Councils Holding the Country to Ransom

[Davo36]

Ah what are you gonna do? Not their money, only ratepayers (read FREE) money.

Hard to care too much if you work at the council. And you know, investigating stuff is hard too, so you know, they weren't likely to be caught early on.

I think heaps of staff knew about it and got various things out of it like lavish dinners, drinks etc. So I think it may have just been the case that pretty much everyone knew about it, and so something had to be done.

In Dundedin Council I think some dude sold off over 100 cars of the council fleet before he was caught! I kid you not: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11282224

[Perry]

Ah what are you gonna do? Not their money, only ratepayers (read FREE) money.

Well, to be fair, it was the payment of bribes from a private company to a council employee that was the issue. If the article is accurate, no ratepayers money was directly involved.

Because it's 'public money,' I suppose there's always more of a hue and cry. If the same thing happened in, or between, private enterprise, there would likely be less hoo-hah. It would possibly not even get to a courtroom.

Despite a wide range of checks and balances, given human failings / ingenuity, I suspect that, every now and then, someone will - by accident or design - find a loophole. In either a private or public enterprise.

[PC]

The amount of time, hair pulling and tedious box ticking it takes to get a code of compliance...
Maybe it would be more efficient if we could just pay a bribe?

[Wayne]

The amount of time, hair pulling and tedious box ticking it takes to get a code of compliance...
Maybe it would be more efficient if we could just pay a bribe?

I actually found it very quick and simple.
I bit of nit picking but also a lot of realism.

[Davo36]

The amount of time, hair pulling and tedious box ticking it takes to get a code of compliance...
Maybe it would be more efficient if we could just pay a bribe?

Yep, I'm the least corrupt person you'll ever meet, and when I did my development years ago, I really really wanted to just pay someone $20k or so to just make all the hassles go away.

The situation is a form of bribery anyway, it's just enshrined in law is all (and vaguely too).

[Davo36]

I actually found it very quick and simple.
I bit of nit picking but also a lot of realism.

Wayne, what sort of build was this?

[Davo36]

Well, to be fair, it was the payment of bribes from a private company to a council employee that was the issue. If the article is accurate, no ratepayers money was directly involved.

Yep, right, my bad, you a right.

[Wayne]

Wayne, what sort of build was this?

minor subdivision and build 2 houses

[Davo36]

minor subdivision and build 2 houses

You seem to have good experiences with the council, may I ask, are you in Auckland? Do you use a planner? Or do it all yourself?

[Wayne]

You seem to have good experiences with the council, may I ask, are you in Auckland? Do you use a planner? Or do it all yourself?

In the Tron and did it myself.

[Davo36]

In the Tron and did it myself.

Ok, never dealt with the council down there, maybe they are a bit more sensible.

You must have engaged a surveyor at least?

[Wayne]

Ok, never dealt with the council down there, maybe they are a bit more sensible.

You must have engaged a surveyor at least?

They did seem sensible.
Yes I had a surveyor for bits of the subdivision.
I found the back and forth between me--surveyor--council engineer and back quite tedious (almost chinese whispers) and got involved direct with the council - sorted much faster. The engineer didn't mind and was very helpful (helps I suppose that I'm not an idiot and he could see what I was attempting to do immediately).

[Davo36]

Thanks Wayne, it does sound like it proceeded pretty well.

In Papakura, I had things like the council engineer specifying certain things, my builder doing exactly that, and then the council engineer changing his mind afterwards and saying we had to do something different...

So giving consent on certain plans with certain conditions, but then wanting to change them after the work has been done... And threatening to not issue CCC unless I did so.

Which is kind of tricky to handle. Should never happen.

Sounds like Hamilton CC are much more sensible.

[John the builder]

thought of a separate post but decided this is more about abuse of power and councils gone mad?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11809570

Really this is a doozy!!!
and now means that the council can issue a Dangerous Building Notice to stop pot plants or furniture being on a balcony because of the possible risk if they were dislodged? (maube people shpould be banned for the same reason?

Dangerous used to be imminent collapse and real danger of death or injury not simply the risk of the unlikely happening?

This building had a CCC apparently and council approved the paving sitting on the deck and based on other building I imagine were the ones that stopped the builder from sticking the pavers down to avoid just this possibility

[Perry]

It seems to be another manifestation of Safety morphing into Stupidity. I suppose a sheet of glass could be dislodged in some way, too. That has happened before.