Council ‘most secretive’

Christchurch City Council has been branded ‘‘the most secretive council in the country’’ after refusing to reveal the cost of a library touchscreen until the country’s top law officer threatened legal action.

After a five-month battle with campaigners, the council has finally released the price of a seven-metre interactive touchscreen wall at the city’s upcoming new central library – $1.245 million.

The council repeatedly defied calls to tell ratepayers the cost, despite being ordered to by the ombudsman more than a month ago. It claimed the information would jeopardise the commercial position of the supplier, Gibson Group.

Council finally caved in as Attorney-General David Parker promised to look ‘‘urgently’’ at the council’s long-running refusal.

The Taxpayers’ Union, whose request for the cost triggered the impasse, called the revelation a ‘‘huge win for transparency’’.

Executive director Jordan Williams said: ‘‘This council is clearly the most secretive in the country. We’ve never seen a council try to ignore an ombudsman recommendation, and it took us threatening to go to court – [we were] only minutes away from filing [legal documents] – for the public to receive this information.

‘‘The mayor, who only six months ago was talking about transparency of spending, needs to take a look at her conscience about this.’’

Mayor Lianne Dalziel pointed the blame at council chief executive Karleen Edwards, whom she said had accepted responsibility.

‘‘In my role as mayor I have to rely on the chief executive to deliver on the statutory obligations . . . and in the area of official information, it’s

extremely important.’’

Edwards said council staff ‘‘had no intention’’ of deliberately breaching legal obligations. She said she regretted, and took the

blame for, council staff ‘‘inadvertently’’ misunderstanding the ombudsmen’s requirements.

‘‘It was the council’s intention to release the cost of the touch

wall, but we had been engaging with the ombudsman around the timing of this. This was in order

to respect commercial sensitivities of the vendor . . .,’’ said Edwards. ‘‘We had made the ombudsman aware of the commercial vendor’s proposal for the timing of the release of the cost. From the ombudsman’s subsequent response, we were of the understanding that the release date was a matter for the council to decide . . .’’

With the cost now public the matter is resolved legally, and a spokesman for Parker said there was nothing to enforce.

Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier welcomed the move and said he had been assured by the council the breach was unintentional.

Councillors were briefed on the issue at a closed-door meeting yesterday. Earlier, some broke rank, saying council should be ‘‘more transparent’’ with ratepayers and suppliers should expect financial information to be released when dealing with public organisations.

The cost of the touchscreen was published on the council’s website yesterday.

Head of libraries and information Carolyn Robertson said: ‘‘With regard to the $1.2 million cost, it was always the council’s intention to release the figure – it was simply a question of timing.’’

She described the touch wall as a ‘‘significant coup’’ for Christchurch.

‘‘The scale and complexity of this technology is unlike anything else currently available in New Zealand, and to have it located inside our new central library is a major win for the city – it will be a big drawcard for residents and visitors alike.’’

But Williams rubbished the claim over the timing, saying: ‘‘They didn’t tell us that.’’

He questioned whether the cost offered value for ratepayers.

‘‘Spending $1.25m on a touchscreen at a time when the council is blowing out on the library, the town hall and needing to hike rates . . . is not a good deal.’’