Boss’s controversial past
The new boss of the O¯ torohanga District Council is the woman embroiled in a botched $7 million Westland sewerage contract fiasco.
Tanya Winter will begin her role as O¯ torohanga District Council’s chief in February.
Winter quit her role as chief executive for the Westland District Council (WDC) in April 2017, following her suspension for failing to inform council that one of its managers was being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating WDC’s assets manager Vivek Goel after he commissioned an Auckland cake decorator’s firm to build a $7 million sewage plant in Franz Josef, despite the company’s sole director and shareholder having no experience in waste management or construction services.
But O¯ torohanga District Mayor Max Baxter said Winter had been cleared of any wrongdoing and she’s the right person for the job.
She took out a personal grievance against the Westland council and received an $85,000 payout.
Goel was hired in 2010 as operations manager by former Westland District Council chief executive Robin Reeves.
However Winter axed his position when she was appointed to the top job in 2012, and rehired him as her assets manager.
Winter – who had had concerns about his employment since October 2016 – alerted the SFO about Goel in January 2017, triggering an investigation.
She was later suspended for not alerting council to her concerns.
The investigation into Goel is ongoing.
Winter was chosen for the role over two other ‘‘very strong candidates’’ through a thorough recruitment process, Baxter said.
EQUIP Recruitment was the company used and while Baxter wasn’t sure about the final cost of the recruitment process, he said it was ‘‘substantially less than competitors and substantially less than big recruitment companies in Auckland’’.
After narrowing down the 40 applicants, a subcommittee interviewed the final six candidates and narrowed it down to three. The final three went through psychometric testing and background tests.
‘‘We have done enough background checking, enough research and talked to enough people.’’
Winter will replace Dave Clibbery who resigned after holding the position of chief executive for 10 years, working under three mayors.
For the last 18 months Winter has been director of policy, planning and resource management for the Otago Regional Council and is currently acting chair while Sarah Gardner is on annual leave.
Baxter is confident that ratepayers have nothing to worry about.
‘‘There’s probably more due diligence done on Tanya than anyone else as a consequence.’’
Any decisions she had made in previous positions were in the best interest of others, he said.
‘‘Tanya herself has nothing to answer to, she’s never been under any investigation.’’
Winter would a bring a fresh vibrancy and focus on engagement to the district, Baxter said.
‘‘The one thing which I’m absolutely sure of is that we’ve got the best person for the job.’’
Winter said her name was cleared early on in the Goel investigation.
‘‘It’s been nearly two years,’’ she said. ‘‘I think that [ODC] have satisfied themselves that I am not involved in that. They are looking forward and have appointed me on my skills and experience.’’
The recruitment process had been pleasingly thorough, Winter said.
‘‘It reassured me that it’s a council that knows their stuff in terms of making sure they’ve got the right person for the job.
‘‘This is the most important decision that a council gets to make, appointing a chief executive. I am very mindful of that. They’ve got to get it right and they’ve got to be able to stand by their decision as a team of councillors.’’
She’s looking forward to engaging with different groups and organisations and working with council through the many changes coming its way.
‘‘That closeness to the community is something that really gets me up in the morning.’’