Tauranga City Council and its partners celebrated the city in an invite-only private cocktail party. Photo / 123rf
Tauranga City Council and its partners celebrated the city in an invite-only private cocktail party. Photo / 123rf
Carrus property development company was one of a number of partners that paid for an invite-only cocktail partyfor Tauranga, company founder Sir Paul Adams says.
The information comes after nine queries to the Tauranga City Council (TCC) communications team since April 29, raising questions about the council’scompliance with its transparency obligations under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA).
Adams said that Carrus was one of the city partners footing the bill, and that the council “paid nothing towards the evening”. He said the event was about celebrating the “long overdue” revitalisation of the CBD and thanking the council’s commissioners for “kick-starting” that work.
The council previously said “contributing partners” would cover “the majority” of costs but had since confirmed it did not expect any cost to ratepayers.
Because the council has refused to name the other city partner organisations, they have not been contacted. The Bay of Plenty Times has requested this list along with information about costs and who was invited to the event, which were also not divulged, under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.
The Cargo Shed on Dive Cres on Tauranga's waterfront, where Tauranga City Council hosted a private cocktail party to celebrate the city. Photo / Alex Cairns
Adams, who founded Carrus in 1990, said he was a guest speaker at the event and shared his views as one of “few” people present who had been living in Tauranga before the 1988 growth strategy was implemented.
“[Pope] fully understood the part council had to honour in the growth strategy, including infrastructure for residential growth nodes and civic amenities required to compete with other cities and towns in attracting new residents,” Adams said.
Sir Paul Adams in his home in Bethlehem, Tauranga last year. Photo / Alex Cairns
In his opinion, the cocktail party was “a chance to celebrate the revitalisation of the CBD, long overdue because of the failure of recent councils to honour their obligations to provide civic amenities required by the growth strategy implemented by Tauranga District Council in 1988″.
He said he also viewed it as “an opportunity to thank the commissioners for kick-starting the CBD reconstruction and revitalisation after previous councils failed to honour their part in keeping infrastructure and civic amenities being provided”.
“We now have eight tower cranes in the CBD for the first time ever.”
Before Adams’ comments, Tauranga City Council emphasised this was “very much a jointly organised celebration”.
Communications staff said Tauranga Business Chamber, the council and “a range of city partner organisations” – which the council would not name – contributed financially to the event.
The council has since clarified it did not expect any cost to ratepayers.
“A number of organisations have contributed, either financially or ‘in kind’, but our expectation is that council, and therefore ratepayers, will not be making any financial contribution,” acting chief executive Barbara Dempsey said. .
Tauranga Business Chamber chief executive Matt Cowley. Photo / Mead Norton
Business chamber chief executive Matt Cowley said the organisation had been part of a City Partners or Project Tauranga programme for years so it contributed “some event coordination expertise” such as some staff time, at its cost.
Cowley said this was “managed within our existing workload”.
“The chamber’s chief executive and board chair were invited to attend. We were not asked to suggest who else should attend,” Cowley said.
Because the council has refused to name the other “city partner organisations”, they have not been contacted. The Bay of Plenty Times has requested this list, along with information about costs and who was invited to the event, which were also not divulged, under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.
A leaflet obtained to the Bay of Plenty Times, with the same imagery as official invites, thanked city supporters, listing the council, Carrus, Priority One, L.T McGuiness, Willis Bond, Watts & Hughes Construction, Quayside, TwentyTwo, Panorama Towers, Urban Task Force, Tauranga Business Chamber and noted thanks also to Bay Catering.
What happened at the cocktail party
Wallis said the event was MC’d by Will Johnson. In addition to Adams, speeches were given by Priority One’s Nigel Tutt, Josh Te Kani (who provided a mana whenua perspective), environmental lawyer Mary Hill and council chief executive Marty Grenfell.
Adams also thanked the council’s commissioners “for their work in identifying and addressing the city’s investment priorities, to which commission chairwoman Anne Tolley made a brief response”, Wallis said.
Tauranga City Council city development and partnerships general manager Gareth Wallis. Photo / Alex Cairns
Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell also attended.
Uffindell said he and his wife missed the canapes but enjoyed a sit-down meal and celebratory atmosphere.
“Everyone was very positive about the progress that is slowly being made to transform us from a portside retirement village into one of the leading cities of New Zealand,” Uffindell said.
Uffindell said it seemed everyone present loved Tauranga and was passionate about seeing the city do well.
‘Send-off for the commissioners’
Ratepayer Ray Stevenson contacted the Bay of Plenty Times after a story revealing the event was happening, concerned the council was not being transparent enough about its involvement.
In his view: “Sure, people can have private cocktail events if they want, but as council [staff] and commissioners, they should be transparent in what they are doing … it should be made public. That’s my main concern.”
He said he viewed the event as a “send-off for the commissioners”.
Tolley said from her perspective, the event was a celebration of the city’s progress, “particularly with regard to the revitalisation of the city centre as a result of the private and public investment now underway or planned”.
She said the commissioners were not involved in organising it.
Tolley said she understood detailed event budget information would be released once it was to hand and that city partners’ contributions had covered all costs.
The Bay of Plenty Times was invited to attend the event but declined after the council put restrictions on reporting activities.
Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.
