NZ Local Government Magazine 1606

NZ LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE VOL 53 • JUNE 2016 • $8.95

GO DISRUPT Become your council's digital hero p12

Alex Gelbak, Seamless

ROAD CONTRACT COLLABORATION Four councils share their learnings p18

ALGA’S TROY PICKARD Local government in Australia p24

SPECIAL FEATURE The future of spatial technology p32

TECHNICAL BRIEFINGS Stormwater: Maitai River p36

Congratulations to this year’s winners of the EECA Awards.

• Supreme Winner - Project Litefoot Trust

It’s taken innovation, inspiration and hard work to reach the energy efficiency targets they set, but now they can reap the benefits.

• Fujitsu General New Zealand Community Award - Project Litefoot Trust

EEC3900_NZLG

And not just a shiny new EECA award either. Their achievement comes with much praise and recognition of their success amongst industry peers, a compelling and unique story to share with their customers and better returns for their business.

Principal Sponsors

• NZME Business Service Excellence Award - Energy Solution Providers • Vector Energy Leadership Award - Viv Heslop • EMANZ Energy Management Award - ANZCO Foods • University of Waikato Innovation Award - Hellers and Active Refrigeration • Auckland Council Large Energy User Award - Orora Beverage Cans New Zealand • Opus International Consultants Public Sector Award - Te Puni Kokiri and Argosy Property • Trustpower Renewable Energy Award - Antarctica New Zealand • Smart Energy Solutions Small to Medium Energy User Award - Ceres Organics • Z Energy Transport Award - Charge Net NZ

Brought to you by

IN THIS ISSUE NZ LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

CONTENTS P26 IN THIS ISSUE REGULARS

REPORTS

4 Editor’s Letter 6 In Brief 13 Products & Services 47 LGNZ

14 G O DISRUPT Become your council’s digital hero 19 FUTURE FOCUS Technology identifies infrastructure needs 20 R OAD CONTRACT COLLABORATION Four councils share their learnings 23 LOOK NO HANDS What autonomous vehicles could mean for councils 26 T ROY PICKARD The changing face of local government in Australia 30 G OT THE SMARTS Councils inspire in EECA Awards 32 THERE SHE FLOWS Wellington Water combines its information sources 38 T ECHNICAL BRIEFINGS Reviving the Maitai River & Auckland Council’s green infrastructure policy

COLUMNISTS

P36 P30

P23

40 M alcolm Abernethy: From Civil Contractors New Zealand 42 Elizabeth Hughes: Local Government 101 43 Jeremy Elwood: On the Funny Stuff 44 Linda O’Reilly: On Legal Issues 45 Roger McRae: Health & Safety 46 Lawrence Yule: From LGNZ

SPECIAL FEATURES 34 The future of spatial technology / GIS 36 The future of health & safety

ON THE COVER Go disrupt:

Become your council’s digital hero See page 14.

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EDITOR’S LETTER NZ LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

Getting practical This is all about us. Sort of. First up, let me make it clear that Local Government Magazine will continue to chart the top-line conversations taking place in local government circles in this country.

So there will always be stories in this magazine and in our various online offerings of direct interest and relevance to mayors, chairs, chief executives and top-tier officers. Our usual supply of articles on the big-picture topics that steer the sector and inform debate will continue.

But here’s a heads up that we’re also increasingly involved in forums concerning the more button-down practical stuff of local government – the nuts and bolts of who has won which contract, the details of how councils are actually negotiating shared services agreements, or the many new products and services entering the market.

We want to know, for instance, about the science and technologies driving the many big decisions that councils have to make.

With that particular angle in mind, this month we’ve introduced a new section called ‘technical briefings’ (see page 36). For this first one we’ve talked with a number of presenters at the recent Water New Zealand Stormwater Conference, asking them to outline in the magazine their, often very detailed, technical papers.

There simply isn’t room in this print issue to run the full-length presentations. For that, you’ll need to follow the links to our website.

Topics will vary from month to month. But, gradually, across the two media we aim to build a body of material to slake the thirst of the driest stormwater engineer, asset manager, coastal policy analyst, procurement officer or land drainage engineer. Go on, you know who you are.

It’s an ideal time to get this initiative off the ground. We’re approaching the height of the conference season. There’s a mindboggling mix of sessions scheduled for the coming months offering access to technical papers galore.

So sit back and relax. We’ll do our best to have it covered for you.

Ruth Le Pla, editor, ruth@localgovernmentmag.co.nz

PUBLISHER Contrafed Publishing Co. Ltd, Suite 2.1, 93 Dominion Rd, Mount Eden, Auckland 1024 PO Box 112 357, Penrose, Auckland 1642 Phone: 09 636 5715, Fax: 09 636 5716 www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz GENERAL MANAGER Kevin Lawrence DDI: 09 636 5710 Mobile: 021 512 800 kevin@contrafed.co.nz EDITOR Ruth Le Pla Mobile: 021 266 3978 ruth@localgovernmentmag.co.nz SALES CONSULTANT Charles Fairbairn DDI: 09 636 5724 Mobile: 021 411 890 charles@contrafed.co.nz CONTRIBUTORS Malcolm Abernethy, Jeremy Elwood, Elizabeth Hughes, Roger McRae, Patricia Moore, Linda O’Reilly, Jeff Roorda, Mary Searle Bell, Alan Titchall, Lawrence Yule ADMINISTRATION/SUBSCRIPTIONS admin@contrafed.co.nz DDI: 09 636 5715 PRODUCTION Design: Jonathan Whittaker studio@contrafed.co.nz Printing: PMP MAXUM CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOME Please contact the editor before sending them in. Articles in Local Government Magazine are copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the permission of the publisher.

DISCLAIMER Local Government Magazine is an independent publication owned and produced by Contrafed Publishing.

The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of any of its shareholding organisations.

www.linkedin.com/nzlocalgovernmentmag @nzlgmagazine

ISSN 0028-8403

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ISN’T IT ICONIC

A bridge is so much more than a functional and well-engineered structure.

It’s a connection between communities and businesses and an important enabler for economic growth. It could even become an icon for your region.

Bridge construction or replacement projects deserve significant attention – from engineering design to materials used, capital and whole of life costs, environmental and stakeholder impacts, road user experience and safety.

We aim to deliver a safe and memorable experience for users regardless of their mode of movement. Our track record includes award-winning projects like the Lower Hatea River Crossing in Whangarei and the Waitaki Bridges in Kurow.

For your region’s new iconic bridge, talk to us first. www.mcconnelldowell.com BUILDING CIVIL ELECTRICAL FABRICATION MAINTENANCE MARINE MECHANICAL PIPELINES RAIL TUNNELLING

IN BRIEF

Lessons in Aussie flood mitigation Angela Fry, a civil engineer, university lecturer, and principal project manager with the Toowoomba Regional Council, will be a keynote speaker at the IPWEA NZ 2016 conference in Auckland, June 22-25.

Her presentation is based on the council’s A$45 million Outer Circulating Road Victoria Street extension project and its challenges.

In early 2011, South East Queensland experienced the most devastating floods in living memory.

After months of rain, more than 150mm of rain fell in a day in the Toowoomba region, creating an inland tsunami that swept through Toowoomba’s city. Lives were lost, infrastructure destroyed and questions asked about what could be done to improve the city’s flood immunity.

The $45 million Outer Circulating Road Victoria Street extension project had already been planned as a measure to improve traffic efficiency, but quickly evolved to deliver a number of flood mitigation benefits the city so desperately needed.

The project involved constructing a four-lane extension of Victoria Street, a new Gowrie Creek bridge, doubling the capacity of the Russell Street culvert structure on West Creek and upgrading of both the East and West Creek channels.

Designed by GHD, project management was carried out by

Toowoomba Regional Council and constructed by Probuild Civil, with Harrison Infrastructure Group acting as superintendent.

The project presented significant technical and social challenges for Toowoomba Regional Council as the project is located at the confluence of the two creeks, which form part of the Gowrie Creek catchment whose waters eventually run into the Murray-Darling River system.

Working in these waterways provided a constant challenge for construction crews, with the site flooded on a number of occasions.

One of the major challenges was the existing ground conditions.

Most of the site – former railway land – was considered to be contaminated and had been adversely affected by the 2011 Toowoomba flood.

The project also had to contend with a live sewer system running along West Creek and extensive service relocations.

Construction impacts, including lengthy road closures, required council to consult extensively with city businesses and residents.

Despite the considerable challenges, the council delivered a landmark project for the city, both in terms of traffic efficiency and flood mitigation.

TOUCH free duraclenz

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Governance of Auckland report A new report, commissioned by the Committee for Auckland, provides a good summary of pluses and minuses half a decade after Auckland was amalgamated into a unitary council. The Governance of Auckland: 5 years on asks whether the new structure has delivered on the aims of the reforms.

The report focuses on the structure of the Auckland Council encompassing the mayor and councillors, local boards and councilcontrolled organisations (CCOs).

Some topline findings: • The integration of eight local government entities into a unitary council with a single, integrated plan for the region,

encompassing land use, transport, infrastructure and housing to guide investment in the region is a major achievement.

• Under the old system, regional governance was weak and fragmented. This is no longer the case.

• The local board model has yet to achieve its potential.

• Real power lies with the governing body.

Local boards lack profile and respect in the governance system. This also applies to Maori.

• There is some concern that the restructuring of Auckland’s governance has removed geographic silos, creating instead

– with the CCO model – functional silos.

• Poor community engagement is still a problem.

• For many people, Auckland is far from being the world’s most liveable city. www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz To read the full report go to our website. Search bit.ly/Ak_Governance

>>

NOC contract The NZ Transport Agency, in conjunction with Tasman District Council, has awarded a consortium called Tasman Journeys the new Network Outcomes Contract (NOC) for

highways in Tasman and all roads in the Golden Bay area.

The contract is for five years with an opportunity for a further two.

Tasman Journeys, led by Clive Lane, comprises staff from Fulton Hogan, Opus, Donaldson Civil, Ching Construction, Nelson Civil Contracting and Delta.

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IN BRIEF

ON THE MOVE Rob Williams shifts from Taupo District Council to become CE of Thames-Coromandel District Council.

He was CE at Taupo District Council for nine years having moved from Kapiti District Council in early 2007.

Before that he managed various Wellington City Council departments including drainage, water supply and Rob Williams architecture and urban design.

Rob takes over from David Hammond who is now director of advisory services firm Hammond Robertson.

Gareth Green is currently acting chief executive officer at Taupo District Council.

New procurement procedures diploma Connexis chief executive Helmut Modlik and Caroline Boot of Clever Buying will officially launch a new NZ Certificate in Infrastructure Procurement Procedures qualification at the June IPWEA Conference.

Enrolments are expected to be open in July. The new qualification will be relevant to thousands of people engaged in public procurement practice for infrastructure projects throughout New Zealand.

A Level 6 Procurement qualification has been around in various forms for over 20 years and is a staple for the transport sector.

The new qualification is an adaptation of this formula. It has been specifically tailored to the New Zealand procurement environment, and has a strong focus on knowledge and application of the New Zealand government’s five mandatory Principles of Procurement and its Rules of Sourcing.

The qualification content has been adapted to make it relevant to all types of procurement. It is set to become the new benchmark for procurement practitioners, not only within the transport sector, but also in water and wastewater, telecommunications, energy, civil construction, facilities management, civil engineering and other infrastructure sectors.

The Diploma can be achieved entirely on-job or through a blend of on-job learning and off-job courses.

Ewan Gebbie steps down as executive officer of the Energy Management Association of New Zealand (EMANZ) after seven years at the helm. Incoming CE Mike Hopkins has a background in consulting, has extensive experience in the energy sector and for the past few years has been working in the university sector in Australia.

James Leach joins engineering and design consultancy Harrison Grierson in the newly-created position of business development lead. He will focus on major projects in the public sector.

James is a specialist infrastructure manager and engineer with over 20 years’ experience in the buildings, James Leach rail, water, utilities and aviation sectors. He is based in the company’s Newmarket, Auckland, office.

Shivarn Stewart joins the Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM) as communications manager.

Shivarn has considerable experience in publishing, marketing, social media, branding and media liaison.

Represents New Zealand’s Civil and General Contracting Industry

Civil Contractors New Zealand offers opportunities to work with Local Government on:

• Procurement strategies and practices that support a healthy contracting industry; • How to monitor contractors’ health, safety and wellbeing processes; • Forward work programmes that provide continuity of work to retain and develop contractor capability; • Environmental and quality issues.

www.civilcontractors.co.nz

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Trash to cash Advances in wastewater technology are opening up new opportunities for local government to solve water quality, water recycling and green energy challenges previously consigned to the too-hard basket.

CST Wastewater Solutions MD Mike Bambridge says such technologies can produce OH&S benefits for council staff, while delivering ratepayers benefits including cash-from-trash green energy plants.

Mike says councils can take advantage of solutions such as advanced fine screening, UV disinfection, membrane and aerobic and anaerobic digestion, filtration and reverse osmosis.

Biogas generator

“The latest fine screening technologies are not only simpler and less expensive to operate, with fewer OH&S hazards for staff to pick through, but they also produce a much higher quality sludge that can be converted to biogas (methane) for running heat processes or generating electricity (also enhancing water quality, facilitating recycling, and making biogas to replace fossil fuels).”

He cites a recent municipal waste-to-energy project in Australia designed to convert more than 65,000 tons of mixed organic waste a year into environmentally harmonious green energy and dry fertiliser.

The plant will process more than 15 different

waste streams into biogas to generate electricity as well as dry bio fertilisers. It harvests waste such as grocery store rejects, kitchen and market waste, food processing residues, leachate, manure, and slaughterhouse residues, which it converts into enough biogas (primarily methane) to generate 2.85 MW of electricity and 8.7 tons a day of dry bio fertiliser.

River game Nelson City Council and Friends of the Maitai have launched an educational board game based around fish migration up the Maitai / Mahitahi River. Against The Flow – the Maitai / Mahitahi River Game has players as native fish trying to make their way upstream,

negotiating obstacles along the lines of snakes and ladders.

The aim is to help to spread the message to school children that migratory fish need a healthy river and clear passage upstream to maintain their spawning patterns.

Get involved in shaping a workforce fit for the 21st century SOLGM’s Future Workforce Forum 20 & 21 June in Wellington Our workplaces are undergoing a fundamental transformation and with it our workforce challenges will be significantly different from those of today. As we plan for the future we need to face the reality of change. This two day forum is not only for HR practitioners but for anyone involved or interested in addressing the future shape of the local government workforce.

