Council manages ‘any conflict’
Environment Southland chief executive Rob Phillips has confirmed the council has used a consulting company, in which one of his staff members is a shareholder.
The New Zealand Companies Office companies register lists Envira Consulting Ltd shareholder as Vincent Smith, and the director as Sarah Smith.
Vincent Smith is Environment Southland’s policy planning and regulatory services director.
Phillips said Vincent Smith declared his interest in the company when Envira Consulting began work for the regional council about three or four years ago, when the company was formed.
The Companies Office shows the Envira Consulting Ltd was registered in March 2016.
‘‘He confirmed he is a shareholder and any conflict around that is managed. We’ve got an arrangement in place where he does not work in the areas the company is involved in. ‘‘His wife is the worker.’’ Phillips initially said he did not think the company had been involved in the Proposed Water and Land Plan, but he ‘‘couldn’t say that categorically’’.
When pressed, he said ‘‘none of the work she [Sarah Smith] has done has been changed by the Water and Land Plan.’’
He was also gathering information about how much the regional council has paid to the company for the work it had done.
‘‘There is a process for how it [the company] gets work through managers, whether that be through a tender process or an expression of interest, for example.
‘‘It’s not frequent.
‘‘The key thing is Vin [Smith] doesn’t take any role in what work she gets.’’
Regional council’s directors and managers knew of Smith’s shareholding in the company and made decisions around that, he said.
‘‘That’s why they’re managers.’’ Phillips said the company did ‘‘work around consents and investigating around consents’’.
‘‘Her skills are quite specific, she deals with industrial consents and industrial matters.’’