Apperley says WCC has not answered whether or not they think that there is not one single IT company in New Zealand that can do this work.
“The fact that the mayor and councillors don't seem to have information about what the IT transformation is going to cost, in total, including Odyssey, and are confused about what is going on should be ringing warning bells everywhere,” he adds.
Apperley says there are many more questions too, such as;
How much is all of this really going to cost when you add the ‘three legs' into the mix?
How does it relate, or not, to amalgamation?
What is actually going on between councils around shared services?
How do we get more transparency?
How does the community get involved in these discussions?
It is, he says, is a test of council to engage with the community and about transparency.
“The cost will be high; the total cost should be known and managed by the mayor and councillors, not a sub-group in the bowels of the organisation that is accountable only to itself,” he adds.
“We should know what marvelous services we are going to get for all this money.
“We should be sure that this project, whatever it is, should fit with the overall goals and strategy of the council along with modern concepts such as Smart City.”