Mayor’s report differs from council finding

An engineering report on the Horowhenua District Council building privately commissioned by mayor Michael Feyen may be at odds with the findings of two previous ratepayer-funded reports.

The two previous reports, carried out by engineering companies engaged by council, found no concerns with the building, but Mr Feyen pushed for an independent analysis after noting cracks were discovered, opting to pay for it himself when councillors voted the idea down.

That report was supplied by Mr Feyen to council chief executive David Clapperton last week, along with a letter from the mayor’s lawyers highlighting issues raised, requesting information on actions the chief executive would take, and seeking reimbursement of more than $24,000 in costs to date.

Mr Clapperton said the engineering reports do differ, and that as a result, council has asked the engineers behind its own two reports to “work through the differences” with Structural Concepts, the firm employed by Mr Feyen.

“The conclusions in this report differ from those reached by council’s own professional engineers,” he said.

“Differing conclusions are common with engineering seismic reports. These assessments are highly complicated and rely on large amounts of information.”

He said as the report was owned by Mr Feyen, he was unable to release it to media, however he had advised HDC employees, councillors and Horizons Regional Council of the report.

Mr Feyen said he had been advised by his lawyers not to discuss the findings of the report yet, but that he very much wanted to. The first two reports are available on the council’s website. Despite the acknowledged differences in the reports, Mr Clapperton said he wanted to reiterate that the building is safe.

“Given our headquarters are a public building, it is important to note the report states ‘the building is currently in sound condition’,” he said.