The man leading the emergency response to South Dunedin’s flooding says he is "happily heading for retirement".
Dunedin City Council Civil Defence and rural fires manager Neil Brown (60), a 36-year council veteran, said yesterday was his last day in the role.
"I’ve reached a settlement with the council on retiring instead of transferring to their proposed regional structure. It’s probably not appropriate that I elaborate on that."
His decision to depart comes as the council takes another step towards an Otago-wide
Civil Defence management structure.DCC organisational development and performance group manager Marian Rillstone said the change had been agreed on "in principle" by Otago councils but still required final ratification by members of the Otago Civil Defence and Emergency Management group.
That had given Mr Brown an opportunity to decide "whether to be part of the new structure" but he had opted to retire instead, she said.
Two other Dunedin-based Civil Defence staff members potentially affected by the change were still considering the change.
She said she hoped they would join the group.
Ms Rillstone praised Mr Brown’s "significant contribution", including serving as Civil Defence manager since 1990.
"We are very grateful for all his efforts in this important area and his commitment to equipping Dunedin to face unexpected challenges."
Dunedin South MP Clare Curran was less charitable, saying the change was welcome after "the city council and Civil Defence let down the people affected by flooding on the night".
"Dunedin’s Civil Defence was in my view utterly negligent that night in not taking any action to keep people safe and provide assistance for those whose homes were flooded by sewage-ridden water."
Mr Brown did not want to dwell on any "low-lights" yesterday, saying only he was "feeling pretty good" about retirement.
"I’ve absolutely enjoyed the process of civil defence over all those years, mainly because of the great people I’ve worked with from a huge range of organisations. People who, probably unsung, have donated hours of time and professional expertise to planning, exercising, being ready for events, and when we’ve had small events, helping us to manage them."
He was prepared to go further in December last year, when he defended the emergency response following the release of a debriefing document that criticised the flood response.
That included closing the council’s customer services department at 5pm on the day of the flooding, leaving worried residents’ calls to be diverted to an after-hours service.
That was reversed an hour later but was followed by the deactivation of the emergency operations centre, from which the flooding response was co-ordinated, before midnight.
Ms Curran said at the time Civil Defence had been "asleep on the job" but Mr Brown denied that, saying he and emergency services had remained on the streets all night.