Forum delegates will apply “disruptive thinking” around the four key burning issues of future workforce thinking, share good practice, build relationships to foster collaboration and shared services, and commit to making a difference at a strategic level.

Find out more about the inspiring programme and expert presenters in the Event Calendar in our website: SOLGM.org.nz or phone 04 978 1280 or email info@solgm.org.nz.

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IN BRIEF DATES FOR YOUR DIARY JUNE 8–9 CIO Summit.

SkyCity Auckland ciosummit.co.nz

10 – 11 Wild Places 2016.

Viaduct Events Centre, Auckland www.edsconference.com

13 – 14 2016 NZ Intelligent Infrastructure Summit.

Crowne Plaza Hotel, Auckland tinyurl.com/CONFERENZ-IntellInfrastructure

10 – 12 JAWS - Just Add Water 2016.

The Rydges, Wellington www.nzrecreation.org.nz/

14 Time Management.

Rose Park Hotel, Auckland rapidresults.co.nz/courses/time-management

15 – 16 Community Plan Forum.

Waipuna Hotel, Auckland tinyurl.com/SOLGM-Community-Plan

14 – 15 Resource Management & Environmental Law Reform Conference.

Amora Hotel, Wellington tinyurl.com/CONFERENZ-ResourceMgmt 20 – 21 Future Workforce Forum.

Amora Hotel, Wellington tinyurl.com/SOLGM-Future-Workforce 22 – 25 2016 IPWEA NZ Conference.

SkyCity, Auckland conferenceteam.co.nz/ipweanz2016 27 Lego Serious Play.

Rose Park Hotel, Auckland rapidresults.co.nz/courses/lego-serious-play/

JULY 5–6 Team Leader Training.

Rose Park Hotel, Auckland rapidresults.co.nz/courses/team-leader/ 11 Changing Demographics.

Amora Hotel, Wellington tinyurl.com/SOLGM-ChangingDemographics 14 RMLA Salmon Lecture 2016.

The Northern Club, Auckland tinyurl.com/RMLA-SalmonLecture 25 – 26 LGNZ Conference and EXCELLENCE Awards.

Dunedin Centre, Dunedin www.conference.co.nz/lgnz16

SEPTEMBER 18 – 20 Customer Service Symposium.

James Cook Wellington tinyurl.com/ALGIM-Customer-Service 21 – 23 2016 SOLGM Annual Summit: Inspiring Leadership.

The Langham, Auckland www.cmnzl.co.nz/solgm-2016/ 22 – 24 RMLA’s OUTstanding Annual Conference 2016.

The Rutherford Hotel, Nelson tinyurl.com/RMLA-Conference

OCTOBER 10 – 14 23rd World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems.

Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne www.itsworldcongress2016.com 11 – 12 Australia-New Zealand Climate Change and Business Conference.

Rendezvous Hotel, Auckland www.climateandbusiness.com

NOVEMBER 2–3 Public Lighting 2016 Conference.

Sydney tinyurl.com/PublicLightingConf 9 – 11 NZRA National Conference 2016.

Millennium Hotel, Queenstown www.nzrecreation.org.nz/

25 – 26 Governance Professionals and Committee Advisors Forum.

Rydges Hotel, Wellington tinyurl.com/SOLGM-Gov-Professionals

21 – 23 2016 Annual ALGIM Conference.

SKYCITY Convention Centre, Auckland tinyurl.com/ALGIM-Conference

25 – 26 2016 ALGIM Information Management / Records Symposium.

Shed 6, Wellington tinyurl.com/ALGIM-InformationManagement

DECEMBER

AUGUST 3–5 International Business Communities Conference.

WINTEC Campus, Hamilton www.businesscommunities.co.nz

6 Introduction to Financial Governance. LGNZ LGNZ, Lambton Quay, Wellington www.lgnz.co.nz 15 Introduction to Financial Governance. LGNZ Selwyn District Council, Rolleston www.lgnz.co.nz

Would you like us to include your event in this calendar? Please email details to ruth@localgovernmentmag.co.nz

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OAG report favourable on SCIRT’s work SCIRT is making solid progress on repairing earthquake-damaged pipes and roads in Christchurch, according to a follow-up audit by the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG).

By April 2016, 86 percent of SCIRT’s repairs were complete. That’s 533 kilometres of wastewater pipes; 56 kilometres of stormwater pipes; 91 kilometres of freshwater pipes; and 1.38 million square metres of roading. The OAG’s report is Effectiveness and efficiency of arrangements to repair pipes

and roads in Christchurch – follow-up audit.

It picks up on seven recommendations the OAG made in an earlier 2013 report.

These included a lack of clarity about governance roles and responsibilities, and public entities not having a common understanding of levels of service to be delivered by the pipes and roads.

Auditor-General Lyn Provost says overall, the public entities have made good progress in addressing her earlier recommendations.

Nuggets Road Sealing Project Clutha District Council has awarded the construction contract for the Nuggets Road sealing project to Southland-based roading and engineering firm SouthRoads for $2.13 million.

The project will be completed in two stages. The first, due to start this winter, involves sealing the carpark at the end of the road closest to the lighthouse, installing guard rails, as well as some tree cutting and rock stabilisation work.

Web services award Enterprise software provider TechnologyOne wins the Amazon Web Services (AWS) technology partner of the year award at the 4th annual AWS Partner Summit in Sydney. TechnologyOne has built its Enterprise SaaS solution on AWS.

The second stage will begin next summer and will involve cleaning up, widening some of the road and applying a chip seal from where the road meets Karoro Creek Road all the way to the lighthouse.

The NZ Transport Agency approved a budget of $2.7 million for the project and is contributing $1.6 million or close to 60 percent of the total cost. Council is meeting the remaining cost.

New councils NSW local government minister Paul Toole has announced the NSW council mergers, with 19 amalgamations or boundary changes across Sydney and NSW. The minister also indicated his in-principle support to create a further nine new councils, subject to the decision of the courts. Elections for the new councils will take place on September 9, 2017

SDAG on Dunedin floods The South Dunedin Action Group (SDAG) says “some progress” has been made in starting a dialogue between South Dunedin and City Hall.

“But the council needs to work hard to rebuild trust.”

Almost a year after the floods that affected South Dunedin, St Clair, St Kilda, Tainui and parts of Musselburgh and Caversham the group says it held a meeting with Dunedin mayor Dave Cull and senior council staff.

“While the council acknowledged it had got things wrong in maintaining and managing key infrastructure such as the pumping stations and drains, it was still not prepared to acknowledge that the flooding was made considerably worse by these issues,” says the group.

“To some extent council has admitted the effect of the pumping station issues in the November 2014 report by saying that flooding would have been about 200mm less had the pumping station been working properly – and that would have saved water entering many houses and buildings.”

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IN BRIEF Opotiki harbour design & construction Groupings headed by HEB Construction and Brian Perry Civil have been shortlisted to work on the competitive design and construction phase for the Opotiki Harbour. The development will create 24/7 access to the Opotiki Harbour for larger vessels, allowing Opotiki to become a service and processing base for the aquaculture industry and other marine-related industries.

The decision was endorsed by the Harbour Project Board – the partnership of Opotiki District Council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Whakatohea and central government agencies that provides oversight of the project.

A collaborative process will take place over the next few months.

Tenderers will be asked to submit their best design and cost for evaluation.

Opotiki District Council says a final decision on the tenderer for the harbour construction could be made some time in the first half of next year.

The design, construction plan and associated costings that will come out of this process are a key part of the Better Business Case to go to central government next year for consideration.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council has pledged $20 million to the project through the Regional Infrastructure Fund.

HEB Construction is a nationwide leader in port and wharf construction projects. Its design partner for the harbour project is Tonkin + Taylor.

Brian Perry Civil, a division of The Fletcher Construction Company, is an Auckland-based civil engineering company with significant experience in marine and foundation projects. Beca is its project design partner.

Ngakawau Hector Water Supply Buller District Council says voting on an option to upgrade the Ngakawau Hector Water Supply has now closed. Council canvassed all property owners connected to the reticulated water supply. Of the total 107 votes received, 90 were not in favour of the upgrade and 16 in favour of it. The proposed water treatment plant has a capital cost of $550,000 and a Ministry of Health approved subsidy of $219,000.

This would mean if property owners voted for the proposal to proceed, the targeted water rate that is currently $290 per annum would increase to $350 per annum.

Next steps: council has advised the Ministry of Health and the result of the voting will be reported on at the next council meeting.

New Plymouth Wastewater Treatment Plant The next stage of significant upgrades to the New Plymouth Wastewater Treatment Plant is now underway. The $12 million phase two of Wai Taatari (‘filtered water’) will result in lower costs for drying the plant’s excess sludge into the fertiliser Bioboost. It is also expected to provide the New Plymouth District Council with more options for disposing of sludge if the thermal drying facility is ever offline.

Get online Kapiti Coast District Council is looking for portal solutions to help improve its interactions with customers online. It says the selected implementation partner will need to have experience in delivering for local government organisations. More details on the gets.govt.nz site.

Fast innovation A new report from Solace in the UK spells out what senior managers could do to achieve more major innovations more quickly in their councils.

Leadership Actions for Innovation found that in all the councils researched, the politicians and senior managers were taking a multifaceted approach to achieving more major innovations.

Most identified around six key leadership actions that they felt were having the greatest impact on increasing the development and delivery of substantial innovations in their councils.

Solace – the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers – represents senior public sector managers in the UK. Read the full report: bit.ly/UK_Innov

Free guide to lighting tenders TALQ Consortium has released the second version of its Pocket Guide for Smart Outdoor Lighting Tenders. The free guide aims to help cities and municipalities set up lighting tenders.

Download from: bit.ly/TALQ_Tenders

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PRODUCTS & SERVICES Non-invasive mapping

SyncHoist system

Auckland-based company Arbormap is rolling out non-invasive technology to map wood decay and tree roots using ground-penetrating radar (GPR).

The technology provides important information without the need to be destructive through drilling or excavating.

Arbormap says the technology allows for informed decisions to be made as the matter can otherwise be very subjective when working around trees.

Auckland Council is already using Arbormap’s services.

Enerpac Australasia has introduced a wireless-controlled hydraulic load hoisting and positioning system that enables a single crane to precisely position heavy and unbalanced loads weighing hundreds of tons.

The SHAS Series Synchronous Hoist System is a below-the-hook crane attachment operated by a single wireless controller to provide accurate, safe and cost-effective positioning of such loads without the need for multiple cranes.

SHAS comprises four, double acting, push-pull cylinders connected to lifting points above the load by cables or under an optional auxiliary frame enabling accurate hoisting where space is limited.

Optical Services joins Position Partners

CityTouch street lighting Vodafone has joined forces with Philips Lighting as a global internet of things (IoT) managed connectivity partner. The agreement will help local authorities set up smart wirelessly-connected street lighting systems. The Philips CityTouch street lighting management system will use Vodafone’s machine-to-machine (M2M) network to connect individual light points. Every connected street lamp will contain a Vodafone M2M SIM. Councils can monitor and manage the lighting while engineers will be able to check performance, identify faults and control the lighting remotely.

The management system aims to save energy and make maintenance easier and more efficient.

The joint offering allows city authorities to create an infrastructure that is easily scalable, and will be able to support other smart city applications in future.

Engineer and build CST Wastewater Solutions is introducing new engineer-and-build water and wastewater treatment and recycling packages. CST says the solutions help municipalities and industries lower the complexity and cost of wastewater, recycling and green energy sustainability projects.

The offerings include global and locally-manufactured technologies ranging from fixed installations to remote container or skid-mounted portable low-maintenance applications.

CST says its packages can help councils by providing advanced low-maintenance technologies and high levels of water purity, while reducing maintenance, waste handling and OH&S issues associated with running them.

Australian-owned Position Partners says it has merged its New Zealand subsidiary company with Optical Services, the country’s exclusive Sokkia distributor. The full range of Sokkia survey instruments, Carlson machine control solutions, MAVinci and Ascending Technologies Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), are available under the merger agreement.

These are complemented by associated software solutions, groundpenetrating radar, laser-levelling tools and an array of laser and survey accessories.

Optical Services employees will join the Position Partners team and continue to operate from their respective Auckland and Christchurch branches.

Tool holders Cut To Size Plastics is engineering light but tough and hard-wearing high-density polyethylene (HDPE) tool holders for elevated work platforms and enclosed workplaces throughout Australasia and SE Asia.

The impact-resistant containers can be configured for different tools. They are made from the same type of flexible, rugged materials used in applications demanding good temperature tolerance, flexibility, insulation qualities, chemical resistance and easy wash down.

The HDPE tool holders are insulated for optimum safety when operating in electrical environments where metal tool holders cannot be used due to the risk of electrocution.

Tell us about your products & services If you are a supplier and would like to share news of your new product or service with the people who make the buying decisions in the local government sector, please email editor Ruth Le Pla for more information on next steps. All articles published at the discretion of the editor. ruth@localgovernmentmag.co.nz

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TECHNOLOGY

Alex Gelbak: Social media has triggered a power-flip.

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GO DISRUPT Become your council’s digital hero Many councils are just starting to deliver great digital experiences to residents on mobiles.

Now, new paradigms like the internet of things, big data, personal AI, natural language processing and augmented reality mean it will soon be time to rethink everything again.

So what are smart councils doing?

F

or the past decade, Alex Gelbak has been driving digital innovation and disruption. He’s the Melbourne-based director of innovation at Seamless – a company that specialises in making it simpler for residents to access government information and services. Alex has made it his mission to try to understand how cities across the world can leverage new technology to solve old problems. He now works with close to 100 cities and government departments to discover new ways to improve communication, engagement and online service delivery.

Alex was a keynote speaker at the ALGIM Web & Digital Symposium in Wellington this month. He shared his ideas on disruptive technology here with Local Government Magazine.

What exactly is disruptive technology?

Disruptive technology provides us with entirely new ways to solve old problems. Not to be mistaken for iterative innovation, which improves on an existing system or process, disruption innovation throws the old process out the window and finds entirely new ways of doing things.

How does it currently affect communications and / or engagement for local government professionals?

The availability and widespread use of social media has triggered a power-flip.

Today, anyone has a voice that can reverberate as far as a community will carry it, without spending a cent. More than ever before, local government professionals need to engage early and frequently with their community.

