Dam gossip for a snip
Barber shops have long been hubs for gossip, so it’s probably no surprise that clients of Adrian Bradley are given the scuttlebutt on the Waimea dam build cost blowout along with their haircuts.
What might be surprising is that Adrian’s Barber Shop in Richmond’s Queen St seems to be the only place they can get that information.
Ratepayers who want to know by how much that early build pricing is over the estimate can’t get the details from their elected representatives on the Tasman District Council – those councillors haven’t been told. Mayor Richard Kempthorne said he did not want to know either.
Council engineering services manager Richard Kirby admits he’s aware of the ‘‘indicative figures and the risk profile’’ but has declined to reveal the numbers.
Bradley hasn’t been so coy, and news of his knowledge is spreading. It even drew a frustrated Cr Dean McNamara to his busy barber shop on Wednesday to get an update on the dam project, which is earmarked for the Lee Valley, near Nelson.
In council documents, which have been out for public consultation,
the budget for the base construction of the dam is listed as ‘‘around $50 million’’ with an additional $13.5m contingency for changes in scope and unexpected costs.
Bradley said a regular client, who was a ‘‘pretty good source’’, last week told him the early pricing was more than 15 per cent over the estimate, and urged Bradley to spread the word. So the obliging barber has been offering the budget blowout goss with each haircut or beard trim.
When asked if the information Bradley had was correct, Kirby said: ‘‘The council has not been made aware of the actual figures involved, so we are not in a position to respond either way.’’
Word of Bradley’s chit-chat service on the side reached the council the day before a media release was issued last Thursday, which pointed to the blowout but gave no details of how much the early pricing was over the estimate.
Councillors were called together a few minutes before the media release was issued. Some said they were told they were receiving indications of higher costs only because a Richmond barber ‘‘had got hold of it and the information was spreading around town’’.
However, Kirby said ‘‘information from the Richmond barber was conveyed to us on Wednesday evening, July 4, and had nothing to do with the decision to issue the press release’’, which the project governance board on Tuesday morning decided upon.
He declined to release details of the early pricing.
‘‘The Early Contractor
‘‘There’s information we’re not getting – that’s what’s worrying me.’’
Cr Dana Wensley
[Involvement] process is still to be completed, and until that occurs, all information remains commercially sensitive and confidential,’’ Kirby said.
That information was also being kept from councillors ‘‘because it is within the expected path of the ECI process’’, he said.
When McNamara called into Adrian’s Barber Shop, he said he was disappointed that he had to seek information from Bradley on what the blowout might be.
‘‘I was pretty mad – I couldn’t sleep for three days,’’ McNamara said. ‘‘I think someone needs to answer some questions.’’
Cr Dana Wensley said the decision to keep details of the early pricing from councillors made her wonder ‘‘how much more have we not been told’’.
‘‘We’ve asked and been denied that information,’’ she said. ‘‘There’s information we’re not getting – that’s what’s worrying me.’’
There appeared to be an ‘‘institutional distrust’’ of the councillors, she said. This puzzled her because, to her knowledge, no councillor had revealed any confidential information. ‘‘We have conducted ourselves with professionalism throughout.’’
Council chief executive Janine Dowding said it was ‘‘extremely regrettable’’ that any councillor would feel this way.
‘‘However, there has been ongoing tension around the council table regarding the dam,’’ Dowding said.
Bradley said he was not against the dam but he believed the public should be kept informed about the potential costs and possible funding arrangements of the project.