The Ombudsman investigated Waipā District Council for a late response to a Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act request but was unaware of the action because of its phishing algorithm global settings.
The council’s Audit and Risk committee were told this week the initial complaint and the Ombudsman’s follow up actions all went into the trash bin.
Business Resilience and Risk advisor Genny Wilson said staff were unaware and unable to respond to the complaint until after the release of the Ombudsman’s final opinion.
The decision was upheld against the council despite this.
Wilson said the council did have in place proper systems and processes for dealing with official information requests.
She gave Cr Clare Pierre an assurance the phishing settings had been reset to ensure any further official information complaints did not go into the junk bin.
