Wayne Brown’s ‘staggering’ $123k legal bill, plus his $5k a week chief of staff

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown is paying almost $6000 a week for his acting chief of staff, a partner at New Zealand’s biggest law firm, as he publicly vows to slash council salaries.

The new mayor has also obtained an additional $123,000 in legal advice in just two months from Meredith Connell where his new acting chief of staff Max Hardy is a partner.

Several Auckland Councillors the Herald spoke to were bemused that so much was being spent by the mayor on outside legal fees when council has a substantial internal legal team, with one councillor describing it as “staggering”.

Brown entered into the role on October 8 with a campaign pledge to reduce the staff bill for Auckland Council officers earning more than $300,000 by 30 per cent and other middle management salaries by 20 per cent.

However, the Herald can reveal Brown has paid Hardy $17,250 for his services as his chief of staff for three weeks work from December 5 to 23.

The payment of $17,250 for Hardy’s 15 days of work equates to a yearly salary of $299,000.

This rate is more than the mayor’s personal salary of $296,000 - which Brown described upon his election as not large in his personal estimation and standards.

Hardy was also involved in a substantial chunk of the $123,000 worth of legal advice Brown has sought from Meredith Connell since October 31.

In a statement, Auckland Council specified that a payment to Meredith Connell separate to the broader council’s use of the law firm, which occurs on a monthly basis, has been paid from the Mayor’s Office since October 31 last year.

“For context, Meredith Connell is one of Auckland Council’s panel providers for legal services in respect to enforcement matters and public law litigation and advice,” the Auckland Council’s statement said.

“In relation to services provided to the Mayoral Office by Meredith Connell, a separate purchase order was raised on 31 October against the council’s existing contract, for interim and transitional legal services. A rate was agreed that is commensurate with a senior role within the Mayoral Office structure.

“To date, $123,000 has been paid out against that purchase order.”

Auckland councillor Angela Dalton was not impressed with Brown’s personal staff spend which she indicated was totally unnecessary.

“Auckland Council has experienced legal and democracy services teams on staff who can provide the mayor with all (the) quality advice he requires,” Dalton said.

“The cost of additional salaries that have been funded into the Mayoral office since the election is staggering considering the ‘absolute need to cut costs and staff’ rhetoric from Mayor Brown.”

A spokesperson for the Mayor’s office said their chief of staff salary “sits below a number of senior roles across council” and the rates they spent on additional legal advice amounting to $123,000 was based on a council wide contact with Meredith Connell.

“The mayor sought independent advice on a wide range of issues early in his term, including a more business-like structure for council committees, and more specific letters of expectation to council-controlled organisations than ever before,” the spokesperson said.

“The results speak for themselves and the mayor is pleased with the innovative fresh perspective he received, allowing him to deliver on his promise for change and avoid things being done the same way they have always been done.”

Hardy was originally an adviser to Brown’s office before taking on the chief of staff role from another lawyer Tim Hurdle on December 5 - whose consulting company Pionero Blue Ltd had an earmarked contract for $280,000 before he left.

When contacted directly at his Meredith Connell email, Hardy’s out-of-office automatic response email stated he was “currently on full time secondment with the Mayoral Office of Auckland”.

If Brown’s office continues to spend $61,500 every month to Meredith Connell, that would constitute 14 per cent of the mayoral office’s $5.2 million annual budget being spent on outside legal fees.

Last week, the Herald reported the new mayor had a “moan” in an email to Auckland Council chief executive Jim Stabback about a lack of frugality from the 20 Auckland councillors over their own staff costs.

“...Councillors keep asking for more staff when there are probably twice as many as needed. Councillors need to be more self-sufficient and should set an example of frugality,” Brown wrote to Stabback on October 19 last year.

A source familiar with the Mayor’s office operations told the Herald it made sense at some level to have such a senior legal figure in the office given Brown’s ambition to be a “reformer”.

“He [Hardy] was there originally as an advisor, which means, I assume, they wanted contestable legal advice about the port and stuff,” the source said.

“You know, the way you become a drone of the council organisation is by not having your own advice. If they come to you and say ‘the numbers, oh we can’t afford this’ you need someone who can read the books.

“Now, for all of his faults Wayne is actually better at that than all the council officials. But when it comes to legal advice they might go ‘oh of course we couldn’t do that because there might be regulatory issues or something…’ So you want your own legal opinion.”

However, the source said it’s unlikely Meredith Connell would be keen on having Hardy in the mayoral office permanently.

“It makes sense if you’re a reformer that you have your own advice on everything. You know that’s the whole purpose of the mayor’s office for the three years.

“Whether you’d have a full time partner of Meredith Connell... I mean that isn’t the sort of thing the law firm would want either. These firms, you got to bill a lot of money to justify your place as a partner. Because once you’re a partner you get a share of all of the profits they make.”

It’s understood the billing hours for a partner at Meredith Connell would be around $800/hr but there is a discount for the public sector and government.

One Auckland Council source familiar with the mayoral office praised Hardy as “probably the only decent guy in that office to be honest”.

“I was hoping he takes it on because there’s nobody else in the wings that’s got the nous and he’s a bright guy,” the source said.

In December it emerged $135,000 was also being earmarked to Brown’s key mayoral campaign advisor Mathew Hooton for six months possible work from October 10, 2022, to April 10, 2023.

On September 15, in the thick of his campaign, Brown said if he became mayor, he would instruct council chief executive Jim Stabback to cut the staff bill for officers earning more than $300,000 by 30 per cent.

He also claimed he would cut middle management salaries by 20 per cent and lower management by 10 per cent.

“The traditional way to cut costs in organisations is to ask the chief executive to cut costs.

“Typically they cut people at the bottom and with it go the services. There is no oversupply of people fixing potholes and taking away rubbish and doing the things people expect their rates to go to, but definitely an oversupply of people in upper and middle management,” Brown said.

On December 9, a media statement from Brown’s office announced Auckland Council faced a $295 million budget hole.