Diane Calvert: Wellington City Councillor on the council spending $2.3 million on CBD public toilets

A Wellington Councillor's calling out her peers over a new $2.3-million-dollar CBD public toilet.

It replaces an old block that had become a crime hot-spot.

The building's wooden panels are lined with a $150,000 lighting system, designed to display a night-time show.

Diane Calvert says spending in the Capital follows a pattern.

"This is the culture in the organisation - it just has to change. Toilets are really important in our CBD, but did we need to take three years building them and over $2 million dollars and light them up like a glowing monument?"

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wellington City Council's done it again, spending the big dollars.
They have bought themselves a new toilet block on Taranaki
Street just outside the Les Mills there two point three
million dollars. Diane Calvert is a Wellington City councilor and
with me now, hi Diane High Heather, Diane, two point
three million dollars can build you a really nice two
story house with some car parking and you know, maybe

(00:23):
six toilets inside it. So why how can you guys
justify this?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh? Look, I don't know, Heather. I mean it's a
bit like half five hundred and sixty three k bi
crack and spending one hundred one point four million dollars
to move a bus stop one hundred meters. So I mean,
this is the culture in the in the organization. It
just has to change. I mean, toilets are really important,
you know in our CBD, and there's no doubt about that.

(00:48):
But did we need to take three years building them
and you know, over two million dollars and then light
them up like a glowing monument? I'm not convinced.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, whose idea was the light show on the outside?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
I have no idea. But you know, I think I'm
going to light something up. We could pick something better
than toilets. Look, I don't mean that's this will be
an operational matter. And so look, you know, from you know,
from an elected member perspective, we obviously wanted to see

(01:22):
toilets there. We were obviously concerned in the amount of
time it took to put the to you know, to
put replacement toilets in. And remember we're building brand new
tourlets also around the corner in our new town hall
and our new library.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
But you don't know who signed off on this.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Look it will be it will be somebody on our
executive team, but I don't know exactly who James is
this chief operating officer could well be. But but but yeah,
look I just don't know.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Because isn't this the problem with what is going on
in a place like Wellington is just some unelected guy
somewhere is going yep two point three, absolutely fine, and
no one can hold anyone accountable. That's the problem, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Well, Look, it should be the elected members that should
be holding the council. I mean that the officers to
account to something like this. I mean, obviously we just
become aware of the costom and that and look, there
will be questions as just like the five hundred and
sixty three k BI crack, which we're still trying to understand,
still trying to get a report out about what went wrong. Yeah,

(02:34):
but I'm hoping with a new chief executive, we're going
to see a change in culture.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
I appreciate your time, Diane, very very much. Diane Calvert,
Wellington City Council. Listen, We've got to talk about councils,
to talk about right caps next and then I'm going
to talk to the huddle just to try to understand
how this kind of thing happens where the council goes yep,
we need to do that thing, and then somebody else
runs the budget and it just gets ridiculous because we've
got to figure out this stuff, don't we that that

(02:59):
seems to be the number of the problem. For more
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