Work with company on hold

Environment Southland has confirmed it has suspended its use of Envira Consulting Ltd until it completes an internal review.

An independent review of how the council manages staff interests was released on October 5 and was critical of the council’s processes, but stated there was no evidence that a staff member had acted inappropriately.

Questions about the review that looked into the use of Envira Consulting were put to council chief executive Rob Phillips and council chairman Nicol Horrell on Wednesday.

The council’s policy planning and regulatory services director Vin Smith is a shareholder in Envira Consulting. His wife is the director of the company and the only other shareholder.

The council has paid $75,222.95 in total to Envira Consulting, with the last payment made in August, this year.

The independent review recommended that the chief executive and the chair of the council’s operational performance and audit committee should review Smith’s interests and see if they were compatible with his job.

Phillips said that review was under way.

In the meantime, any work with Envira Consulting was suspended.

The council was firm it had put practices in place to ensure Smith had no involvement in whether or not Envira Consulting was engaged, or in any decisions relating to work done by the company. Yet the independent review found Smith signed off four initial Envira contract payments in 2016, which were then countersigned by another director.

Asked if this was a systematic failure in council processes, Phillips replied: ‘‘Four invoices from Envira were co-signed.

‘‘Vin inadvertently signed them in the first instance, but quickly recognised his mistake, and the actual payments were authorised by another director.’’

The independent review, carried out by Bruce Robertson, found the council had in the past managed potential conflicts of interests using a commonsense approach.

The review found the council had practices in place, but the processes had been informal and lacking in documentation.

Asked if this damaged the council’s reputation, Phillips replied the council had practices in place to deal with conflicts of interest and they were followed.

‘‘My response to the public interest in the matter has also been open and transparent. I quickly sought an independent review, made the findings immediately available on our website and am acting on the recommendations so that Southlanders can be reassured that conflicts of interest are taken seriously at Environment Southland,’’ Phillips said.

He confirmed complaints about a potential conflict of interest relating to Envira Consulting were raised with some elected members in August, this year.

The council’s executive has adopted its conflict of interest policy following feedback from the operational performance and audit committee meeting in October.

‘‘Southlanders can be reassured that conflicts of interest are taken seriously.’’ Rob Phillips, Environment Southland chief