I’m seeing local government professionals starting to use innovative, lightweight online tools to experiment with new ways to communicate and engage with their local communities. Things like Disqus that can easily be plugged

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TECHNOLOGY

Helsinki

New York City

The Helsinki Region Infoshare website shares open data on a wide variety of topics including construction, city planning and real estate, environment and nature, jobs and industries, and housing. www.hri.fi/en/

An online New York City dashboard includes open data sets covering everything from contracts awarded, to taxi trips taken, schedules for public hearings, where the wi-fi hotspots are, and even where the up to 600,000 trees are located on the streets and their type. bit.ly/NYC_Dashboard

City of Tea Tree Gully Over in South Australia, City of Tea Tree Gully (CTTG) is working towards making all of its services available online, 24/7, across any device via its eServices portal.

Based in the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide, CTTG serves a population of over 95,000 residents and covers over 95 square kilometres.

Although it already offered basic online payments and services to residents, the interface of the existing CTTG system was clunky and difficult for residents to use. And there was no support for accessibility tools or mobile devices. So perhaps it’s not surprising that uptake of online services by CTTG’s community was quite low.

What’s more, the platform only offered a small amount of online requests and transaction types. So residents still had to call or visit council’s service centre for most requests. And this, in turn, was hiking council’s customer service costs.

CTTG engaged specialist firm Seamless to develop detailed functional specifications and process flows, and create a web services standard to support the integrations.

Seamless teamed up with Civica, which provides CTTG’s Authority CRM system, to integrate SeamlessCMS with CTTG’s CRM system and build the eServices portal.

The first phase of the rollout focused on allowing customers to log a request for a range of council services, book a videoconference with council and watch a livestream of council meetings.

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This is being followed by steps to allow residents to pay for all council services online, lodge and track development applications, book council facilities and make library reservations.

Seamless director of innovation Alex Gelbak says it’s the work that’s happening behind the scenes that excites him the most.

“From day one, CTTG acknowledged that its eServices portal project was not just a story of technology change: it was a story of an organisation-wide cultural change.”

Alex says that, well before the technology discussion began, CTTG’s leadership started working with the front-line customer service teams to understand what it meant for the city to be a 24/7 digital local government.

“No longer just a communications or IT project, CTTG’s customer service team – those closest to the customer – played a critical role in informing the design and user experience decisions for the eServices portal, and then assisting walk-in customers in transitioning to self-servicing online.”

Alex says that, rather than digital self-service threatening the security of the customer service teams, CTTG turned its customer service department into a key advocate and driver for the uptake of its eServices portal, and empowered each team member to be a digital hero.

“The groundwork that CTTG did before the project, and the ongoing internal cultural change council is rolling out, is one of the most well-planned and executed digital transformations I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in,” he says.

into a website and allows councils to run conversations online, online forms tools to digitise paper-based processes, and Crazy Egg which helps councils see how people are using their websites and improve from there.

Aside from social media, there are many other things happening that are driving innovation and disruption in local government.

Tighter budgets and rate capping are forcing councils to look for smarter, more efficient ways to serve their communities. Increasingly tech-savvy residents are becoming more critical and vocal about how they want to engage and do business with council. And a growing number of forward thinking, civic-minded and tech-savvy professionals entering local government are beginning to drive change from within.

How can we be prepared for something that can’t be predicted?

We need to acknowledge that we now live in a world that is in a state of constant technological flux, the outcomes of which are changing – hopefully for the better – every part of our lives.

With that in mind, councils need to ensure they are not locking themselves into long-term commitments with their technology. This is where the move towards SaaS / cloud solutions, which offer more freedom and portability, is rapidly gaining traction.

Which councils are leading the charge?

Small pockets of innovation are happening across the world.

In Finland, for example, the city of Helsinki is only one of more than a dozen municipalities in a metropolitan area of almost 1.5 million people. So in terms of urban data, if you’re only looking at Helsinki, you’re missing out on more than half of the picture.

Helsinki and three of its neighbouring cities are now banding together to solve that problem. Through an entity called Helsinki Region Infoshare they are bringing together their data so that a fuller picture of the metro area can come into view. (See box story “Helsinki”.)

Over in the US, New York City has opened up its data via an online dashboard and empowered civic-minded technologists to produce all sorts of useful new insights and perspectives about the city.

Most importantly, New York City can now use these new tools and insights to inform policy and decision-making, and all at no development cost to the city. (See box story “New York City”.)

Closer to home, in Australia, Yarra Ranges Shire Council in Victoria, City of Ryde in New South Wales and City of Tea Tree Gully in South Australia have taken a radically different approach to how they inform, engage and deliver services to their communities.

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TECHNOLOGY

Got the smarts ALGIM has shortlisted the following councils as finalists for the 2016 ALGIM Web & Digital Awards.

BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA OR APP Christchurch City Council – Snap Send Solve Northland Regional Council – Biosecurity Month Porirua City Council – Porirua Outdoor Recreation Park Consultation

WEB & DIGITAL PROJECT OF THE YEAR Auckland Council – My Time Northland Regional Council – Fight against Mediterranean Fanworm Matamata-Piako District Council – Recruitment Online Waikato Regional Council – Kainga: Our Place, Where we Connect Auckland Council – OurAuckland Winners were announced at the ALGIM Web & Digital Symposium in Wellington after this issue of the magazine went to print.

Rather than focusing on the needs and priorities of council and letting that drive their digital strategy, they have put the needs of their residents at the centre of their communication and service delivery strategy.

City of Tea Tree Gully has collected and categorised its most common and popular requests by each type of channel and request. It is now using a data-driven approach to work towards making all of its services available online.

(See box story “City of Tea Tree Gully”.)

What are the biggest stumbling blocks for councils getting to grips with working in a world of disruptive technology?

The fear of change and risk of failure are certainly two of the most common hurdles I’ve faced. And even when these risks are addressed, job protectionism can also play a role in stifling disruptive innovation which threatens to automate processes through customer self-service.

What are the gaps we need to bridge? Skills?

Knowledge? Vision? Big balls? Other?

We need to start with vision, and have that come from leadership level. We then need some confidence and calculated risk-taking (big balls as you put it) from the management level to sponsor and initiate change. And lastly, we need skills and knowledge from the execution level to deliver the change.

What are the great ways to bridge those gaps?

A good starting point would be to put innovation and change on the agenda at council meetings, and simply start the conversation.

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How can people working in local government prep themselves for the future?

There are so many great and free resources online, along with many local Meetup.com groups in each city that bring together like-minded people for a night of knowledge sharing, ideas and innovations. Find the topics you’re interested in and just see what’s out there.

Also, it’s important to look outside our shores and see what’s happening in other cities across the world. Our counterparts in the UK and the US generally face similar problems. It’s always interesting to see how they are solving these problems and if anything they have come up with can be replicated here, with localisation.

Lastly, I like to avoid tunnel vision by looking at the disruption and innovation happening outside the local government sector and think about how those disruptions may impact or can be leveraged by council.

Engagement is a lovely phrase. But don’t ratepayers just want councils to get on with the job of providing services?

I don’t think it’s about loud, constant, in-your-face engagement. We are bombarded with so many messages every day. The last thing we want in our lives is council over-engaging on every decision it needs to make.

But I think ratepayers would appreciate the ability to easily have a meaningful conversation with council about the topics important to them, in a language they understand, and at a time and place that’s convenient for them.

Engagement isn’t about short bursts of discussion around key consultations. It’s about ongoing, authentic two-way dialogue with the community about the things that are important to them.

You’re an advocate for “simpler, smarter and more beautiful local government”. What does that look like?

For me, it means residents and ratepayers of all ages and technical abilities being able to access any government service at anytime, without needing to know the language of government, or how government works.

We’re holding our triennial local body elections in October this year. What attributes make for an ideal elected member in a world of disruptive technology?

Simply put, someone who’s prepared to stand for change, and who isn’t scared of ruffling a few feathers along the way.

To be clear, we don’t need technologists to be an elected member in order to create change. But we do need elected members who genuinely want change and are prepared to embrace technology as a means to achieve that. LG

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www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz For related articles go to our website. Search: ALGIM

INFRASTRUCTURE

FUTURE FOCUS Technology identifies infrastructure needs Technology will help provide the evidence on which infrastructure investment decisions can be based, says Jeff Roorda.

A

ccording to the Thirty Year New Zealand Infrastructure Plan 2015, the country’s infrastructure is in good shape, shored up by spending in recent years to tackle historic underinvestment.

Central and local government own a combined $200 billion plus of infrastructure assets and, as of 2015, have a 30-year plan in place to manage the portfolio. Notably, in the 10 years to 2025, more than $110 billion is earmarked for infrastructure spend.

Australia, by contrast, has a fragmented record of infrastructure management; with all levels of government allocating funds by looking in the rear-view mirror instead of looking to the future.

The gross replacement value of local government infrastructure for all Australian councils is estimated at A$438 billion; of that, 11 percent, or A$47 billion, is in poor condition.

Arguably, Australia could learn a lot from New Zealand; a national approach to infrastructure planning is well overdue.

That said, both countries face similar challenges with respect to funding future infrastructure: where will the funds come from and how will funding decisions be made?

SOURCES? Planning, building and maintaining infrastructure requires a big-picture perspective. Infrastructure is an intergenerational asset; a national strategy, with buy-in from central and local government, considers the level and type of infrastructure required for the next generation to support economic prosperity.

In terms of financing infrastructure projects, the traditional model is broken. In Australia the mechanism for the

2016 IPWEA NZ conference Jeff Roorda is presenting a paper at the 2016 IPWEA NZ conference in Auckland held from June 22 to 25.

GM of strategic asset management at TechnologyOne, Jeff will be speaking about how it is essential for New Zealand’s infrastructure networks to implement comprehensive asset management strategies and systems to provide the required levels of service we need.

More information: conferenceteam.co.nz/ipweanz2016

redistribution of funds from GST and other forms of taxation has tended to decline over time.

In New Zealand local and central government are grappling with financial constraints. Local authorities are under pressure to manage debt and reduce rates hikes. And central government is focused on returning to surplus and reducing net debt to 20 percent of GDP by 2020.

Meanwhile, there is a growing expectation from local communities for higher levels of social, cultural and recreational infrastructure. To meet this need, funding solutions that balance affordable service levels with fair revenue systems are required.

A variety of funding avenues should be explored, including debt, and charging for infrastructure use.

DECISIONS Technology that exposes the way people use infrastructure is invaluable for planning. Based on evidence collected today, technology can predict future scenarios. To better understand where funding should be directed, and how much, technology can capture a plethora of data from traffic volumes, freight routes and travel times to faults, insurance claims and community uptake.

Importantly, trends can be tracked allowing informed decisions to be made. The answer may not be to build more infrastructure, but rather to manage demand and peak loads.

In the future, the way we manage our cities and towns will be considerably different. Infrastructure will change dramatically.

We’ll see a shift away from the centralised industrial model in many industries – electricity generation and food production, for example. Infrastructure that is built around cars will become obsolete.

We’ll see these types of changes manifest in the next 20 to 30 years. Yet infrastructure – buildings, waste and stormwater, electricity, transport networks and the like – is designed to survive 50 years so it’s vital it is fit for purpose.

That’s where technology comes to the fore. It not only allows you to collect real-time asset performance information, it also provides a platform for predicting lifecycle costs based on required service levels and risk management strategies, and can link this to a range of funding scenarios.

Technology provides the evidence on which robust investment decisions can be based to meet society’s future infrastructure needs. LG • Jeff Roorda is GM strategic asset management at enterprise software company TechnologyOne. jeff_roorda@technologyonecorp.com

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ROADS

ROAD CONTRACT COLLABORATION Four councils share their learnings Alan Titchall looks at the unique roading agreement between four district councils in the South Island that sets a precedent for road contract work collaboration. Based on a presentation at the Road Infrastructure Management Forum 2016.

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ince April 2014 the Ashburton, Mackenzie, Timaru and Waimate District Councils have collaborated on their road resurfacing and maintenance with efficiencies for both local taxpayers and contractors.

The road operations and maintenance activity for the collective region was procured by each of the four district councils via a single common specification with a schedule of quantities relating to each council.

The long process by which this was achieved, through the new Mid-South Canterbury Collaboration Group, was presented at the 2016 Road Infrastructure Management Forum in Rotorua earlier this year.

The presenters were Ashley Harper and Suzy Ratahi.

Ashley is the group manager district services at Timaru District Council. Suzy has been the roading manager for Mackenzie District Council for the past four years.

The combined network of the four councils is large; 6000 kilometres of mostly rural network roads and 740 bridges.

It is also extremely diverse, with each district, from coast to high country, facing different weather challenges.

After three years of intense work together, a collective procurement process between the four districts was settled with contractors in September / October last year. New collective contracts contain a mix of unit rate and lump sum items for road maintenance service and, collectively, have a value of $60 million over a five-year term.

came to a head in April 2014 at a summit meeting between the mayors, chief executives and technical staff.

“The three councils of Mackenzie, Timaru and Waimate agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] in June that year that was relatively easy and documented into three to four pages.”

The MOU covered shared service delivery of both road asset management and shared operations.

“In hindsight it turned out to be a great document in terms of giving guidance on where we were meant to go for the next two years. Ashburton was kept in the communication loop and it joined the MOU in August 2014.”

A key move at this point, says Ashley, was the appointment of an independent project manager – Peter Hall. “We all believe this was a catalyst in getting results.”

Technical liaison was critical, says Ashley. “This is where the gains were determined.”

The MOU described a single contract for road resurfacing for two years from August 2015.

THE BEGINNING “Three years ago three district councils [Mackenzie, Timaru and Waimate] set off on a journey with a lot of technical discussions, workshops and presentations,” says Ashley. “Elections in the middle of it all [October 2013] resulted in delays and then a change of mayors at Waimate and Timaru. Discussion restarted early 2014 and it all

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Ashley Harper (Timaru District Council) & Suzy Ratahi (Mackenzie District Council) presenting at the Road Infrastructure Management Forum 2016.

Four district councils in the South Island set a precedent for road contract work collaboration.

“That didn’t mean to say it was easy. Previously it was done quite differently. One of the councils had annual contracts. Getting people on the same page to do the same thing was a real challenge.”

Resurfacing was placed into a single contract (with one specification) for two years and under joint procurement (using lowest price procurement) for three councils – Mackenzie, Timaru and Waimate. This was won by Downer NZ – after bids were received ranging from $8.48 million to $8.55 million. This contract involves a multi-party funding agreement that protects Timaru District Council (TDC) – the principal to the contract. A TDC land transport manager is the engineer to this contract, and three territorial local authority (TLA) engineering supervisors represent the separate council networks. This was also applied to the four collaborative road maintenance contracts.

MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS In August 2015 road operation and maintenance tenders were called, and by the end of October two unconditional and two conditional tenders had been accepted. In December last year the four, five-year road maintenance contracts started.

