Unedited video and complaints
Craig Innes made this Official Information request to Hutt City Council
The request was refused by Hutt City Council.
From: Craig Innes
Attention Hutt City Council Chief Executive
This is a complaint about the failure of the Hutt City Council to supply information as required under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.
I requested a copy of the unedited video of the meeting of the District Plan Committee of 29 February 2024. I also made complaints about the record of the committee. In reply, I was told that the publicly available video was the full unedited version and that the complaints would be answered separately. I have spoken to witnesses who attended the meeting and who viewed the meeting online. They all agree that statements were made at the meeting that do not appear in the current online version. In addition, I have still not received a response to my complaints.
On 28 April 2024 I requested copies of all submissions made on the Draft District Plan. Only a small proportion of the total of 300 submissions was supplied.
Yours faithfully,
Craig Innes
From: Information Requests
Hutt City Council
Kia Ora
Please find attached a copy of the Survey Responses report.
Please accept our apologies for not supplying this sooner.
Regarding the video, Council stands by its response.
Regards
Philip
Philip Rossiter
Senior Advisor | Official Information and Privacy
Hutt City Council, 30 Laings Road, Hutt Central, Lower Hutt 5010
P: M: W: www.huttcity.govt.nz
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From: Craig Innes
Attention the Chief Executive Hutt City Council
My understanding is that I must contact the Chief Executive before I am able to request an investigation by the Ombudsman about the actions of the Council.
My request was addressed to the Chief Executive and I want a response directly from the Chief Executive.
The information supplied is not the full information requested. I requested copies of all submissions. According to the minutes of the Committee, 300 submissions were received. I have only received a small proportion of the submissions. I have evidence of numerous submissions that I know were received but have not been supplied.
To be clear, I will repeat and clarify my complaints. I want a response to each complaint:
1. At the meeting of 29 February 2024 I asked that the submission of the Wainuiomata Rural Community Association be appended to the minutes of the Committee. This was the statement, together with the reply, that I believe was edited out of the video recording of the meeting. Regardless of whether the statement was edited out there was apparently no denial of the chairman that the statement was made. To be clear, I want the submission made publicly available. I also want all other submissions to be made available. This was publicly agreed to by the chairman of the Committee.
2. The minutes of the District Plan Committee meeting of 29 February are not a full and accurate reflection of the statements made at the meeting. I ask that an addendum is filed on the record to include the missing statements.
3. The mail drop supposedly informing landowners of the proposed changes that might affect their property created significant confusion. The confusion is reflected in many of the submissions that have been supplied. To be clear, the problems were caused by a mail merge process that was wholly inadequate. The process that identified the affected properties could easily and automatically provided detailed information to be included within each communication. As it stands the communication to landowners has been completely inadequate and I believe that the process must be halted until a proper communication is made.
Yours sincerely,
Craig Innes
From: Information Requests
Hutt City Council
Kia Ora
As per our response letter, you are entitled to go to the Ombudsman directly.
Regards
Philip
Philip Rossiter
Senior Advisor | Official Information and Privacy
Hutt City Council, 30 Laings Road, Hutt Central, Lower Hutt 5010
P: M: W: www.huttcity.govt.nz
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Craig Innes left an annotation ()
Complaint to the Ombudsman:
**********************
Tena koe,
My communication with the Chief Executive of Hutt City Council has been met with the following response:
************************************From: Information RequestsHutt City Council
July 22, 2024Kia Ora
As per our response letter, you are entitled to go to the Ombudsman directly.
Regards
Philip
Philip Rossiter
Senior Advisor | Official Information and Privacy
Hutt City Council, 30 Laings Road, Hutt Central, Lower Hutt 5010
P: M: W: www.huttcity.govt.nz ********************************************The response relates to the following communication:********************************************From: Craig Innes
July 19, 2024Attention the Chief Executive Hutt City CouncilMy understanding is that I must contact the Chief Executive before I am able to request an investigation by the Ombudsman about the actions of the Council.My request was addressed to the Chief Executive and I want a response directly from the Chief Executive.The information supplied is not the full information requested. I requested copies of all submissions. According to the minutes of the Committee, 300 submissions were received. I have only received a small proportion of the submissions. I have evidence of numerous submissions that I know were received but have not been supplied.To be clear, I will repeat and clarify my complaints. I want a response to each complaint:1. At the meeting of 29 February 2024 I asked that the submission of the Wainuiomata Rural Community Association be appended to the minutes of the Committee. This was the statement, together with the reply, that I believe was edited out of the video recording of the meeting. Regardless of whether the statement was edited out there was apparently no denial of the chairman that the statement was made. To be clear, I want the submission made publicly available. I also want all other submissions to be made available. This was publicly agreed to by the chairman of the Committee.2. The minutes of the District Plan Committee meeting of 29 February are not a full and accurate reflection of the statements made at the meeting. I ask that an addendum is filed on the record to include the missing statements.3. The mail drop supposedly informing landowners of the proposed changes that might affect their property created significant confusion. The confusion is reflected in many of the submissions that have been supplied. To be clear, the problems were caused by a mail merge process that was wholly inadequate. The process that identified the affected properties could easily and automatically provided detailed information to be included within each communication. As it stands the communication to landowners has been completely inadequate and I believe that the process must be halted until a proper communication is made.Yours sincerely,Craig Innes***************************************Given that the direct communication with the Chief Executive has been responded to with a suggestion that the matter be taken up with you I would ask that you investigate the matters raised with the communication. These points are:1) I had requested the full set of submissions for the Draft District Plan on 28 April 2024. I have not received the full set of submissions and now the Chief Executive will not respond to my complaint. 2) 1. At the meeting of 29 February 2024 I asked that the submission of the Wainuiomata Rural Community Association be appended to the minutes of the Committee. This, together with the reply of the Chairman, was edited out of the video recording of the meeting. The Chair of the Committee had undertaken to seek that all submissions be published. This was witnessed by members of the public who attended the meeting and people watching the meeting online. 3. The minutes of the meeting of the District Plan Committee of 29 February 2024 are not a full and accurate reflection of the statements made at the meeting. 4. The mail drop supposedly informing landowners of the proposed changes to the District Plan was wholly inadequate. Owners of multiple properties were given no indication as to which of their properties was affected. Owners were given no indication exactly how the proposal might affect parts of their properties. Considerable confusion about what was being proposed is evident in the small proportion of the total submissions that have been released by the Council.The following links relate to this complaint:https://fyi.org.nz/request/27720-unedite...
https://fyi.org.nz/request/26575-distric...
https://fyi.org.nz/request/25922-submiss...
https://fyi.org.nz/request/26097-council...
Naku noa, na,Craig Innes.
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