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Council update

As regular readers (and viewers of my XJet YouTube channel) are very much aware, I have had more than a few "issues" with our local council.

However, last week I had a bit of a win, thanks to The Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman's Office is a government agency that steps in when other government or local government entities are not doing their job properly.

Last week The Ombudsman contacted the SWDC to follow up a complaint I'd lodged in respect to an LGOIMA request that the council had tried to dodge.

After getting a bit of stick from this higher authority,the council finally delivered the requested information.

My question is "why on earth should I have to call in a higher authority simply to get a bunch of public servants to do the job they are required to do under law?"

What was the info I was after and why was the SWDC so reluctant to hand it over?

Well the local council has, from time to time, published drone videos taken around Tokoroa -- and within a 4Km radius of our airfield or the local hospital helipad.

When I inquired as to who had taken those videos I was advised that the council had its own drone and it was flown by someone on staff.

That rung alarm bells.

In order to fly a drone within 4Km of any listed airfield or helipad the operator must have a CAA-recognised "wings" certification or a "Part 102" accreditation. I was pretty sure that nobody on the council staff had either.

My LGOIMA request was therefore:

Normally the SWDC is pretty good at servicing LGOIMA requests but this time there was no response, so I re-submitted the request. Clearly they simply didn't want to answer because that answer could be rather incriminating. Finally, after a significant delay, the SWDC finally responded with this:

As you can see, they totally avoided answering the question that was asked... so I contacted them as they suggested I do and asked for a better answer.

Silence.

That's when I contacted the office of The Ombudsman and forwarded the correspondence to date and my concerns.

Well last week I got another email from the SWDC which said:

Really? They have a drone but nobody to operate it? Is that really the best use of ratepayers funds?

It seems that either they lied before or they are lying now about staff flying their drone around Tokoroa. Who took the footage that would clearly be a breach of CAA regulations if no staff have the necessary certifications?

It's all bullshit and jellybeans at the South Waikato District Council and I thank The Ombudsman for at least making sure they can't dodge the hard questions simply because it will see them caught either lying or breaking CAA regulations. I think now it is time to ask the CAA to investigate what would appear to be illegal drone flights by the SWDC.

The irony here is that I'm pretty sure it was the council that complained to CAA about my drone flying as detailed in this video:

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone perhaps?

Anyway, for those who like a bit of drama, stay tuned because next week I'll be rocking up to the SWDC's November meeting with cameras in hand and filming the public portion of that meeting. Well that's the plan anyway but, as we've seen in the past, the Mayor has an aversion to being on video despite section 12.4 of the council's own Standing Orders which clearly states:

Yep, that's right... the last time the Mayor abandoned a meeting simply because myself and another member of the public were filming that meeting was a breach of those standing orders. Who wants a mayor that doesn't even follow the rules of his own council?

Carpe Diem folks!

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