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I refer to your request of 9 October 2023, and subsequent refinement, received 24 October 2023, for information regarding WDC’s Roadside Spraying Contract details, and a record of complaints from any members of the public who have had exposure to spray during Council’s roadside maintenance operations.
Your request was referred to council’s Roading Department, Northland Transportation Alliance for consideration.
Regarding the status of the IPG investigation and the report prepared, the report is currently being finalised by the independent investigator and Council is waiting to receive his final report.
You have also asked for the following information:
Please see attached:
OIA230977 – Contract 17085 Cyclic Spraying Wider Tutukaka Area 2018 – 2023
OIA230977 – Spraying Wider Tutukaka Area 2015 – 2018
Please see attached:
OIA230977 – Spraying Incidents (Redacted)
The documentation attached represents our best efforts to locate material relevant to your request. However, the search process is by no means an exact science it is possible that there may be other items of relevance that have been unintentionally missed in the search.
I note that some information has been withheld under section 7(2)(a) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 to protect the privacy of individuals (this does not include Whangarei District Council Staff).
-----Original Message-----
From: Northland Toxin Awareness Group <[FYI request #21533 email]>
Sent: Saturday, 21 October 2023 4:01 pm
To: LGOIMA - official information requests <[email address]>
Subject: Re: OIA230977 - Refinement
re request 1.: I was under the impression that it is a legal requirement of the contractors to have the records of their spraying programs (date/location/chemicals used/ dilution) on file in case WDC requests them. So it shouldn't be a matter of you having to search for them, but just to request them from the contractors.
re: request 2.: I now cancel this request, as I have meantime found the legislation documents of the HSWA.
re request 3.: A record of all complaints from members of the public in regards to being sprayed by council contractors I sincerely hope shouldn't be too long.
I hope this is helpful in narrowing down staff time.
Yours sincerely,
Nora Shayeb
Northland Toxin Awareness Group
-----Original Message-----
Tçnâ koe Ms Shayeb,
I refer to your request of 7 October 2023 for an update on the status of the IPG report (Mill Road Spraying Incident), I am currently following up on the status of the IPG report and am waiting for the Department Manager to advise.
Regarding your additional questions, I note that your request as currently worded is very broad and, in that sense, raises issues for us in terms of significant staff time and resources that would be required to retrieve and collate the information. The information is unlikely to be held in a single electronic file.
1.Copies of all WDC contractors herbicide spraying records, for the roadside maintenance programme for the greater Tutukaka Coast area from
2015 to present day.
2.Copies of WDCs and Contractors Policy and Procedures, Health & Safety plans, or similar guidelines, for mitigation of incidences of public exposure to herbicide/pesticide spray while carrying out Councils maintenance operations.
3.Copies of correspondence, incident reports, and actions taken with contractors in response to reports from members of the public who have had exposure to spray during Council's roadside maintenance operations from
2015 to present day.
In these circumstances, I invite you to consider refining what you are asking for to avoid a charge being imposed under our fees and charges
schedule: [1]Official information fees and charges - Whangarei District Council (wdc.govt.nz) under “Official Information”) or potentially a refusal of your request on administrative grounds.
In order to refine your request we suggest you consider narrowing the time period covered by your request (e.g. within the last 12 - 24 months), and narrowing down the types of documents covered by your request.
Regards,
Jacqui Crompton
Business Integrity Administrator | Democracy and Assurance Department
Whangarei District Council | Te Iwitahi, 9 Rust Avenue | Private Bag 9023, Te Mai, Whangârei 0143
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