The tendering and procurement process (and documentation) for these contracts was a long process, says Suzy. “There was robust debate over the number, scope and scale, and duration of these five-year contracts that had started before Ashburton came on board.”

Not only did the four councils have to agree on common contract specification, but it involved ‘unique’ aspects for each district to be detailed in the Common Appendices; and had to involve a common basis of payment.

A tender requirement was Road Assessment & Maintenance Management software contractor / Pocket

RAMM integration. Many contractors who eventually put in a tender bid for a contract failed in this respect.

Says Ashley: “Our technical people said we need RAMM as we need good data, and we need to own the process of how that is collected.”

There were four tenders advertised with identical calling and closing dates. Conditional tendering was permitted, he says. “A contractor could offer to do more than one area / contract, but this was conditional on them winning a contract.”

An area of concern for the four council chief executives was that the tendering process wouldn’t disadvantage their council. Mackenzie and Waimate being the smaller areas didn’t want to be swamped out in the pricing process and to this effect, transfer payments were allowed between districts that had to be approved by the NZ Transport Agency.

The tendering process involved a compulsory briefing, presentations and interviews.

THE RESULT The tenders attracted seven contractor tenderers and 25 bids (15 unconditional and 10 conditional).

“We ended up with a lot of documentation to fill a tender room, which generated a lot of work after tenders closed,” says Ashley.

Evaluations were concurrent for the four contracts and done by a tender evaluation team (one representative from each council) with an independent chair.

They used the Price Quality Method (PQM), which takes in both quality and price in the selection of tenders, which is said to be a more sophisticated and transparent adaptation of Weighted Attributes – the most commonly used tender evaluation method.

The results were that Fulton Hogan (the incumbent) won

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ROADS the Ashburton and Timaru districts with two unconditional tenders and Whitestone Contracting won Mackenzie and Waimate districts with a conditional tender.

Although Whitestone was not the incumbent it offered the Mackenzie contract a ‘discount’ if it won the Waimate tender. This conditional tender now involves Mackenzie making a transfer payment to Waimate to compensate it.

WHAT WAS LEARNT? Suzy says it took over 12 months to get contract specification aligned. “Collaboration takes a lot of discussion, negotiation and time, and is resource hungry.”

Throughout the debate there was a lot of learning about each other’s management practices and asset management, she iterates, reflecting different management practices among the four unique networks.

“In the 87 scheduled items in the contract the only one we all couldn’t agree on was ice gritting. The two biggest councils are coastal and don’t have huge issues with ice, whereas Mackenzie is an alpine area.”

Ashley adds that current NZTA procurement rules are inhibitive during the tender evaluation process.

“Two thirds of the bids could be discounted because of

high price or low quality.

“If we could have dismissed these from the process … the work would have been over in just a couple of days [rather than weeks] and the result would be much clearer and much sooner, and the contractors wouldn’t be left waiting.”

Ashley also says that, unexpectedly, local market conditions (especially the effect of the two-year NZTA NOC contract in the district) had a “large influence” on the tendering process and determining price.

The Mid-South Canterbury Collaboration Group now believes it has produced a standardised collaboration document that can be used nationally by other councils.

“The challenge is to ‘carry-on’ the task,” says Ashley, “and cement the gains we have made through collaboration.”

These involve further MOU objectives around shared work in the area of RAMM data management; sharing resources and skills in areas of corridor and asset management and business cases for the 2018-2021 NLTP; and even collaborating on 30-year infrastructure strategies. LG

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www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz For related articles go to our website. Search: Collaboration

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AUTONOMOUS TRANSPORT

LOOK NO HANDS Autonomous vehicles The Ministry of Transport explains what new transport technologies could mean for councils.

T

he government’s recently-released report Testing Autonomous Vehicles in New Zealand explains our unique natural and legal environment to companies seeking to trial automation technology. The guidelines are a key resource in promoting New Zealand as a receptive test-bed for new technologies, particularly fully autonomous (driverless) vehicles – an action under the government’s ITS Technology Action Plan 2014–2018.

The guidelines were also produced because the Ministry of Transport and the NZTA were receiving enquiries from companies considering testing vehicles in New Zealand.

Our country has one particular advantage when it comes to autonomous vehicles. Our legislation does not explicitly require a driver to be present for a vehicle to be used on the road, which means so long as a vehicle meets relevant safety standards and the testing is carried out safely, a truly driverless vehicle may be tested today.

using a combination of cameras to detect lane markings, and radar to keep a constant following distance.

On some roads, the driver can sit back and not focus on the driving task. But for the time being they will need to take control in most environments. The technology cannot (yet) make navigation decisions, like turning at intersections.

This approach has been described as ‘something everywhere’, as vehicles will work everywhere, but only some features are automated, and these will only work some of the time.

Tesla recently enabled this type of self-driving technology, and several other high-end car manufacturers have said they will soon be offering similar options. Most car companies have said they will offer some form of self-driving technology by 2020. It is unlikely that councils or government will need to do anything specific to allow this type of autonomous vehicle to operate.

WHAT NEXT FOR COUNCILS?

EVERYTHING SOMEWHERE

Broadly speaking, developers are taking two approaches to automation. These have been summarised as ‘something everywhere’ and ‘everything somewhere’.

At the other end of the automation spectrum, Google and other less well-known companies are already testing vehicles with no steering wheels or other controls. These are fully autonomous, or self-driving. To operate they need a complex array of sensors, cameras and positioning systems, including highly detailed and accurate maps.

Because these vehicles automate all functions, but currently only work in very specific environments, this has been

SOMETHING EVERYWHERE Virtually all traditional car companies have said they will start on the path to automation by automating only some specific types of self-driving. To achieve this, vehicles are

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AUTONOMOUS TRANSPORT

What are fully-autonomous vehicles?

There is, as yet, no standard term to describe fully-autonomous vehicles. Different countries and different companies are using a range of terms to describe these new technologies, including ‘driverless’, ‘self driving’, ‘automated’ and ‘autonomous’ vehicles.

Because of the legal issues raised, it is necessary to be able to distinguish different levels of vehicle technology. In particular, we can distinguish systems by their degree of autonomy (ie, how much intervention is required by the human driver) and by the functions that are autonomous (eg, whether the vehicle is staying in a lane at a constant speed, or whether it can automatically brake to avoid obstacles). Distinctions along either dimension might be legally significant.

To provide some structure for policy discussions, the US National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has developed a five-level classification system. The figure below, Levels of driving automation, identified by US National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, summarises this US classification. Perhaps inevitably, other organisations have produced other classification systems.

Although the numbered levels suggest a progression of technology from partial to full vehicle autonomy, the market will almost certainly not develop in such a linear manner.

We can expect a mix of approaches from vehicle suppliers.

For example, while traditional vehicle manufacturers are starting with the automation of specific functions (eg, adaptive cruise control and lane keeping technology) which would be level three in the diagram, or automation under specific circumstances (eg, highway driving), Google has attempted to automate all of the driving functions, which in this description is level four.

Vehicle >

< Driver

Levels of driving automation Driver in complete and sole control at all times

No automation

Driver can regain control or stop faster than if driving without the specific function

Involves one or more specific control functions (eg. stability control, pre-charged brakes)

> Regulatory change required?

Driver is temporarily relieved of these driving functions

Driver must be available to take over controls

Involves automation of at least 2 primary control functions working in unison (eg, adaptive cruise control in combination with lane centering)

Enables all safetycritical functions to be automated (incl. steering, throttle, brake).

The vehicle monitors any changes in conditions that require a transition back to driver control

Driver not expected to take control at any time

Vehicle is designed to perform all safety-critical driving functions and monitor road conditions for an entire trip (includes both occupied and unoccupied vehicles)

Level 0: No Automation

Level 1: Function-specific Automation

Level 2: Combined Function Automation

Level 3: Limited Self-Driving Automation

Level 4: Full Self-Driving Automation

NOW

NOW

2013+

2020+ ?

2025+ ?

Levels of vehicle automation identified by US National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration

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Councils: get stuck in Local government could have a role operating autonomous vehicles. One of the current problems with autonomous vehicles is that they cannot operate everywhere, so public transport, with its clearly-defined routes, has been the subject of numerous recent developments in autonomous vehicle technology. Several companies are now selling fully autonomous prototype vehicles for use in public transport operations.

As an example, the French company Navya received considerable publicity at the 2015 Bordeaux ITS World Congress when it demonstrated a fully autonomous 15-seat driverless shuttle bus. The vehicle safely shuttled participants between several Congress venues on public roads.

In February 2016, the Western Australia Minister of Transport and the Royal Australian Automobile Club announced they would be purchasing and then trialling the Navya driverless shuttle in Perth during 2016.

This direct approach is an option that councils in New Zealand could consider if they wanted to run their own trial.

described as ‘everything somewhere’.

This kind of vehicle is still in the first phase of development, and will currently suit a restricted environment like a local community or university campus. Limiting the vehicles’ range while they are further developed also reduces the chances they will encounter a situation they cannot manage.

WHY TEST IN NEW ZEALAND? These fast developing technologies have great potential to contribute towards a safer and more efficient transport system for New Zealand. While a lot of testing is occurring overseas and on test tracks, it is important trials also take place in ‘real world’ environments.

Testing vehicles in New Zealand will improve our understanding of how the technology responds to our environment, and allows our transport sector to gain skills in deploying and managing new technology.

Trials also enable different kinds of emerging and innovative technology to be socialised with the public. Trials will provide an opportunity to provide feedback about the acceptability of the technology.

IN YOUR AREA What if a company wants to trial an autonomous vehicle in your area? In New Zealand, the NZTA oversees the relevant legislation around vehicles and their operation on

New Zealand roads. It is encouraging anyone who wants to test a vehicle technology to make contact as early as possible. It will discuss whether the vehicle will require any exemptions from rules and help develop a safety management plan.

It has established a dedicated contact address (avtesting@nzta.govt.nz) to assist.

Any testing of autonomous vehicles is going to be about the ‘real world’, so no specific changes to roads or new technologies are likely to be required from councils at this time.

In the future, more advanced vehicles may require roadside digital transmissions to help their journey (often referred to as ‘connected-vehicle’ or V2I communications). It is too soon to know whether these transmitters will be needed, or what they are likely to cost.

A council may need to be involved if a tester wants access to public spaces, such as pedestrian malls, or if a dedicated route for a trial was being considered. We expect councils will be advised of any trials occurring in their area and the NZTA would welcome working with any councils that do want to be involved in trials. LG

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www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz For more on this topic go to our website. bit.ly/ITSinLocalGov

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AUSTRALIA

TROY PICKARD On the changing face of local government in Australia Troy Pickard is president of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA).

He talks with Ruth Le Pla about the challenges and opportunities in his country and what local governments on both sides of the Tasman can learn from each other.

Troy will be a keynote speaker at the LGNZ Conference in July.

What are the big issues for local government in Australia right now?

One of our biggest issues is how we can meet the changing needs of our communities. We need to broaden our coverage to not just roads and infrastructure but also include human services. (See box story by the same name.)

Asset management is another significant challenge. We manage A$354 billion which is about a third of the nonfinancial assets across the three tiers of government in Australia. Recent studies have highlighted that 11 percent of our infrastructure is deemed to be in poor or very poor condition. So we have a significant backlog of work.

And dovetailed into that are our funding challenges. At the moment, 10 percent of local government revenue in Australia is derived from state and federal governments – predominantly federal government. Recently there’s been a freeze on indexation of our federal funding which has caused significant issues for local governments particularly in rural and remote areas. It has resulted in loss of staff, service reductions and closures of facilities.

What could we learn from you?

ALGA has worked very closely with LGNZ to share issues, challenges and opportunities and we have much to learn from each other.

In Australia, we do training of elected members and procurement very well. We’re working with LGNZ to assist them to better understand what our state associations do in those two areas in particular that could potentially be applied to the New Zealand environment.

Training is very pertinent here as we head into our local body elections later this year. What specifically do you think works well in Australia?

A large number of state associations that deliver the training, are getting into online environments. This is creating

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alternatives for non-metro-based local governments – which is the majority – to access training and improve their skillset.

It’s important that elected members broaden their understanding of the local government sector, good governance, financial principles, community engagement and how to manage the differences between the roles of elected members and administration. This last one in particular can cause friction and tension if not managed appropriately.

There’s no compulsory training for elected members but we do have a significant rate of participation in training nationally.

Could you give a ballpark figure?

In excess of 50 percent of elected members in Australia engage in some form of training. Some even participate in diplomas such as a diploma in local government.

Are you doing anything specific in procurement that you think we could adopt?

Our state and territory-based local government associations effectively tender on behalf of the sector for the procurement of products and services. That achieves

LGNZ conference 2016 Troy Pickard will be a keynote speaker at the LGNZ Conference in Dunedin in July where he will be talking about the changing face of local government in Australia. He will share his ideas on the transformative economy, engaging and facilitating disruption, new technologies, and managing assets and infrastructure.

For more information: www.lgnz.co.nz.

Troy Pickard: We have much to learn from each other.

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AUSTRALIA several benefits. Firstly, it obviously generates some scale of purchase which reduces cost per unit. But, importantly, it actually reduces the cost of tendering – not only for local governments but also for the sectors wishing to engage with local government. There’s a significant cost factor in participating in a tender process: tens of thousands of dollars.

It’s a form of a prequalification process?

Yes. Individual councils can, if they choose, go through a formal tender. The state territory associations that are active in procurement effectively establish their own panels. They do that through a formal and public tender process that determines the suitability of an organisation but also sets the cost structure for an individual business.

That entitles them to sit on that panel and they are then promoted actively throughout the sector as a panel member for procurement. Local governments can go straight to that panel to procure products and services without having to tender for that regardless of the tender regulation threshold at the time.

Are you suggesting that in New Zealand all local authorities could purchase collectively?

Absolutely, there’s an opportunity to do that. LGNZ could run a tender process that’s transparent and open to the market place. It would take three or four years to build your panel but you’d start with the products and services that are most used by local government such as motor vehicle fleets, trucks, plant and equipment and road resurfacing.

Who’s who The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) is the national voice of local government in Australia. It represents 560 councils. ALGA is a federation of state and territory local government associations.

Troy Pickard has been involved in local government since 2001 and president of ALGA since November 2014. He is mayor of the City of Joondalup, a local government area with city status in Perth, Western Australia.

These are all major expenditure items in Australia and where there are significant volumes of purchase. I think that would apply in New Zealand too.

