequences to the TK-Target Rate Revenue since 30 APR 14. SUCH A CONJECTURE WOULD FIT THE DATA I AM SEEING.

My Thanks & Regards
Charles Barclay.