Central Hawke's Bay Mayor Peter Butler asks people to write or email complaints to him about the building department. Photo / File
Complaints about the Central Hawke's Bay District Council building department have resulted in the mayor stepping in to address them personally.
In a letter penned to the 60 tradespeople on the council's Building Consent Authority's (BCA) mailing list, mayor Peter Butler has asked people to "write or email" him directly if they have a complaint.
"The only thing I can take from a 'no reply' is that you are happy with the service we provide," he told them.
While it is not known how many response emails or letters the mayor has received, Hawke's Bay Today is aware of at least two.
One was from a member of the sector who did not want anything they wrote published for fear of retribution from the council, and a second letter was leaked to the paper yesterday.
The leaked email was written by someone who, while not a tradesperson, works directly with those who deal with the BCA on a frequent basis.
In the response, the "impartial observer" congratulated Mr Butler for taking the issue seriously. However, he went on to inform the mayor that the actions of the BCA division are a source of constant complaint from all quarters, including experienced and competent tradesmen.
"In my position it is no exaggeration that I hear these complaints every day," he said.
"I am also a frequent witness to the demonstrable stress and despair caused by the actions of council's BCA team."
In his letter Mr Butler passed on an invitation to builders and designers from his BCA manager Jock Hyde - a bus trip to Napier with a beer stop on the way home so they could further their knowledge and upskill themselves at a combined training course.
"To date only five of you have taken up the offer," Mr Butler said.
"From that result I take it you also are happy with your dealings with our BCA division.
"I hope between all of us we can continue to improve the delivery service of regulations that are imposed upon us by the powers that be in Wellington (whether we like it or not)."
The observer offered a different view of this low uptake, writing that it is a "sad indication" of the low regard the BCA is held in.
He then offered up a "short list" of 14 separate complaints he had heard about the BCA.
These included builders asking inspectors for a simple "yes" or "no" answer, then receiving frustrating and lengthy replies which bypass the simple question.
"Experienced well-qualified builders frequently complain of being treated like 'children'. They find this humiliating and disrespectful," he wrote.
"Taking over four months for a final inspection on a fire. The owner gave up waiting, used the fire in the middle of winter and was told the consent had to be resubmitted and started from scratch.
"An architect having her plans sent back to her as consent staff had told her the plans were simply too big for their desks and, a six-month wait (over winter) for a permit to install a fireplace."
He reiterated to Mr Butler that while he is merely an observer "if half of what I hear is true, we have a real problem with the BCA division".
"If nothing gets done, progress will inevitably be stifled and the district will suffer," he said.
Rate hike 'cost effective'
The reason for the proposed $47 Central Hawke's Bay rate hike is because it is "cost-effective".
Last month, Hawke's Bay Today reported the Central Hawke's Bay District Council agreed to enter into a water-user agreement to take water from the RWSS for urban supply, subject to further due diligence and public consultation.
If that goes ahead, all CHB ratepayers will be charged an addition $47 annually.
Cost-effectiveness was listed as a motivation behind the decision, which is revealed in the minutes of the last meeting.
According to the public minutes, the reason for that is "to meet the current and future needs of communities for good-quality local infrastructure, local public services and performance of regulatory functions in a way that is most cost-effective for households and businesses", the minutes read.
As such the council has agreed to enter into the Water User Agreement, noting it is obliged under section 137(3) of the Act to undertake consultation before the final sign-off of the Water User Agreement.
However, what was not in the public unconfirmed minutes was that councillors resolved that the urban water supply-sourced Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme (RWSS) be made public.
That was reported in the confidential, publically excluded minutes, which were mistakenly included in the agenda for today's council meeting.
Those minutes also noted 20 minutes between the reconvening of the publicly-excluded meeting and the council meeting becoming public again. No reason was given for the lost time.
Also not made public was that Councillor Sally Butler declared she may have a perceived conflict of interest relating to the matter, as her family farm had taken a conditional contract to take water from the scheme.
However it was considered that all councillors could have a perceived conflict of interest relating to the RWSS project.
"But the report being discussed is about the future of urban water supplies to CHB towns, not about the RWSS project, and that councillors should all have full speaking and voting rights on taking RWSS water for urban water supplies," the confidential minutes read.
As such, Ms Butler was given full speaking and voting rights on the matter in the publicly-excluded meeting.