Raglan and other Waikato ratepayers may have to pay a fine of over $50K for the Waikato District Council’s spill of 5 million litres partially treated sewage into Raglan Harbour. This proposal was put to Judge Kirkpatrick by the Waikato District Council’s own lawyer, Rob Latton in the Hamilton District Court on Thursday 5th June.
The Waikato District Council was charged over the June 2013 incident by its cousin the Waikato Regional Council. After many months of delay the case finally came to court on Thursday as reported in the Waikato Times.
Although the full summary of facts is still not available for public release, the court was told that four staff had left the Waikato District Council. Three were fired and one left of his own volition. One of the four was the engineer/ manager responsible for the Raglan treatment plant, who was on duty on June 21 2013 when the spill occurred.
District council lawyer Rob Latton told the court the engineer purposefully ignored the discharge, despite it leaking into the Raglan Harbour. “(He) outlined that he didn’t escalate it as the reputation of the Waikato District Council out at Raglan was already bad and this would only make it worse.”
Regional council prosecutor Jamie O’Sullivan said the district council wasn’t without fault and failed to tell iwi and local residents in a timely manner, a point accepted by the Waikato District Council’s lawyer.
Judge Kirkpatrick reserved his decision. It is likely to be made in July. Since the spill occurred the Raglan Community Board has asked for a full report on the incident. It seems it will have to wait another month.
and this comes on the day WDC had cut off water, delaying a fire brigade response on Norrie Ave, and seem to have agreed (https://www.facebook.com/groups/619665538101340/permalink/706487146085845/) to move its Manu Bay pump station. When will it start to consult fully to minimise these expensive blunders?
Are you saying they should consult with management/ professional engineering experts on how to manage and run the waste water plant?
No. I’m saying one of the reasons given above was “he didn’t escalate it as the reputation of the Waikato District Council out at Raglan was already bad and this would only make it worse”. If WDC consulted and worked with the community there would not be such a tendency to keep problems secret. If they kept the fire brigade informed of water cuts they could have made an earlier start on switching the hydrant back on. If they’d told everyone where they planned to put the pump station they could have changed the location before building it. And these are just the latest examples where lack of consultation has cost money.