Media questions about costs of internal investigations.
Request
Questions and responses in blue:
1. Has the council conducted similar investigations and reports (involving outside consultants) in the past? What were the costs of those investigations? (General is fine)
No, they haven’t.
2. Does the council believe this matter could have been resolved without hiring an outside consultant to investigate?
The Elected Members Code of Conduct (adopted by the Councillors on 25 November 2025) requires that in the event of a material breach the process requires an independent investigation and the CE is required to follow the process.
(Available on the website at mackenzie.govt.nz > Council > Governance > Governance documents)
3. Why did the council choose this process to resolve the initial matter and complaint?
This is required under the Elected Members Code of Conduct.
4. Plainly, how does the council view spending $23k of ratepayers' money on this matter?
Council’s preference would always be that expenditure focussed on planned activities and services. However, as above, the incident dictated that the above process was complied with.
Additional Question
Could you please confirm that the following figures are correct.
Information request 966 on the council website reads: $23,192.34 for the total cost, $17,903.34 spent on the investigation, leaving $5,289 in legal fees.
The updated cost sent yesterday was $29,023.48. $11,102.75 for the investigation and $17,920.73 in legal fees/advice.
Additional Response:
The cost of the investigation by the independent investigator was $17,920.73.
The cost of the legal advice was $11,102.75. [The costs for the investigation and legal fees were inadvertently swapped previously.]