Former council boss 'would rather drink his own urine' than adopt change

Former Watercare boss Mark Ford was not keen on running stormwater services.

A former Auckland Council boss said he would rather drink his own urine than make a change to his business, a council meeting heard today.

Auckland councillor Penny Hulse told today's finance committee that former Watercare chief executive Mark Ford, who died in 2014, said he would rather drink his own urine than accept stormwater being part of Watercare.

She told the story to point out it will take a big structural change for council-controlled organisation Watercare to accept stormwater as part of its business.

A value for money review of Auckland's "three waters" - water, wastewater and stormwater - has identified $300 million of potential savings.

Much of the savings would come from amalgamating Watercare's water and wastewater functions with council's stormwater functions, the review found.

The review found significant value had been delivered in water services since the Super City came into being in 2010, but further significant savings could be made.

"We may have to look at a governance change, by bringing Watercare into council or change the nature of the CCO to undertake stormwater," Hulse told the meeting.

Councillor Chris Darby said a 2008 review of "three waters" ended up on the shelf but over time the city will "win hugely" by putting the three waters in place.

"Watercare are doing extremely well but in the area of stormwater with the challenges of climate change we have got to accelerate our planning in this area," said Darby, saying Auckland will move from a pipe-and-dispose city to a sponge city that disposes stormwater at source.

The meeting discussed four "value for money" reviews into water, waste, communications and international relations.

Goff said if the council makes savings of $300m from water the money will not go back to cutting rates but investing in infrastructure the city desperately needs.

The other three value for money reviews have found potential savings of $73m.

Among the recommendations were a 5 per cent savings target for each of the next three years in communication and engagement at council and its CCOs, which have a combined cost of $45.6m and employ 234 staff.

Finance and Performance committee chairman Councillor Ross Clow said the reviews are an important first step in what will become an ongoing process.

"These reviews, although required by legislation, are an important way in which we can identify ways to better serve Aucklanders".

"The recommended cost savings and service enhancements across the four reviews show that we are determined to deliver value for money, and that like any good business, we are continually evaluating our performance in order to maximise return on investment," he said.

The committee recommended council chief executive Stephen Town report back in February on a plan and timeframes for the recommendations to be implemented.