What I don’t know is what your tender regulations are. In Australia, if you procure services above a certain threshold – which is different in each state – you have to formally tender so there may not be a cost saving for the private sector or for local government.

But if you have regulations that force local governments to tender per job based on the dollar value, then there would be absolute value for everyone in having a procurement process that develops panels.

Have you spoken with LGNZ about this in practical terms – ie, whether they’d adopt something like this or not?

No. We’ve spoken in practical terms about training but I’m not aware of any advanced discussions on procurement.

Human services According to the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), local government’s role in human services is complex and diverse, and interacts with the roles and responsibilities of other levels of government.

These services include local government’s involvement in local planning, coordination, funding and the provision of facilities,

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services and programmes across a wide number of areas.

These may include: sport, arts and culture, recreation, childcare, aged care, libraries, drug and alcohol, housing and homelessness, maternal and child health and a wide range of community development activities such as community relations, social cohesion, health promotion and citizen engagement.

On the procurement side, is there any downside for smaller suppliers?

Not really. Invariably, local governments in rural and remote regional areas of Australia have purchasing policies that favour local businesses. And even when these authorities engage in panels they have decision-making criteria that favour local content – which is absolutely crucial.

Under the panel system smaller businesses have to engage in the tender process only once. Then they’re in the game to have an opportunity to work on multiple contracts. So there are upsides for all parties regardless of size.

Any lessons that you could learn on your side of the Tasman from ours?

There are lots of lessons for us to learn from New Zealand – particularly in structural reform of local government.

We don’t do that well here. Invariably, the sector is forced to reform by the state government. This causes friction and tension within not only local government but also the communities we serve.

In New Zealand reform has, no doubt, caused tension. But by all accounts it has resulted in a structure that achieves some broader objectives of scope and scale, and also ensures the local voice is heard.

We don’t have those layers in Australia. It’s a very raw structure here. You’re either big or you’re small and there’s not a great deal in between. We don’t have the community board advice structure and I think there are wonderful opportunities to do so.

The New Zealand experience of regional collaboration is another area that we can learn much from. We’re trying to encourage local governments to partner strategically across boundaries. Ultimately, that is a major incentive for the federal government to engage with local government on a regional scale rather than an individual scale.

The regional structures that you have – albeit focused on issues such as the environment – seem to work well. They could most definitely be applied in Australia, not just for the environment but particularly in how we manage our strategic road networks above and beyond our local road networks.

From my lens, from afar, the structure that is maturing in New Zealand local government makes a lot of sense and has areas of applicability here in Australia.

Why can’t local authorities get their PR right?

The challenge is that we have a message at a local level which is very different to our message at a national level.

It’s a delicate dance catering to the needs of your local community but also being on par with the broader thrust of local government messaging and decision-making on the national stage.

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Will local authorities ever be loved by ratepayers?

We shouldn’t try to position the sector so that we are loved.

I think we need to be appreciated and valued by our community for the work we do on their behalf. LG • Redacted from an interview with Troy Pickard.

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ENERGY EFFICIENCY

GOT THE SMARTS Councils inspire in EECA Awards A pioneer of sustainable development, a business partnership that’s converting landfill emissions into electricity, and some solar-powered toilets, were among the local government success stories recognised in the recent 2016 EECA Awards.

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he EECA Awards, which honoured winners in 10 categories for a range of energy management projects across business, community and the public sector, saw sustainability manager Viv Heslop take the energy leadership trophy for her role championing energy efficiency at Panuku Development Auckland.

SUSTAINABILITY WINNER As an urban planner and sustainability strategist, Viv Heslop has over 20 years’ experience in local and central government, and in consulting. But it was for her role ensuring energy efficiency was entrenched in the Auckland waterfront Wynyard Quarter redevelopment that scooped for her the EECA Award.

Viv developed first-class sustainability plans for the urban regeneration project, achieving group-wide support for energy efficiency by signing developers and tenants who agreed to meet high environmental standards. She also created the concept of a ‘smart precinct’ using New Zealand-first technologies which capture and monitor water and energy use in real-time.

EECA Awards judges say Viv has lifted the standards for sustainability in the Queen City.

“Viv has a great track record of achievements in sustainability and demonstrates energised effective leadership,” says awards head judge Ralph Sims. “Her work is inspirational and she has a strategic approach that is set to change the energy efficiency landscape of Auckland.”

Viv Heslop

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LEADING LIGHT IN AUCKLAND CITY The leadership of fellow Aucklander Michelle Dawson was also applauded in the awards. Michelle is credited with the widespread uptake of LED and energy efficient lighting across public spaces in the city, dramatically reducing Auckland City’s electricity bill. Judges say her influence as an energy expert at the former Waitakere City Council and then at Auckland Council was behind their transition to energy efficient outcomes for council properties. Michelle was highly commended by judges in the energy leadership category of the awards.

SOLAR-POWERED CANTERBURY TOILETS Christchurch City Council was commended by judges in the public sector category for its solar-powered public toilet project. Designed by Exeloo, the facilities use solar photovoltaic collectors, battery storage, LED lamps and daylight and sensor switches, not only making savings to the city’s electricity bill, but also on infrastructure costs. Without the need to hook up to the national grid, cabling and trenching costs have been avoided, with savings ranging from between $10,000 and $50,000 per site. Eleven facilities are planned throughout the city, with more on the cards as the repair and rebuild process continues.

RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY IN HAWKE'S BAY In Hawke’s Bay they’re removing potent gas from the atmosphere and using it to make electricity. The Omarunui Landfill Gas Partnership, which brings together Hastings District Council and Pioneer Energy, was commended in the renewable energy category.

The $1.8 million project takes methane gas from the Omarunui Landfill, jointly owned by the district council and Napier City Council, and converts it into electricity. The gas, which would otherwise just be flared, provides enough electricity for 1000 homes.

Award judges described the project as an outstanding example of renewable energy with multiple benefits while enhancing the security of electricity supply to Hawke’s Bay and reducing the need for other greenhouse gas-emitting energy generation.

“While not the first landfill gas example in New Zealand, this is a straightforward example of renewable energy generation,” Ralph Sims says. “Methane utilisation for electricity production

Clockwise from top left: Michelle Dawson; Christchurch City Council's solar-powered public toilet project; Omarunui Landfill Gas Ltd Partnership; Red Bus; Kapiti Coast District Council.

is a win-win for the environment and the process is highly replicable.”

KAPITI COAST'S SMALLER CARBON FOOTPRINT Local government transport initiatives also received kudos: Kapiti Coast District Council for its programme of transport efficiencies and driver training, and Christchurch City Councilowned Red Bus for its use of mobile technology that informs bus drivers of their fuel-efficient driving behaviour.

Winner of both the community and public sector categories in the 2014 EECA Awards, Kapiti Coast District Council has achieved an average 46 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the past three years. In this year’s awards the council was commended by judges in the public sector category for its ‘emissions treble’ campaign which has so far saved 56 tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions and $20,500 in public funds.

In the new campaign, the council has turned its attention to lowering its greenhouse gas emissions through transport efficiencies, including vehicle maintenance and lower mileage, and driver training. Training was provided for the most frequent drivers, which was then extended to all staff in the form of fuel efficiency tips on the intranet and in the staff newsletter, alongside promotion of walking, cycling and public transport. In 2014-15 the council saw a 12 percent reduction in petrol and diesel used by its fleet.

As well, the Kapiti Coast world-first electric refuse collection truck has clocked 52,000 kilowatt-hours in energy efficient rubbish collection since it took to the road in 2013, and continues to generate fuel savings for the council of around $3800 per year.

More recently, a new 32 kilowatt grid-tied, solar electric system, installed at the Paraparaumu wastewater treatment plant last year, is expected to generate 24,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year and save six tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and $6500 in energy costs each year.

About the awards EECA chief executive Mike Underhill says the EECA Awards have proven that energy efficiency not only saves money for ratepayers, it also improves performance and is better for the environment.

“Local government agencies and council-controlled organisations can be very large energy users, but they have the potential to save 20 percent of current energy use through good energy management.

These savings provide a way local government can achieve carbon savings and demonstrate a commitment to responding to climate change. Energy efficiency is a key way local government can show leadership in influencing the energy used by the local community.

It’s great to see what our local government winners have achieved.”

The EECA Awards celebrate organisations and individuals that demonstrate excellence in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The awards were presented at a ceremony in Auckland on May 18.

of buses communicates with drivers so they can track their fuel-efficient driving behaviour. The red, amber, green warning system reacts to speed, braking, acceleration, cornering and idling. The detailed feedback tells Red Bus which drivers display excellent driving and an incentive scheme rewards drivers for their fuel-efficient driving behaviour.

Conservative driving is resulting in reduced fuel consumption, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, reduced tyre wear, savings on repair and maintenance, and for 3.8 million passengers each year, increased comfort and safety. Red Bus says its fuel saving plan could save four to five percent of its $2 million annual diesel costs, with additional repair and maintenance cost savings expected to add to that over time.

Red Bus was commended in the transport category of the EECA Awards, judges saying the driver training programme would impact on driving behaviour both inside and outside of work, and that the combination of innovation and staff incentive made great business sense. LG

EFFICIENT BUS DRIVERS IN CHRISTCHURCH In Christchurch, Red Bus is the first bus company in New Zealand to implement EECA’s heavy vehicle fuel efficiency programme. Added to this, on-board technology in the cabs

>>

www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz For related articles go to our website. Search: EECA

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INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

THERE SHE FLOWS Five into one How Wellington Water’s many previous information sources are now one.

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ellington Water combines the water operation management (water treatment and supply, stormwater and wastewater service delivery) previously undertaken by the five councils in the Wellington catchment area: Upper Hutt, Hutt City, Wellington City, Porirua and the Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Set up in 2014, Wellington Water relies on access to timely, real and current information. In forming the new entity it became apparent that the amalgamation of information from across the five councils was not only going to be complex but hampered by fragmentation.

“The first step was to create a single

Oliver Mander: Information manager, Wellington Water

source of truth,” said Oliver Mander, information manager for Wellington Water. “There was simply no place to share knowledge. There were antiquated document depositories, both digital and physical, as well as people’s individual storage behaviours – none of which were conducive to our aim of becoming a knowledge-based organisation.”

Wellington Water required a fast deployment and a basic, working solution from day one. Document migration is often fraught with technical issues and this was no exception. The sheer volume of material to be moved was also significant – over 250,000 pieces of information from different repositories. Added to that was a ‘wild

Sarah Heal: Co-founder & director, Information Leadership.

Key learnings • It’s about the business, not the system.

• Developing an understanding of Wellington Water’s core business processes before the deployment helped structure the system in a robust and sustainable way.

• Take a pragmatic approach.

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• Transparency and communication are key.

• Keep it simple.

• It was important for Wellington Water to adopt a single way of doing things and trade-offs were made, based on the right information, to achieve this.

• Pick the right partner.

card’ of accommodating Wellington Water’s move from its legacy technical infrastructure.

SOLUTION Following an evaluation of several software options, Wellington Water identified SharePoint as the best solution because it suited its integration needs, provided essential future-proofing as the organisation continued on its journey, and offered a powerful search engine (which staff had signalled as being important).Wellington Water partnered with New Zealand information and knowledge management solution provider Information Leadership on the project. This decision was based on the company’s expertise and capabilities built through previous public sector experience, understanding of public records and an appreciation of the type of activities that councils undertake.

Informed by four months of detailed planning, the project involved two key phases. Phase one, completed in December 2015, was to create a ‘basic big bang’, allowing all staff to have access to information from day one. This ensured basic functionality was delivered while providing a building block for phase two, which involved configuring elements that were better suited to the activities Wellington Water undertakes.

Planning for this phase is currently underway.

“Getting phase one right was critical,” explains Oliver. “We had to be extremely pragmatic.”

The business-led deployment focused on finding and delivering the best, fit-forpurpose solution for Wellington Water.

“Critical to the project’s success was

About Wellington Water • Manages more than 6500 kilometres of pipes, 138 reservoirs, 249 pump stations and 4 water treatment plants • Supplies 140 million litres of water per day (on average), for 400,000 people • Represents the largest body of expertise in water infrastructure services management in New Zealand, outside of Auckland • Aims to drive efficiency for the end-to-end asset management of any water resource • Goal is to deliver benefits to the shareholders and their communities through cost savings, resilience and expertise that individual councils could not achieve on their own.

full transparency and communication between Wellington Water and Information Leadership, which ensured that the project was delivered on time and on budget,” said Oliver.

RESULTS Following phase one, staff at Wellington Water are reaping the benefits of effective records management processes, allowing for collaboration and sharing of knowledge. They are being encouraged to think differently about what they do and how they use information. They can

The facts • 6 months of planning and delivery • Water data from 5 councils brought together • 250,000 pieces of information migrated.

recognise links to other teams; question, think and be curious about knowledge; and they have context as to how they see themselves in the activity structure. With a centralised single source of truth and a collaborative platform now in place, Wellington Water’s shared services offer will overcome many of the difficulties inherent with retrieving information from five disparate councils.

Phase two of the project will also enable knowledge to be directly accessible by each council, thereby encouraging collaboration, transparency, joint learning and sharing.

Oliver is confident that the flowon effect will be for the councils to be more efficient in their waterrelated stakeholder and constituent management, in line with the aim of the shared-service model. LG

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JUNE 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

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PHOTO COURTESY OF: WELLINGTON WATER

Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant, Wellington.

SPECIAL FEATURE

TH E F U TU R E O F

SPATIAL TECHNOLOGY / GIS A greater emphasis on analysis and modelling is on the cards as councils dig deep into spatial technologies. So too, are more shared services, technologies and standards, as councils team up to meet ratepayers’ increasing expectations. By Mary Searle Bell.

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ocal authorities face both huge challenges and opportunities as the demand for geospatial data grows. But along with this comes the need for the necessary technology to gather and share data. It’s going to be expensive – out of the financial reach of smaller councils – and will require flexibility and innovation on the part of the people involved and the technology used.

The exact pace and trajectory of future technological change remains unclear, presenting a huge challenge even for large organisations. And when it comes to geographic information systems (GIS), there’s little time to lose.

Gill Lawrence is manager spatial information for Waikato Regional Council and founding member of the Local Government Geospatial Alliance. She emphasises that GIS is not just about the technology. Data comes first.

1.

2.

3.

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Historically, she says, local authorities gathered data and created datasets largely for use within their own organisations.

Their emphasis was on using these datasets to help with the cartography production for documents such as district and regional plans. However, over the next 10 years, there will be a greater emphasis on analysis and modelling.

