Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has widened his attack on the council's property development arm, saying ultimately the chair and six directors are going to step down.
He was responding to the refusal by the chairman of Eke Panuku Development, Paul Majurey, not to heed his call on Monday to resign.
Majurey reiterated yesterday he was happy to meet with Brown and discuss the performance of the council-controlled organisation (CCO), but this did not impress the mayor who wants not just Majurey to go, but the entire board.
When it became known at Eke Panuku that Brown wanted all the board members gone, the CCO hit back with a statement saying the "board composition is the preserve of our shareholder, Auckland Council."
Brown said he planned to discuss his calls for the CCO chairs and directors to step down with councillors, but is adamant he has a public mandate to remove them.
"I campaigned and got [about] 60,000 votes more than the next one on the basis we are going to change all the CCOs. That's who I consulted with," Brown told the Herald.
On the campaign trail, Brown promised to take back control of the CCOs and cut $100 million of ratepayer funding for Eke Panuku and the council's economic development and events arm Tātaki Auckland Unlimited. He said if they can survive on their own, well and good. If not, they will be closed down.
Already, Auckland Transport chair Adrienne Young-Cooper has stepped down after she learned that Brown wanted the board to resign only hours after he won the mayoralty on Saturday.
Brown said Young-Cooper had demonstrated "integrity and leadership" by stepping down.
Four days into the job, Brown is wasting no time to deliver change, but is cagey about the specific hours he will commit to the job and declared "it's nobody's business".
He said he will not necessarily work at weekends and is not being paid a big salary.
When the Herald put it to him that most people would regard his salary of $296,000 as large, the businessman said: "It's not to me."
During the election campaign, Brown said as mayor in charge of the budget, he planned to pass a resolution to cut the salary pool of staff earning more than $300,000 by 30 per cent, middle management by 20 per cent and lower management by 10 per cent.
"Bob Harvey [former Waitakere City mayor] used to say 'you are the mayor 24/7 even when you are lying in bed you are still the bloody mayor'.
"It's a job you do to meet the demands of the job. That's it. I will do what is required," Brown said.
Outgoing Mayor Phil Goff is a workaholic, who puts in 60 to 65 hours a week and attends events most Saturdays and Sundays, said a former staffer.
Majurey said he's happy to meet with the new mayor and "discuss the performance of the Eke Panuku team who do a great job for Tamaki Makaurau".
"As all of us on CCOs serve at the pleasure of the council, I have no issue if Auckland Council wishes to see changes on the board," he said.
Brown said he had not considered meeting Majurey because he is currently holding one-on-one meetings with all of the 20 councillors to get to know them, discuss their priorities and how they can contribute to the change Auckland voters have demanded.
Brown's beef with Eke Panuku is that he claims it receives millions of dollars from ratepayers and "returns very little".
He said it is a development company and while every other such organisation is making money, Eke Panuku is the one which needs propping up with ratepayer funds.
In an interview with the Herald, Brown was unsure about the social benefits Eke Panuku provides to ratepayers through urban regeneration projects with commercial and community outcomes.
Asked if Eke Panuku's does deliver social outcomes to communities, Brown said he would comment after getting more briefings.
The council process for appointing and removing board directors
In the latest term of the council, directors of the four council-controlled organisations - Auckland Transport, Watercare, Eke Panuku Development and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited - were appointed by the appointments and review performance committee.
This committee was chaired by Goff and comprised seven councillors and the chair of the Independent Māori Statutory Board, David Taipari.
Brown could stick with the committee or set up a different committee structure for the appointment of board members. One option is for the governing body of the mayor and 20 councillors to make appointments.
Under the current appointment policy, CCO directors are appointed for a term of three years and can reapply for a second term. In special circumstances, such as where a board member may have a skill that is hard to replace or is a likely successor as chair, they can serve a third term, but no more than nine years.
The policy is to stagger appointments so that about a third of each board is rotated each year.
The Auckland Mayor, councillors and Local Board members can nominate people to be board members, who then must go through a selection panel process before getting the final nod by the appointments and review performance committee. Candidates can also be found through an executive recruitment search or a council register of directors.
The selection panel comprises the council chief executive, the board chair, up to two councillors and a member of the Independent Māori Statutory Board.
Councillors, Local Board members and council staff cannot sit on CCO boards, with one exception. Two councillors can be appointed to the AT board, but cannot be the chair or deputy chair.
Auckland Council has the right to remove board members for any reason at any time by a resolution, but it generally would be because the board member no longer has the confidence of the council or has breached professional standards or duties.
"The council would expect to exercise its powers reasonably and on a principled basis. That still allows for a change in direction or political preference, but powers should be exercised with a level of care commensurate with the importance of the decision," according to advice by the council's CCO governance team drawn from local government legislation and the Companies Act.
Auckland Transport has between six and eight directors, two of whom can be councillors. It also has a non-voting member from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
Watercare has no more than eight directors, Eke Panuku no more than nine and Tātaki Auckland Unlimited has no more than nine. Board directors typically earn about $50,000 to $60,000 per year and chairs about $100,000
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