Mayor to sign off on review

Nelson’s mayor will be signing off on the terms of reference for the internal and external reviews of the troubled Greenmeadows project, prompting concerns.

Nelson City Council’s processes for the Stoke community centre project will be being reviewed both internally and externally, due to concerns raised at multiple aspects of the project.

It has been revealed that Mayor Rachel Reese passed on to council staff a warning she received about contractor Watts & Hughes during the tendering process, which was not able to be acted on at that stage.

After a whistleblower finally raised concerns about substandard work, the beleaguered project was found to have multiple faults in its construction, requiring months of repair work.

The review process was confirmed at a meeting of the audit risk and finance committee (ARFC) in August. However, a concerned citizen noticed that the chairperson’s report indicated that council CEO Pat Dougherty would be conducting both reviews.

This concern proved to be unfounded, with the CEO conducting an internal review but commissioning an external one.

However, the terms of reference for the review will be signed off by both ARFC chair John Peters and the mayor.

Councillor Matt Lawrey said he was pleased that the review was happening, but was concerned by Reese’s involvement.

He said it was ‘‘disingenuous’’ to say politicians might not ‘‘be partly responsible’’ for what had happened.

Cr Mel Courtney also expressed concern, saying the council needed to be more ‘‘at arm’s length’’.

Council spokesman Paul Shattock said the scope of the reviews was ‘‘yet to be determined’’.