Council Officers Should Be Held Accountable For Mistakes Made During The Flood Response

The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling for Council officers to be held accountable for mistakes made during the flood response.

On Saturday, Auckland Council confirmed that Mayor Wayne Brown and his staff were not included on the Civil Defence or Emergency Management Team email distribution list, and as a result did not receive critical updates.

Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesman Jordan Williams says:

“Council officers have failed in their duty to elected members and ratepayers. It is simply negligent that Auckland Emergency Management staff would rely on emails to communicate urgent information rather than pick up the phone.

“Council officers like to make a distinction between ‘governance’ and ‘operations’ to stop elected members from asking too many questions. But as we’ve seen in the past week, the distinction only applies when it suits them.”

“There are hundreds of council officials paid far more than elected officials, but remain faceless and unaccountable. Given the extent of failings, and impacts, their actions must be properly examined – and publicly reported on – as part of the review into the emergency response recently announced by the Mayor.”

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