Late last year Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier gave the Christchurch City Council a rip snorter of a kick up the bum.
It was in the form of his findings into an investigation into culture at the city council and concerns over the release of information to the public.
Firmly in his sights were senior managers.
Boshier’s report was scathing, leading to many more kicks in the backside for the council, namely from the news media.
The report was released in November; probably lucky for some who had sought re-election in the October local body elections.
But the city council appears to be well on the way to rectifying many of the problems identified in Boshier’s report.
This is being led by the new council chief executive Dawn Baxendale who through no fault of her own was highly scrutinised when she got the role last year.
Twenty-eight of the 90 action points identified in Boshier’s report have been completed, 44 have been initiated, 17 are yet to start and one has been delayed.
The two key issues in Boshier’s report were a culture of fear and the flow of information from the former chief executive’s office to councillors and the public.
Boshier found rank and file staff and middle managers were too frightened to raise issues with their bosses.
He also found the system of staff reports, which should have gone to publicly-elected councillors for perusal and onto the public, was flawed to a point where information was being withheld.
The finger was pointed clearly at the former CEO’s office. That situation was rectified in June of last year as Boshier progressed through his investigation.
So overall, the city council deserves credit for acting fairly swiftly on Boshier’s recommendations.
It’s amazing what a kick up the bum can do.
