12 June 2017
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Abuse at Rotorua Landfill
Inquiry
Rotorua Daily Post were told by a landfill staffmember that staff had been subjected to verbal abuse, people spitting at them and in one case threatened with a crowbar.
It was understand this was reported to waste management and that was why a private security firm had been hired for the job.
1. How many individual cases of abuse have been reported since the price increase?
2. How many staff members were subjected to the abuse and are they still working for the council?
3. Have any further security measures been put in place since the abuse? If yes, what?
Response
From General Manager of Infrastructure Stavros Michael -
Council does not condone this type behaviour under any circumstances.
The daily operation of the Rotorua Landfill is contracted to Waste Management. Since they took over last July they have sub-contracted a security firm to run the booth at the entry gate. Council does not employ any staff at the Rotorua Landfill.
We are in regular contact with Waste Management senior staff and they are not aware of any such abuse.
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Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre closure
Inquiry
I've just been told the Howie Morrison Junior tribute concert scheduled for July 1 has had to be cancelled because the council can't be certain the Sir Howard Morrison centre will be open by then.
Can you please give us an update on the following?
. How the earthquake strengthening is going?
. What is actually wrong and how serious is it?
. Is it still considered a quick fix over two weeks?
. What's the estimated timeframe for re-opening?
. How many more bookings on top of the 23 mentioned last week will be moved or cancelled?
Response
Work to temporarily strengthen a wall of the Concert Chamber in Rotorua's Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre should start this week.
We've now received a plan for the work from our engineers and are talking to contractors to get it done as soon as possible, says Rotorua Lakes Council Chief Financial Officer Thomas Coll, who manages the team responsible for maintaining council-owned buildings.
Work on the wall is expected to take two to three days and we can then re-open.
A total of 23 meetings, events and shows were booked for the two-week closure period. New venues were found for a number of those bookings last week and one more change has now been confirmed with the Kelvin Cruickshank show on 24 June moving to the Energy Events Centre.
Last week's Capital E - Songs of the Sea show was cancelled and the organisers of the 1 July Howard Morrison Jnr Spirit of Our People Tribute Concert have made a decision to cancel, Mr Coll says. Council staff have been working with organisers of all events scheduled during the closure period to help them relocate.
The performing arts centre was closed last Thursday to enable the precautionary work to be done quickly and efficiently. The decision followed a discussion last Wednesday with engineers about a potential issue with the strength of an internal wall. It was decided to undertake work immediately, as a precautionary measure, to strengthen the wall until earthquake strengthening of the building can be done.
There is no damage to the building but we decided to take a conservative approach and to get the precautionary work done immediately, Mr Coll says. We want to re-open as soon as possible and while we understand there is a degree of uncertainty amongst organisers of events scheduled for the centre, at this stage our timeframe for re-opening has not changed from our initial estimate of two weeks.