Ombudsman forces release of QLDC's Theelen emails

The Chief Ombudsman has forced the release of council emails that show council staff intercepted a key Crux document that involved evidence of QLDC CEO Mike Theelen having lied over a $24 million financial mismanagement issue.

QLDC staff say that further previously withheld internal emails will be released but won't be made public until November 25 due to "requiring additional time."

Previously the QLDC has refused to release internal emails using the argument that "free and frank discussion" between council staff needs to be protected from media scrutiny. The Ombudsman has gradually been pressing for e-mails to be released under the higher-ranking argument of public interest.

The latest e-mails to be released from June 2022 show council comms staff, headed by Naell Crosby-Roe and Meaghan Miller, approved an official response to Crux without reference to CEO Mike Theelen to whom our emailed letter was directly addressed. The subject of the letter is Crux coverage of the council's failure to follow their own financial rules and subsequent failure to tell the truth about their actions. This is the letter Crux sent to Mr Theelen.

The Crux letter asks Mr Theelen if he plans to resign as a result of failing to tell the truth about QLDC financial rules being deliberately ignored.

Crux coverage has established that Mr Theelen was told of QLDC financial mismanagement as early as 2019 by his own council Procurement Manager Geoff Mayman. Mr Theelen then ignored the advice of Mr Mayman and told Crux, over an extended period, that the rules were being followed. This was not true.

The failure to follow the procurement rules was so serious that the QLDC was technically unable to operate on a day to day basis for a period of five years. After a year of Crux coverage the council was forced to hold an Extraordinary meeting to change the financial rules, but still did not admit that they knew about the problem or that they were at fault in any way.

A subsequent investigation by the Auditor General confirmed all of Crux reporting but said that the council had not acted deliberately. This finding was then disproved by further Crux official information act QLDC e-mails that showed Mr Theelen and his staff were clearly told the rules were being broken in 2019 by Mr Mayman.

The Auditor General's office refused to re-open the enquiry.

In the email exchange just released QLDC "media man" Sam White sends a draft reply to the Crux June 2022 to his boss Naell Crosby-Roe.

The emails shows two key points that Crux has long suspected but not been able to prove.

QLDC media spokesperson Sam White does not have authority, without detailed approval, to make statements to the media but is used to "front" such statements so that people higher up can deny their connection to the comment.
Council staff intervene in media correspondence sent direct to CEO Mike Theelen and make replies without his traceable approval - allowing the replies to be subsequently denied by Mr Theelen.

On June 23 2022 Mr White drafts a reply to Crux rejecting the evidence we had gathered from a variety of sources showing that CEO Mike Theelen had lied on numerous occasions in response to questions about QLDC's failure to follow procurement and financial rules.

Naell Crosby-Roe then approves Mr White's draft reply saying "Nice. Lets's run with that." White then asks Crosby-Roe if it's a problem that they are replying to a letter sent by Crux direct to Mr Theelen, without reference to Mr Theelen, suggesting "we'll cross that bridge (later)"

Naell Crosby-Roe then replies to White "Just say Mike has asked you to follow up."

The emails now being released after numerous Crux complaints to the Ombudsman show that council comms staff made numerous dishonest statements regarding council financial management and eventually admitted in one internal email that their strategy "was not working."

It has been difficult for Crux to work with the QLDC's comms team knowing that they had not been truthful on a number of issues.

Mr Theelen escalated the situation at the start of 2024 with a letter threatening to cut Crux out of their news media system. Since then mayor Glyn Lewers has refused to respond to questions from Crux.

Another email released in the most recent official information batch shows the QLDC's response to losing a 2022 Media Council complaint about Crux coverage. Rather than responding to suggestions from the Media Council regarding improved openness and transparency the council observes:

"We can obviously expect a self-righteous follow up by Crux once the decision is published on the NZMC’s website (embargoed until then)."