“These will use many different layers of information to assist policy- and decision-makers by developing scenarios for their planning, not just add on maps in policy documents.”

She says there will also be a change to making data and information available externally.

Geographic Business Solutions director Harley Prowse says the role of local authorities will evolve as they take on more data analysis and increasingly shift to making information more consumable by the public.

“The public will expect to be able to help themselves to information rather than having to request it,” he says. “And they will expect to be able to do so on their mobile devices at any time.”

Yet capturing, processing and analysing such data will simply be beyond the means of many councils. The solution to this would be to share services, technologies, standards and schema between them.

“Local authorities can work regionally so that datasets don’t ‘stop at the border’,” says Gill. “They can look for ways to create portals of information so that external people and organisations do not need to go to many organisations to get the data they require, nor have to know who to go to in a council or which council can answer their query.”

She says local authorities have the opportunity “to use technology so that the gathering of the data in one place is done in a machine-readable, repeatable way and to enable the visualisation of the aggregated data without necessarily each of the local authorities using the same software”.

1. Christchurch CBD web scene – showing the buildings that needed to be demolished after the 2011 earthquakes.

2. Dunedin 3D buildings and solar analysis. Advanced GIS and 3D modelling have been used to determine the solar generation potential of building rooftops.

3. Queenstown geodesign.

Screenshots of Auckland Council’s map viewer application Geomaps built by Geographic Business Solutions.

The company has been involved with the council’s geospatial future mode of operation project.

This, in turn, raises a related challenge for councils. Many already do not have enough quality IT / geospatial staff.

Lauren McArtney, GIS local government consultant with GIS Technical Solutions, says GIS is becoming more aligned with mainstream IT. “However, specialist spatial skills will still exist and the shortage of these will be felt, particularly in rural areas.”

Meanwhile, Geographic Business Solutions also sees as a major challenge the conflict between the increasing pace of technological change and local authorities’ conservative approach to change.

Harley says local authorities will need to adapt fast to take advantage of the technological advances and to keep pace with their stakeholders’ demands.

“Technology will offer significant opportunities to cut costs, offer new services and provide higher levels of service,” says Harley. “This will force councils to adapt. The challenge will be having the vision, staff and budgets to do it in a way that meets demand and reflects efficient use of ratepayers’ money.”

The development of GIS over the next 10 years presents a huge opportunity for councils to positively interact with their communities: from interactive mapping to better future planning, to emerging technologies such as the internet of things, artificial intelligence, robotics and automation.

“Community interaction will become more about the rapid two-way sharing of information,” says Harley. “And spatial will be integral in how this information is managed, analysed and shared. “Councils have to be able to take advantage of the information they are getting and could get, by using technology

to report, analyse and mitigate. The potential is massive, but the challenges are huge also.”

Consequently, it will be critical to have GIS technology that can move and adapt quickly to the needs of the business and stakeholders and as new developments occur, says Gill.

“Local authorities are likely to use either open source technologies or a mix of open source and proprietary,” she says.

“Key criteria will be the ability to make different technology elements work together so that the most appropriate technology to use for each task is enabled.

“The technologies need to be reasonably intuitive, especially in situations where there will be wide use across the organisation or for the public and stakeholders to use.”

As Lauren says, “Effective use of GIS is driven by a unified vision and culture in how we share and interact with geospatial information. Supporting a pragmatic approach to information interoperability will ensure that GIS continues to grow in New Zealand.” LG • Mary Searle Bell is a freelance writer and editor.

This special feature forms part of a new series by Local Government Magazine.

N E X T M O N TH

>>

• The future of stormwater management • The future of data security

www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz For related articles go to our website. Search: Spatial

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SPECIAL FEATURE

F O E R U T U F E TH

HEALTH & SAFETY Workforce and management training, higher levels of awareness and a greater focus on wellbeing will become more important as local authorities enter a new era of workplace health and safety. Patricia Moore maps the near and distant future.

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he Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 has turned the spotlight squarely on improving New Zealand’s workplace safety record.

By providing a flexible framework to help improve performance, regardless of industry sector, the aim is to cut the workplace injury and death toll by a quarter by 2020.

But does the biggest change in more than 20 years mean a new approach for local authorities as they plan to make the next decade a safer one for employees across the board?

WorkSafe New Zealand’s John Tulloch says implementation of the new Act is a real opportunity for local authorities to collectively lift their game in work health and safety.

“Essentially the key changes for workers are a greater clarity and awareness of duties and improved risk identification and management,” he says. “Achieve progress in those areas and we’d be well on our way to rectifying this country’s poor performance.”

Roger McRae

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Local authorities operate a wide range of functions, activities and businesses that range from high to low risk, says John.

“Some have already invested in risk identification and management expertise while others are contracting it out. Over time these will become part of the core business operating model. But for those which believe they are deficient, there may be a period of coming up to speed.”

Roger McRae, managing director of McConnell Dowell Contractors, says because local authorities fall within the definition of a PCBU – a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking, and as such, are included in the Act – there is greater responsibility to be more actively involved in how safety is managed.

“They have a fantastic opportunity to lead engagement and best practice throughout the whole supply chain by working with their partners and suppliers to achieve a higher standard of safety competency.”

John Tulloch

Roger, who is on the board of the Construction Safety Council, notes that historically some local authorities have delegated safety to the construction companies they engaged, so some upskilling may be needed for employees.

“Some already do this well but I’m keen to see more client managers engaged in safety on our projects,” he says. “Not only will that help them manage their own risk under the new legislation, it also helps us as contractors to raise safety standards.

“A challenge for local authorities will be making sure their senior managers and officers are well informed at all times about the safety of their worksites. This means being fully engaged, fully understanding the risk areas and putting processes in place to consistently monitor and manage those risks.”

Roger says strong leadership will be key and training is likely to be needed. “The change will take some organisations out of their comfort zone

Milene Haakman

but it will help them become stronger in the long term.”

Impac Services is working with a number of local authorities on safety and risk management solutions.

Milene Haakman, GM training, says the importance of specific training, particularly for new recruits, will mean this is ongoing.

The focus is on three main areas: management training, from supervisory level up, to ensure there’s an understanding of the role and what’s needed to ensure a safe workplace; training in the contractor (PCBU) management area; and project management for in-house staff.

“We’re also doing a lot more with councils on advanced incident / accident investigation techniques, because these now need to be investigated more thoroughly.”

A recent Safeguard State of the Nation health and safety survey exposed wide differences between views on ‘safety’ and ‘health’. Of almost 800 respondents, around 67 percent agreed or strongly agreed ‘the safety of workers is taken seriously’ while only 42.5 percent agreed or strongly agreed the same could be said

for their health and wellbeing.

John Tulloch believes the health aspect has been missing from the agenda for too long.

The new Act addresses this by placing greater focus on wellbeing.

And while there’s a growing emphasis on corporate social responsibility – with many wellness programmes and initiatives already implemented – Roger McRae predicts an increase in senior managers and officers stepping up their game.

“Caring for employees is the responsibility of employers and is as much about wellbeing as it is about safety. One affects the other. Look out for the health and state of mind of your people and there will be fewer incidents. Employees will also become more engaged and I’d like to think we’ll start to see a cultural mind-shift generally in our approach to health, safety and wellness.”

According to Milene Haakman, there’s probably a greater awareness that all staff need to understand they not only have to make themselves safe but that they can speak up about the unsafe behaviour of others. “We’re looking to having a culture of safety

that starts at grass-roots level.”

But changes to an organisation’s culture don’t happen overnight.

“Human behaviour has to change to make a safe working environment. If local authorities can focus on that they are doing really well,” she says.

There have been a lot of column inches devoted to the new Act – not all of them well informed. WorkSafe’s John Tulloch recommends utilising the information and formal guidance provided on the WorkSafe website.

“The new law hasn’t created new risks. It’s a new framework around managing risk, including clarifying responsibilities.”

For responsible employers nothing has changed, says Roger McRae. “But for those with work to do, it puts them on notice and removes uncertainty by providing clear guidance on what needs to be done.” LG •P atricia Moore is a freelance writer. mch@xtra.co.nz

>>

www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz For related articles go to our website.

Search: Health and Safety

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TECHNICAL BRIEFINGS_STORMWATER In the first of a new series of technical briefings in the magazine, we highlight two papers presented at the 2016 Water New Zealand Stormwater Conference in Nelson recently.

ICONIC URBAN WATERWAY AND STORMWATER CHANNEL: REVIVING THE MAITAI RIVER Jo Martin (Nelson City Council), Ami Kennedy (Friends of the Maitai).

ABSTRACT Working in partnership with iwi, the community and key agencies in the region, Nelson City Council has embarked on a four-year restoration project for the Maitai River, called Project Maitai / Mahitahi.

The goal is to improve the health of the Maitai River and its tributaries; so that we can swim safely, collect kai and value this taonga (treasure) as an integral part of Nelson’s physical and cultural landscape.

The Maitai River has many important roles. It provides the city’s drinking water and acts as a stormwater and flood channel. It is the tupuna awa (ancestral river) for the Iwi of Whakatu and is important to all the Iwi of Te Tau Ihu. It is also a key recreational asset, and part of Nelson’s cultural landscape.

There is some tension between these roles which makes the collaborative nature of this project especially important.

At only 18 kilometres long, the Maitai River can be divided into three sections each with a different set of impacts: the municipal water supply reservoir in the upper catchment; widespread forestry and recreational activity in the mid catchment; and urban activity in the

Almond Tree Flats ford: pedestrian ford vs fish passage barrier vs gravel extraction point.

lower catchment where the river runs right through the city and finishes in the sensitive receiving waters of the tidal Nelson Haven.

This makes the Maitai River a useful case study to look at a wide range of water quality impacts and possible interventions in a small area.

The project provides a good example of how the community can actively be involved in a council-based project from decision-making to implementation, and illustrates the importance of internal

cross-council collaboration to address water quality issues.

The full paper discusses the structure of the Project Maitai / Mahitahi programme, the ways in which stakeholders and community are involved, and the successes and lessons learnt to date for both water quality outcomes and project processes.

science, environmental education and project management.

Ami Kennedy is one of the founding members of the current Friends of the Maitai group.

Friends of the Maitai promotes collaborative responsibility for the health of waterways, and

provides community members with a place to learn about the issues facing our rivers and be involved in taking positive action.

This paper has been written collaboratively with several members of the group including David Ayre, Alison Horn and Steven Gray.

>>

www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz Go to our website for the full paper and Powerpoint presentation slides.

Search: bit.ly/Maitai_River

PRESENTER PROFILES Jo Martin is a member of the environmental programmes team at Nelson City Council and is the programme coordinator for Project Maitai / Mahitahi. She has been at Nelson City Council for eight years in a variety of roles, and has a background in

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DEVELOPING A GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE POLICY FOR THE AUCKLAND COUNCIL STORMWATER UNIT Ian Mayhew (4Sight Consulting), Wolfgang Kanz (Auckland Council Stormwater Unit) & Claudia Hellberg (Auckland Council Stormwater Unit), Nicki Green (formerly 4Sight Consulting, now with Bay of Plenty Regional Council).

ABSTRACT Water sensitive design approaches, including the use of green infrastructure (GI), are increasingly accepted as best practice for land and infrastructure development in many circumstances because they support the protection and enhancement of freshwater and coastal water quality, can provide ecosystem, community and cultural benefits, may reduce risks, and may be more resilient and cost effective than traditional built infrastructure.

While the use of GI, including natural assets, generally offers a wider range of benefits when compared to traditional built infrastructure, there are also circumstances where its use may not be appropriate due to case-specific constraints or where whole of life costs and operational implications are too high compared to the benefits.

Guidance is required to direct the stormwater unit’s (SWU) operational activities in encouraging and providing for GI where appropriate, in order to achieve clear, equitable, cost effective and regionally consistent stormwater management.

To address this, the SWU

Green infrastructu re (rain garden) in the road carriage way of a new subd ivision.

Major green infrastructure device (pond / wetland) supporting multiple stormwater, ecological and community outcomes.

commissioned the development of a green infrastructure policy (GI policy or policy) to provide operational guidance on the use and management of GI. The purpose of the policy is to: • Direct the SWU’s approach to use and management of GI in undertaking its functions; • Encourage the use of GI for stormwater management in public and private development where stormwater infrastructure is to be vested in / managed by council; and • Guide SWU involvement in wider council planning and management programmes for GI.

The policy establishes overarching objectives and policies in respect of the use and management of GI and provides more specific guidance as to the circumstances where GI will be utilised or encouraged in preference to traditional stormwater management approaches.

This paper outlines the development and approach of the policy and provides an insight into implementation of it.

experience to integrate complex technical information into consent and policy projects.

Wolfgang Kanz graduated with a Masters in Applied Environmental Science, and has 15 years’ experience in the public and private sector. His training and experience is in natural resource management, in particular

anthropogenic impacts on the natural environment. Wolfgang is responsible for development of tools, models and policies to benefit stormwater management, applying a strategic lens to stormwater management, and providing specialist ecological advice within the Auckland Council.

>>

www.localgovernmentmag.co.nz Go to our website for the full paper.

Search: bit.ly/Ak_Council_Green

PRESENTER PROFILES Ian Mayhew has spent 25 years in local government and consultancy roles and has extensive experience in water resource management, stormwater and contaminant discharges, policy and plan development and consent acquisition. Ian utilises his science background and resource management

CRAIG MCILROY

GENERAL MANAGER STORMWATER, AUCKLAND COUNCIL.

Auckland Council’s stormwater unit is fully committed to the Auckland Plan vision to become ‘the world’s most liveable city’. The appropriate management of stormwater and freshwater is integral to a liveable city and ensuring council’s statutory obligations and objectives are met.

To be a liveable city we need to achieve a ‘water sensitive community’. This concept is a shift in the focus of stormwater management from removing or disposing of stormwater as fast as possible via built infrastructure to recognising the value of stormwater, its close

interrelationship with natural freshwater systems, and how it can enhance the liveability of our cities.

The stormwater unit’s green infrastructure policy is an important step towards a water sensitive community. LG

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MALCOLM ABERNETHY / FROM CIVIL CONTRACTORS NZ EXECUTIVE OFFICE R, CIVI L CONTRACTOR S N EW Z EALAN D. malcolm@civilcontractors.co.nz

Why do we need more auditors?

No to a new level of compliance costs on suppliers.

O SURELY THE HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK LEGISLATION DID NOT INTEND THAT ALL AUDITS NEEDED TO BE AUDITED BY YET ANOTHER AUDITOR.

ver recent months and leading up to the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act there has been considerable debate about how a client can demonstrate they have completed due diligence on their suppliers.

