Heave ho for ‘Tartan Mafia’?
The old boy's club in Dunedin is due for a shakeup as the reforming mayor, Dave Cull, looks to restructure the boards of council owned enterprises.
The old boy’s club in Dunedin is due for a shakeup as the reforming mayor, Dave Cull, looks to restructure the boards of council owned enterprises.
Broadly known as the “Tartan Mafia”, the group has multiple directorships on Dunedin City Holdings, Dunedin City Treasury, Delta Utilities, Aurora Energy, and City Forests.
The restructuring announced by Mayor Cull came after a report by Warren Larsen and input from a liaison group which raised concerns about the multiple directorships and directorships awarded to councillors.
Those directly in the gun have been named as Dunedin City Holdings chairman Paul Hudson (also a councillor), and directors Ross Liddell, Michael Coburn, Norman Evans, Ray Polson and Stuart McLauchlan.
Most of them also have extensive business interests in their own right and other directorships. They earn sums ranging from $93,000 a year to $116,000 a year from the five or six council directorships each holds.
The background context also involves the highly controversial new Forsyth Barr Stadium that has saddled the city with huge debt. There has been dissatisfaction about communications between the council controlled companies which provide the dividends required to service the city’s debt.
Dunedin City Holdings last week posted a record net $19 million profit.
Chris Hutching
Thu, 22 Sep 2011
Thu, 22 Sep 2011
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Heave ho for ‘Tartan Mafia’?
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