Tauranga City Council and its partners held a cocktail party to celebrate the transformation of the city. Photo / 123rf
Tauranga City Council and its partners held a cocktail party to celebrate the transformation of the city. Photo / 123rf
A private cocktail party organised by Tauranga City Council cost $40,000 at no cost to ratepayers but details of who attended the event remain under wraps.
The council has provided a breakdown of how much the event, held on May 10, cost after initially declining to divulgethose details.
However, the council will not reveal who attended the event, who the co-host “city partners” were, or who was originally invited, citing privacy concerns and limited public interest.
At the time of the event, ratepayer Ray Stevenson told the Bay of Plenty Times he was concerned the council was not being transparent enough about its involvement.
After initial inquiries, the Bay of Plenty Times, under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, requested a list of invitees, attendants, and the “city partners” who co-funded the event.
The council was also asked to supply communications between council staff and/or city partners relating to the event, invitees, costs, and reasoning for the event being held.
This included any correspondence referencing the Bay of Plenty Times’ media queries.
Acting chief executive Barbara Dempsey said the council needed an extension to provide the communications but responded to the other queries, saying most were not in the public interest.
The list of invitees and attendees would not be released “for privacy reasons”, she said.
Dempsey also said the council did not hold a comprehensive list of invitees due to some city partners, who contributed financially, inviting people.
In a previous response, on May 1, Gareth Wallis, council general manager of city development and partnerships, said the council had “responded to interest from community and city partners to come together and celebrate the city’s transformation and progress”.
“While invitations have been distributed from council, the invitation list also includes invitees from the event sponsors.”
Wallis also referred to the “council and partners sponsoring” the event.
The Bay of Plenty Times challenged the council’s decision not to reveal who was invited, citing public interest in the council’s role hosting, organising and potentially partly funding the exclusive event in “celebration” of the city. The council later clarified there was no cost to ratepayers.
Barbara Dempsey, acting Tauranga City Council chief executive. Photo / Alex Cairns
Dempsey said the event was co-hosted and co-organised by the council. However, “as none of the costs of the event were met by ratepayers, our view is that the ‘public interest’ is actually very limited”.
“If the list of invitees was to be released ... our view is that we would need to contact each of the people involved to inform them that it was being made public, and offer an option to have their names redacted.
“The time involved in completing that process would be considerable and again the administrative cost involved would, in our view, far outweigh any public interest.”
Dempsey’s response showed the event cost $40,017. Of this, $14,678 went to event venue and equipment hire; $19,249 went on food and beverage costs; $3000 went on entertainment (an MC and DJ); and $2089 went towards “sundry expenses”. The total contributions from city partners was $45,000.
Sir Paul said the council “paid nothing towards the evening”, which was about celebrating the “long overdue” revitalisation of the CBD and thanking the council’s commissioners for “kick-starting” that work.
A leaflet obtained by 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.
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.