Different organisations have implemented different methods to do this: from off-the-shelf commercial products that undertake desktop audits of a supplier’s health and safety system, through to in-house methods that check and ensure that suppliers have effective health and safety systems that are used as part of their business-as-usual activities. That is they check a supplier has a fit-for-purpose health and safety system that is used, is up to date and is working to address the many hazards presented by a workplace.

Over time, suppliers have developed systems that meet the Accident Compensation Corporation’s (ACC) Workplace Safety Management Programme (WSMP) requirements.

The WSMP has a 10-part audit tool that requires an independent third party accredited auditor to undertake safety audits on a business.

If successful, the business will be accredited at primary, secondary or tertiary level. There is a system of self-audit for small companies called WSD or Workplace Safety Discounts. And for large companies there is a Partnership Programme under WSMP. In all cases, if a business passes audit at the various levels the company receives a discount on its ACC levies.

The WSMP audit requirements are based on NZS 4801 for Safety Management Systems with some additional requirements. The WSMP audit also requires interviews with workers and visits to particular construction sites.

We understand that ACC is reviewing WSMP and will replace that with a system that will be jointly managed with WorkSafe NZ. In large part I believe the current system works well. There may be some variation in the quality of audits, but that is an issue for ACC which accredits the auditors.

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In my view, those businesses that have a commitment to safe working environments spend a great deal of time (and cost) in developing systems, managing those systems and improving them over time.

With the use of independent commercial desktop audit systems now being insisted upon by some client groups we need to take a good hard look at what is the value for money in doing this.

Some of these systems have annual costs for the suppliers (read contractors) that vary from $1000 to $4500 for a company of up to 24 employees, to tens of thousands of dollars for a large company.

The systems also vary as to the integrity of the desktop audit from 10 questions to, it’s been reported, 50 pages of questions.

It’s also interesting to note that one of the first questions asked is what level of health and safety accreditation your company has (ACC or equivalent).

Clients also frequently describe this type of review as a prequalification system. That’s not what they are. At best they may be a supplier management system so at the very least let’s call them that. Prequalification is another issue that if it is to be used or called that, it needs to cover off more than health and safety (the typically-used non-price attributes).

Some client groups say the cost of these sorts of reviews will be passed on to themselves. But the reality is a company will absorb that cost as an overhead, which will reduce its bottom-line profit.

Unfortunately, often procurement may be all about lowest price rather than best price and value-for-money concepts.

Commercial entities that provide these desktop reviews sell the idea to clients by saying clients will be able to demonstrate they have completed due diligence on their suppliers. How would you demonstrate due diligence has been completed?

Borrowing from WorkSafe NZ Guidance materials and in particular the Health and Safety Guide: Good Governance for Directors what does this really mean?

“Due diligence requires directors (as officers) to take reasonable steps to understand the PCBU’s operations and health and safety risks, and to ensure that they are managed so that the organisation meets its legal obligations.

“Due diligence is defined in section 44(4) of HSWA as taking reasonable steps to: 1. acquire and update knowledge of health and safety matters 2. gain an understanding of the operations carried out by the organisation, and the hazards and risks generally associated with those operations 3. ensure the PCBU has, and uses, appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise those risks 4. ensure the PCBU has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information about incidents, hazards and risks, and for responding to that information in a timely way 5. ensure there are processes for complying with any duty, and that these are implemented 6. verify that these resources and processes are in place and being used.

“Directors (and other officers) must exercise the care, diligence and skill that a reasonable director (or officer) would exercise in the same circumstances. What is considered reasonable will depend on the particular circumstances, including the nature of the business or undertaking, and the

director or officer’s role and responsibilities.

“All officers, including directors, may seek health and safety advice from experts or others within their organisation, such as managers. Where they choose to rely on this advice, the reliance must be reasonable. Directors (and other officers) should obtain enough health and safety knowledge to ask the right questions of the right people and to obtain credible information.”

It is my strong view that simply employing a commercial entity to complete a desktop audit of a supplier is no better than verifying that a supplier has appropriate levels of accreditation to WSMP. With the development of reporting apps (eg, Civil Contractors New Zealand Safety App), the use of a supplier’s health and safety system can be verified. I know there are many other apps that are available or being developed that will also help verify a supplier’s health and safety system is current and being used.

WSMP audits are conducted every two years. Surely, it is a simple exercise to ask a supplier for their incident and accident reports or the latest version of their policy or a sample of their worker participation and representation records.

Surely the health and safety at work legislation did not intend that all audits needed to be audited by yet another auditor. If there is something wrong with the WSMP audits then let’s fix that and not impose a whole new level of compliance costs on our suppliers. LG

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JUNE 2016 LOCAL GOVERNMENT MAGAZINE

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ELIZABETH HUGHES / LOCAL GOVERNMENT 101 E LIZAB ETH H UG H ES COM M U N ICATION. www.elizabethhughes.co.nz

Truth or spin?

We are brokers of the truth – not brokers of good news.

T

THE MEDIA SHOULD NOT BE ASKING ABOUT

THAT. TELL THEM TO GO AWAY.

he line printed above is one of the commandments that communication professionals live by. In my experience, it’s possible that some local government managers / executives misunderstand, and therefore unintentionally misdirect, this particular capability of their communication professional.

This happens partly because (a) when things go wrong they usually go publicly wrong – and annoying tasks like ‘dealing with the media’ and ‘improving public perception’ are considered the job of the communication person. And (b) everyone knows that communication people are really only there to make you look good – so clearly it’s totally their job to fix things when (a) has happened.

Examples of where managers / executives might misunderstand their communication professional’s capability, and therefore unintentionally misdirect, sound like this: • write a letter to the editor for tomorrow’s edition that puts our side of the story • the locals are complaining they weren’t informed about the work in their street. I need you to do a brochure to go in letterboxes that explains it (today if possible) • the media should not be asking about that.

Tell them to go away • that can’t go on our Facebook page. People might say negative things about it • don’t send a letter apologising to anyone who fell into the open drain – otherwise it will look like we’re accepting liability • produce a media release on (some great thing). But don’t mention the negative stuff • no you can’t do a media advisory saying “we don’t have all the details around that incident at this stage so will update you in one hour”. It will sound like we don’t know what we’re doing.

When you ask your communication person to do, or not to do, these things don’t be surprised if they just look at you and sigh.

A particular favourite is where a project is not going well, or is failing to achieve its target, and the manager visits the communication person a nano-second before the proverbial hits the fan and asks for some help. “I know I

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probably should have talked to you about this earlier but…”

What these managers / executives are asking for is reactive or ‘spun’ communication. They’re asking their communication professional to broker good news rather than broker the truth.

Sometimes things do go wrong and are messy.

This is understood and part of the complexities of local government. We all know that the very worst way to deal with things at times like this is to avoid, deflect or ‘spin’.

The quickest and cleanest way to solve controversy or deal with a mistake is to expose the truth and find a way to reduce the damage to everyone involved.

As the champions of reputation – which is based on trust and consistency – the communication professional will know how to do this. They will have well-established relationships with the media and stakeholders – built on their own professional reputation – and will have processes that can be activated to address the issue.

Communication professionals need two things to enable them to support your project, service or activity with excellence: • tell them early (before anything is potentially in a public arena – this includes the council chamber) • give them the entire truth (including all the real or potential bad truths).

They can deal with your spectacular failures (and even broker ‘good news’) if they have access to these two things, and then you listen to their advice.

Just to be clear. The communication professional doesn’t want the whole truth in anticipation of disclosing it. They need the whole truth so they can devise the right strategy or approach to advise you on. Without the whole truth they can’t possibly give you the correct advice nor can they mitigate against future risks.

Note: none of this means your communication professional cannot do a beautifully crafted ‘fix’ when needed. Just don’t expect them to be your Winston Wolf (Harvey Keitel, Pulp Fiction) every day. LG

JEREMY ELWOOD / ON THE FUNNY STUFF COM E DIAN, ACTOR AN D WR ITE R. jeremy@jeremyelwood.com

Cruising along Why cruise ships are like local communities.

O EVERYTHING WE TAKE FOR GRANTED IS SOMEONE ELSE’S FULL-TIME JOB.

ver this past summer, and in addition to my usual circuit, I’ve performed a few times on cruise ships.

I know; it’s a tough life. When I’m on board I live a slightly strange shadow existence where I’m partially a passenger and partially a member of the crew, and as such I get a glimpse into what is, essentially, a microcosm of society. These ships carry the population equivalent of a small town and in many ways they operate in a similar way.

For the passengers, life on a cruise holiday is a simpler version of the lives they live on land – you sleep, you eat, you pass your day. This all comes with the additional advantage that all the work is done for you. And everything’s within walking distance.

You only see the logistics that make everything possible when you get below deck and witness the sheer volume of “invisible” work being done.

Someone is cooking, always. Your rooms are cleaned by a small army who scurry from cabin to cabin when you’re at the pool. The toilets, the plumbing, the lighting, the air conditioning, hell, even the engine itself, are all maintained out of sight, so when you use any of them, they work and you never even question why or how, until they don’t.

Our hometowns aren’t that dissimilar. I recently woke up (on land) to find that my hot water wasn’t, well, hot. I did the usual fruitless man-pride search of DIY options – the fusebox, the thermostat and finally the inevitable “switch it off and switch it on again” manoeuvre, none of which helped anything

apart from my sense of having given it a shot.

I then rang the plumber who had installed the tank not too long ago. He told me to ring the power company, which then put me on to the lines company, which sent a technician out, who fixed the problem.

It turns out that hot water is on a different external electricity fuse from regular power to your home. You may have known that. If not, you’re welcome for the information.

Whether it’s a light fitting in a ship’s cabin or a hot water tank in one’s home, it takes more than one person to keep it operating. Extrapolate that out to the drainage system of a city, or the traffic lights on a major highway, or the national grid, or libraries, and the numbers are staggering.

When we flick a switch or press a lever, we assume it will do the job it’s supposed to do, and rarely do we wonder how that function is maintained.

If for some reason it doesn’t work, and we call for help, we’re then prone to complain about the time, cost or inconvenience of the repair process, never quite grasping the fact that the chances of our own personal problem being the only issue that the people behind the scenes are dealing with at that precise moment are miniscule.

Everything we take for granted is someone else’s full-time job. Somewhere, someone is working hard, and often thanklessly, to keep the lights on.

So here’s a salute to the invisible army who keep the toilets flushing, the water running and yes, the engine of our nation running, while the rest of us make metaphorical trips to the pool. LG

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LINDA O’REILLY / ON LEGAL ISSUES PARTN E R, B ROOKFI E LDS LAWYE R S. oreilly@brookfields.co.nz

Note to elected members Auditor-General’s report is required reading in election year.

I AS ALWAYS THE REPORT IS A USEFUL ROUND UP OF CURRENT LOCAL GOVERNMENT ISSUES.

n this election year it is particularly interesting to reflect on the reported performance of local government. The Auditor-General does this every year and published her report, Results of the 2014/15 Audits, in April.

Lyn Provost identifies a number of issues she considers important, including: underinvestment in capital assets; use of annual general charges; internal borrowing; and governance and accountability.

She reports that next year her focus will be on investment and asset management, which is a topic arising out of the concern at the apparent under-investment by local authorities in capital assets.

The report focuses on the financial results of local authorities, and it is interesting to see that the effect of the Auckland Council is so overwhelming that it needs frequently to be excluded to gain a realistic picture of the performance of local authorities throughout the country.

The report notes increases in revenue, operational expenditure and debt compared with the 2013/14 financial year, but capital expenditure falls and comes in well under budget.

Provost warns: “This suggests that some local authorities are not carrying out enough capital work when it is needed. If the under-investment continues, the long-term ability to deliver services is called into question.”

And further, “The number of local authorities with renewals that were 40% or less of depreciation has more than doubled since 2013/14. This could indicate that future generations will inherit the cost of those deteriorating assets.”

Local authorities collected an estimated $5.1 billion in rates in 2014/15, up three percent on the previous year, and representing 57 percent of the total revenue base. Against this and other revenues was an operating expenditure of $8.45 billion, and capital expenditure of $2.2 billion.

The latter was down from $2.3 billion in the previous financial year, and down from a budgeted capital expenditure of $3.4 billion.

The report points out that this calls into account the accuracy of budgets set by local authorities.

Provost comments: “Our interest remains

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focused on the effective long-term delivery of essential services to the community. To achieve this, it is important that local authorities continue to focus on improving the accuracy of their forecasting of future physical infrastructure needs and the budgeting for delivering these services.

“With these fundamentals established, communities can be better assured of sustainable service delivery and that they are appropriately meeting the costs of these services through their rates.”

Despite commentary in the media, the news on local authority debt is reassuring. It stood at $12.3 billion at 30 June 2015, but as a proportion of total assets was low at five percent.

This figure excludes internal borrowing where an entity sources funding, usually for a capital project, from internal investments or reserves.

Local authorities are now required to disclose internal borrowing in their annual reports, and the report provides a useful guide to the considerations applicable to internal borrowing.

The report addresses what constitutes good governance and accountability, and in relation to council-controlled organisations reminds local authorities to be aware of the following principles: having a clear purpose; having effective accountability and monitoring mechanisms; appointing the right people; and establishing an effective working relationship.

The report also sets out criteria and principles for governance arrangements in arts, and cultural heritage sectors, and for co-governing natural resources.

In relation to the current election year, local authorities are advised to adopt a communication protocol to ensure that each local authority plays no role in inadvertently promoting sitting candidates.

The report also emphasises the importance of governance training for newly-elected members, and urges the post-election establishment of audit committees to assist in managing revenues, expenses, assets, liabilities, investments and general financial dealing prudently.

As always the report is a useful round up of current local government issues, and should be required reading for all those considering standing for local government in the coming elections. LG

ROGER MCRAE / HEALTH & SAFETY MANAG I NG DI R ECTOR, MCCON N E LL DOWE LL CONSTR UCTOR S. roger.mcrae@mcdgroup.com

ConstructSafe is win-win Construction safety is good business for everyone.

I IT’S IN EVERYONE’S INTERESTS TO AVOID INCIDENTS AT ALL COSTS.

n business, ‘doing what’s right’ and ‘doing what’s right for the bottom line’ are sometimes at odds. It can be a challenge to arrive at a win-win position. When new legislation is enacted, compliance costs invariably increase.

So with the new Health and Safety at Work 2015 legislation which came into force in April this year, some businesses in the construction industry will be wondering whether they can also absorb the costs of implementing ConstructSafe. This new framework aims to help to improve health and safety competence on a construction site.

