This is an automated response, just to let you know we’ve received your
email/form.

We will pass your message on to the team and they will get in touch with
you as soon as they can.

 

If you require immediate attention, please telephone 0800 932 463

Thank you for contacting the Whangarei District Council.

Your request has been logged by us as a request under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

We will respond to your request as soon as possible and in any case no later than within 20 working days.  

Please quote CRM no. COP002898 if you require any further information.

Regards,
Kumari
Contact Centre Rep | Customer Services
Whangarei District Council | Forum North | Private Bag 9023, Whangarei 0148 | www.wdc.govt.nz
P 09 430 4200 | E [email address]
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Tena koe Ryan

I refer to your request dated 4 March 2020 asking for:

"...all correspondence including but not limited to emails, letters, meeting notes, phone records and transcripts between the Whangarei District Council and the Minister for Regional Economic Development, his staff or any persons acting on his behalf in relation to the Provincial Growth Fund since 26 October 2017..."

I note that your request as currently worded is very broad (and non-specific in terms of its reference to staff or persons acting on behalf of the Minister) and in that sense it raises issues for us in terms of the significant time and resources that would be required to retrieve and collate the information sought. I have spoken to staff with a knowledge of the Provincial Growth Fund and it is my understanding that there will be no one file at council which would contain all of the information you are asking for so the process would be likely to involve a manual search through a large quantity of information.

In the circumstances, I invite you to consider refining what you are asking for to avoid a charge being imposed under our fees and charges schedule (http://www.wdc.govt.nz/RatesandPayments/... under “Official Information”) or potentially a refusal of your request on administrative grounds.
 
If you would like to discuss ways to refine your request please let me know and either I can call you or arrange for another member of staff to contact you to discuss your request. 

Ngâ mihi
Rebecca Rowsell
Legal Adviser
Whangarei District Council | Forum North | Private Bag 9023, Whangarei 0148 | www.wdc.govt.nz
P 09 430 4200 | DDI 09 470 3182 | M 021 528 682 | E [email address]
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Dear Mr Potts

I am writing to your regarding your request dated 4 March 2020 and subsequent refinement dated 13 March 2020.

In light of the current Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on workplaces, including Council, we anticipate that there may be delays in processing some requests.  This is likely to be the case where you have submitted a request which is complex or involves the collation of a large amount of information.

Many council employees will be working from home during this time, however, wherever possible we will respond to your request within the statutory deadline.  In addition where we can provide some information sooner we will do so.  We will also try to keep you updated as the situation develops.  Thank you for your patience during this period.

Ngā mihi

Rebecca Rowsell
Legal Adviser
Whangarei District Council | Forum North | Private Bag 9023, Whangarei 0148 | www.wdc.govt.nz
P 09 430 4200 | DDI 09 470 3182 | M 021 528 682 | E [email address]
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Dear Mr Potts

I refer to your request (our reference COP002898) under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA), seeking information relating to the Provincial Growth Fund.

The LGOIMA requires that we advise you of our decision on your request no later than 20 working days after the day we received your request. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to meet that time limit and we are therefore writing to notify you of an extension of the time to make our decision, to 3 June 2020 given the particular circumstances of the COVID 19 lockdown.

This extension is necessary because your request necessitates a search through a large quantity of information and meeting the original time limit would unreasonably interfere with our operations. In particular, the process of extracting emails in bulk from our system covering a two and a half year period is by no means a straight forward process. Our IT staff are currently very busy meeting the challenges of maintaining the systems necessary to enable most of the organisation to work from home and the search is unlikely to be a task that can be prioritised at this time.

While the new deadline is extended to 3 June 2020 to account for the uncertainty associated with the length of the current lockdown period, we will try and come back to you with a response as soon as possible.

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

Ngā mihi

Rebecca Rowsell
Legal Adviser
Whangarei District Council | Forum North | Private Bag 9023, Whangarei 0148 | www.wdc.govt.nz
P 09 430 4200 | DDI 09 470 3182 | M 021 528 682 | E [email address]
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Tena koe Mr Potts

I refer to your request of 4 March 2020 and subsequent refinement dated 13 March 2020 asking for correspondence between council and the Minister for Regional Economic Development, his staff or any persons acting on his behalf in relation to the Provincial Growth Fund since 26 October 2017.

Your refined request focuses primarily on email correspondence within this date period. However, following further consideration of your request, we have nevertheless determined that your request would require the potential extraction, collation and review of thousands of emails. It is estimated that it would take a minimum of 40 hours of staff time to undertake this exercise; at a cost of $76.00 per hour under our Fees and Charges schedule this would equate to a charge of over $3,000. Our Council does not have the resources available to undertake such an exercise, which we consider would involve substantial research and collation.

Accordingly, at this stage we have decided to refuse your refined request under section 17(f) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, on the basis that the information you have requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research and the use of significant staff resources.

If you wish to refine the scope of your the request further please let me know, however, I note that a charge is still likely to apply given the work involved in collating large quantities of information.

If you believe we have not responded appropriately to your request, you have the right by way of complaint, under section 27(3) of the Act, to apply to the Ombudsman to seek an investigation and review of the decision.

Ngā mihi
Noho tawhiti, tū kotahi
Rebecca Rowsell
Legal Adviser
Whangarei District Council | Forum North | Private Bag 9023, Whangarei 0148 | www.wdc.govt.nz
P 09 430 4200 | DDI 09 470 3182 | M 021 528 682 | E [email address]
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