David Bennett: A civic duty to query plant

MY WIFE suggested that the first point to make in my reply to Steve Baron's article (Chronicle, June 16) was to state again the old maxim: "The only place 'wealth' comes before 'work' is in the dictionary."

Without exception, friends and business associates who contributed to the advertisement that ran in the Chronicle on June 10 regarding the wastewater treatment plant - "An open letter to the Whanganui District Councillors and the public" - would not describe themselves as really wealthy.

One hundred dollars each was not going to break the bank, but we are just guys who have worked hard all our lives, and who feel a civic duty to raise a red flag when we see questionable decisions being made. The only political ambition is to set things right at the council table - other than that, we would all rather be golfing or fishing as we retire.

A few of us have seen this day coming. Bernard Corkery, Graeme Young and I met with the mayor in October 2014 and cautioned her about the real cost of what was being proposed.

Latterly, we have all seen the letters from Affco and Tasman Tanning warning the district council that the sewage plant design settled on is unaffordable. It will be a drag on our citizens for a generation if the "wet industries" leave the city because they have lower costs and better options elsewhere.

The three major wet industries (Affco/Open Country and Tasman) have clearly, and in writing, indicated their intentions. Councillor Hamish McDouall is wrong or is misinformed, because his reply to questions four and five in our open letter was incorrect. We didn't ask questions that we already knew the answers to.

One of our bottom lines is that these industries must stay resident in Wanganui, for they constitute not just some 800 direct jobs, but also the supporting engineering and servicing services they pay for.

Just how the council got to this situation is exercising the minds of a lot of people. While looking back to understand clearly why the sewage scheme installed under the Michael Laws regime didn't work is one thing, it won't necessarily ensure the next one is the best we can afford.

What is required is for councillors to be open to listening to advice from others. The council has spent millions on advice so far, and it's frustrating to reach this stage and find there are more cost-effective design options.

While the mayor and councillors must take final responsibility for decisions, the fact remains they can justifiably claim some degree of technical ignorance on effluent disposal issues.

They relied on a few senior management executives in the infrastructure office, and these individuals must be held to account. Looking in from the outside, they would appear to have had their own agenda.

Moreover, ask any of the industry leaders and they will confirm that for at least two years the wastewater working group of council staff and industry representatives has effectively been inoperable. The industry reps could not work with council officers.

Thankfully, new council chief executive Kym Fell has personally taken over the discussions with leading companies and one hopes that he is open to other suggestions, and brave enough to tell councillors there are, in fact, other options.

Certainly, Mr Fell should know that the citizens will be totally behind him if we get a new sewage plant for under $20 million and we get to keep all these industries and the jobs they create.

It is also interesting that within the past two weeks the mayor has been repeating the mantra that providing cost quotations to the wet industries could not be done for two more years, yet last week Mr Fell was able to make financial offers to the wet industries, including guarantees going some years out.

Even that is a concern, because should the existing design go ahead and the wet industries stay, what that means is that we private citizens will be paying a great deal more. Watch this space.

**David Bennett is executive chairman of Pacific Safety International.