I would argue that they – and their construction clients including local governments – can’t afford not to.

As the saying goes, ‘prevention is better than cure’. So one way to look at ConstructSafe is as mitigation against the risk of the costs that would result from an incident on site.

Many industry players will have bitter experience of the many hours and dollars associated with post-incident investigations, reporting, reviews, medical treatment, lost time, legal fees and site shutdowns.

Delayed projects impact our clients’ ability to deliver on their promises to their own stakeholders. So it’s in everyone’s interests to avoid incidents at all costs.

Less measurable, but no less important, is the impact of an incident on your reputation.

How do your clients, stakeholders and prospective employees now perceive your organisation? Is it reliable and responsible? Is it a good place to work? Is it a solid investment?

How good will it look on their CV to be involved with your organisation or project?

The media loves a good story and has a long memory. New Zealand is a small market and word of mouth is a powerful influencer.

So taking a long-term view to protect your reputation must be a top business priority.

It’s not all about the organisations delivering construction projects. The new legislation

specifies that all PCBUs are responsible for health and safety on their jobs. ConstructSafe will provide construction clients with confidence that they have people with demonstrated safety competency working on their sites.

Some of our clients will also need to upskill those of their own people who are involved in construction projects. This too is an opportunity – both to avoid risk and add value, by being equipped to see more, and ask the right questions.

By informing themselves, and raising the expectations they have of their suppliers, construction clients will play an important role both in raising industry standards and improving our national safety performance.

Many organisations are already working hard to provide their employees with the support they need. Training is a big investment and, like so many business investments, one that is only truly effective if it’s targeted in the right places.

With the insights that ConstructSafe will provide, employers can target that investment into the areas clearly identified for improvement. Costs will be reallocated, with better overall results.

Over time, that data will also assist training providers to fine-tune their offerings according to defined market needs. As an example, the importance of good literacy and comprehension levels within our workforces is often underestimated.

In the same way that we have used audio and video in the ConstructSafe assessment, we’ll also see the delivery of training evolve, to accommodate all learning styles and levels of literacy.

Adoption of ConstructSafe is a smart business decision. For the building and construction sectors, and their clients, it will be a game changer that can only result in better run projects, reduced costs, a reduction of harm incidents and saved lives. It’s a win-win for everyone. LG

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LAWRENCE YULE / FROM LGNZ PR ESI DE NT, LOCAL G OVE R N M E NT N EW Z EALAN D (LG NZ). lawrence.yule@hdc.govt.nz

Increasing voter turnout Engaging with communities on what’s important to them.

W THE VOTE2016 CAMPAIGN AIMS TO LIFT VOTER TURNOUT TO 50 PERCENT FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1998.

ith just four months to the local authority elections in October, dialogue and discussion are well underway. LGNZ has been aiding the process through its 10-month Vote2016 campaign.

The campaign aims to increase voter turnout, but also encourages people with strong leadership qualities and a passion for their community to consider standing as candidates.

Research shows us that there are a significant number of New Zealanders who are interested in the local government but don’t vote, or, who want to vote but say it’s too hard to find the information they need to make an informed decision.

So, as a sector, our efforts will need to focus on addressing these barriers.

We need to engage people to think about their local issues and to inspire them to come out to vote. LGNZ-commissioned research tells us that for most Kiwis, the most common themes are the quality of their own day-today life, and impact on their business.

The key issues for voters are: • the accessibility of the place and the physical environment that people live, work and play in with their friends and families; • concerns about the environment and conservation; and • attracting business and improving employment (this is a key issue for businesses as well as residents).

Many councils across the country are engaging well with communities on what’s important to them. But, when it comes to having their say at election time, it needs to be easier for voters to discuss and engage with their council about the issues that are important to them.

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So, the national Vote2016 campaign is designed to work at a national level as well as supporting councils to facilitate their own activities.

LGNZ now has a number of Vote2016 major partners already on board. These include: • several Chambers of Commerce (Business Central, Canterbury Employers, Hutt and Taranaki) • Federated Farmers • Fish and Game NZ • Iwi Leaders Forum • Ministry for Women • Neighbourly.co.nz • NZ Council for Infrastructure Development • Property Council New Zealand • PSA. and • NZME. These partners will be integral to the Vote2016 campaign, each bringing their own expertise and networks to help reach and inspire candidates to stand and people to vote.

While we are disappointed that online voting won’t be trialled in this year’s local elections, LGNZ remains committed to build on the momentum already created for online voting to be an option for the future.

Voter turnout has been declining over recent years. We need to make the process of voting attractive to all potential voters. We look forward to working with government on how we can make this a reality for the 2019 elections.

So, my challenge for Vote2016 is to councils to look at how they can facilitate conversations and provide easily accessible information for voters so they feel empowered to vote in October. LG

Vote2016 Starting a conversation about the issues that matter LGNZ is working with its member councils, central government, partners and other key stakeholders to encourage greater citizen participation in October’s local government process by listening, engaging and acting on what’s important to communities.

Vote2016 is a 10-month campaign leading up to the 8 October local authority elections to lift voter turnout to 50 per cent for the first time since 1998. There are 46 councils and 10 major partners already on board with more registering each week.

LGNZ has researched the issues that matter to communities and, with councils and partners, has started a conversation via digital and social media, focussing on issues, encouraging potential candidates, and lifting voting.

There are three broad areas of activity under the Vote2016 campaign: Community engagement Using Facebook and Twitter, along with the #VoteNZ2016 hashtag, Vote2016 will encourage online discussion to get people thinking about what matters to them, and how they think councils are doing on a particular issue. These discussions are around topics such as road safety and transport, public amenities, economic development, and quality of waterways.

Encouraging candidates to stand Vote2016 provides a range of candidate resources on the www.vote2016.co.nz website.

Councils are encouraged to participate in Candidate Week in late June in advance of the candidate nominations opening in July. This will focus on a call for nominations and a number of councils will be holding workshops for potential candidates.

LGNZ has created nine short videos of current elected members from around the country talking about the difference they feel they can make in their community. These will be posted on Facebook leading up to nominations opening and via the Vote2016 website.

Encouraging voter turnout We know that there is a significant number of citizens who are interested in the local government process but don’t vote, or, who want to vote but say it’s too hard to find the information they need to make an informed decision. Vote2016 aims to change this.

Finally, through the Kids Voting campaign, participating schools will hold mock elections to encourage the next generation of voters, and start new conversations with parents and family members on local democracy.

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EDITOR

Elected Member Induction 2016 heralds a time for change in EquiP Professional Development, and in the Elected Member Induction (EMI) and Mayors Induction (MI) workshops in particular. While these triennial workshops have historically been considered successful, EquiP's modern methods for professional development better fit today’s expectations of our members on their journey towards local government excellence.

Evaluation of previous induction workshops and interactions with a range of sector advisory groups informs us that the most common value participants place on these workshops is the chance to network and share stories. New members want fully interactive sessions and the opportunity to engage with other local government representatives, without being talked at or overloaded with information.

The 2016 induction workshops will reflect these findings, and introduce all elected members to the environment and conditions they will participate in for the length of their elected term.

These workshops link the final stage of the candidate campaign process and the beginning of the elected member experience. The programme introduces newly elected and re-elected members to the triennium, the job at hand, their council and their community’s expectations, as well as the sector and the networks that will be critical to their success.

What makes an effective induction?

Induction provides the necessary information, resources and support to assist elected members in adjusting to the local government environment and begin to contribute as quickly as possible. An effective induction combines a mix of socialisation, compliance and introductory knowledge required for members to be confident in actively participating in the work ahead.

Effective induction is not a one-day event, but an integrated process that builds competency over a defined period of time. The initial workshop is merely the first component of a customised three-year learning framework designed to set members up to be successful in their elected roles.

What’s different about the 2016 induction workshops?

First, let’s talk about what has stayed the same. We’ve kept what our members liked most – regional workshops allowing for the chance to build supportive networks in your own area.

What’s changed? Subject matter experts will share their knowledge as usual, though this may be shared via new and exciting mediums, enabling members to revisit learning as and when they need it at Council.

Networking and opportunities to learn from each other will be increased, as will the interaction and participation.

What else is changing?

The 2016 EMI/MI workshops will be a one-day event with a networking function and an optional dinner afterwards. You'll be discussing, reviewing, reflecting and making action plans, as well as identifying what you need to know, and when and how you will learn it.

You will start your learning journey before you arrive at the workshop with various activities to ensure you all have a consistent level of knowledge of local government, of your communities' expectations and how your role can serve these communities. You will have been introduced to, and have a level of comfort with a variety of methods to achieve excellence.

< You will leave the workshop with a list of supportive peers, and a personal development plan to build your own competencies and effectiveness. >

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What will you achieve at the induction workshops?

Purpose

Target audience

To introduce new and re-elected members to their local government role, their key support networks and to start the development journey towards being an effective community representative.

All new and re-elected local government members.

Programme outcomes

This programme contains a series of learning activities, including:

By the end of this programme you will have: > defined the expectations of the elected member role, and the skills and knowledge required to succeed; > increased effectiveness from day one by learning from and interacting with knowledgeable speakers; > built supportive networks to build an effective council; > clarified how to contribute to the achievement of sector excellence; and > started your elected member professional development journey.

Programme overview

> > > > > > > > >

pre-workshop digital modules to gain knowledge; a mix of ‘live’ and ‘digital’ presenters to interact with; establishment of learning groups for subsequent activities; opportunities to practise using learning technology; a local government curriculum structure; skills matrix; personal development plans; post-workshop webinars to build on knowledge and skills; and ongoing development activities and networks.

Asia-Ready with Eastern Bridge With Prime Minister John Key recently betting his "bottom dollar" that Chinese tourism to New Zealand will reach one million visitors a year, being 'Asia-ready' is a concept that local government will soon find impossible to ignore.

For many local authorities around NZ, the idea of being Asia-ready sounds nice enough, but is perceived as too costly and complicated – a task that rate payers would disapprove of. This perception doesn’t need to be true.

Simon Appleton, founder of Eastern Bridge – a suite of services designed for NZ businesses and organisations to support them to engage with Asia – advises councils to start off simple. Appleton believes that by simply having appropriate information about your district translated, you'll be making a huge difference to the experience of tourists from Asia. Secondly, identify gaps and opportunities in the economy, as well as the services available to Asian tourists and migrants, especially in education and healthcare.

Cultivate your relationship with ethnic communities Establishing and developing strong connections with Asian communities in your area is important, and can be achieved through existing networks or by working with specialists such as Eastern Bridge. There are also a number of ethnic media organisations operating in NZ that can run promotions.

Know who you are talking to The world is full of tyre kickers, and many councils have wasted precious time and resources chasing 'investors', only for them to disappear into thin air. And while it is impossible to know with absolute certainty if someone is a serious investor or an indecisive time-waster, a quick check of their social media accounts, a Baidu search (Chinese version of Google) or a call to their company can quickly sort out most pretenders from legitimate players.

Last year alone, Eastern Bridge conducted around 200 due diligence investigations and found that a massive 95 per cent of the people checked had provided misleading information.

< With networks established throughout NZ and Asia, and a commitment to further growing international connections, Eastern Bridge focuses on building economic and business relationships between NZ and East Asia. For more information on Eastern Bridge, visit easternbridge.co. > LGNZ is delighted to announce Eastern Bridge as the latest addition to the Preferred Partners programme, an associate membership giving recognition to LGNZ supporters who work with the local government sector.

Consider hiring staff members to manage foreign language connections in your visitors' languages. While this may not be necessary for their understanding, it shows interest and respect for them, something which means a great deal to certain Asian cultures. And pay attention to the language you use. For example, be careful not to begin an email to Mr. Kang (a Korean name) with 'Ni hao' (a Chinese greeting). Not everyone is Chinese!

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EDITOR

The Final Word Sharing the tourism load on infrastructure Tourism in New Zealand is an $81.6 million per day industry ($29.8 billion per year) and the Tourism 2025 growth framework aims to grow total tourism revenue to $41 billion a year by 2025. We are already seeing unprecedented growth in local destinations and tourist attractions, and while this is good news for local economic development, increased tourism traffic intensifies the burden placed on local infrastructure.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) hosts around 2.5 million visitors each year, with a population of 23,000 ratepayers. With an average of two nights per visit, that equates to five million “visitor nights” each year, versus 8.4 million “ratepayer nights”. This suggests that visitors could account for over 35 per cent of QLDC’s infrastructure costs in regard to things like water, roads and waste.

Local businesses benefit hugely from tourism dollars being spent, but a decline in the quality of infrastructure could negatively impact on New Zealand’s reputation as a tourist destination. A small town shouldn’t have to fund an entire infrastructure to subsidise a national industry.

< There is a need for central and local government to work together to co-invest. > LGNZ and MBIE are exploring options to address persistent barriers to regional economic development and growth, which include the impact of high volume tourism. One potential option is a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which could provide a mechanism for addressing these barriers in a way that will enable exploration, potential trial and implementation of solutions. It also enables a “user pays” approach to funding existing and future infrastructure requirements to help lift the ratepayer burden.

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For Queenstown, a SEZ would enable the implementation of a visitor levy where currently, the Local Government Act 2002 (LGA) and Local Government Act (Rating) 2002 constrain the ability of councils to apply flexible and timely levies and charges to reflect the impact of tourism on peak demand for infrastructure.

A visitor levy scheme is already in place for Stewart Island, and the rationale for that legislation (providing facilities and amenities to visitors) is equally applicable to Queenstown and other local authorities with tourism-based economies.

A recent report in the Sunday Star Times, Budget boost for tourism’s $140 million rates burden, talks about the potential for increased central government support for regional tourism in the new fiscal year.

While LGNZ will promote and support any central government budget allocation to address infrastructure shortfalls that impact the national tourist, it also intends to support long-term and sustainable funding sources that provide resources for bespoke local and regional economic conditions. In particular, LGNZ continues to meet with central government agencies and representatives to explore alternative options to incentivise economic growth, including SEZs.

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Take a closer look at a career in Local Government Find out how you can implement this exciting recruitment and retention campaign in your council The recently launched video – which can be viewed at LGCareers.co.nz, and supporting marketing collateral, is available to all councils that subscribe to SOLGM’s Recruitment and Retention initiative. This initiative works to support councils attract and retain quality talent and is linked to the only local government specific jobs board – LGJobs.co.nz Contact SOLGM’s Marketing and Communication Manager, Jeanette Bullen for more information – Jeanette.bullen@solgm.org.nz or phone 04 978 1288