The appointment of Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey as chair of the Auckland Waterfront Development Agency Ltd, and Mark Ford’s selection as chair of Auckland Transport are the most high-profile appointments made to the boards of the new Auckland Council’s CCOs or council-controlled organisations.

Mark Ford is currently the executive chair of the Auckland Transition Agency and he is a former chief executive of Watercare Services Ltd.

The list of directors and chairs for the Auckland Council’s new council controlled organisations was agreed to by Cabinet last week, says Minister for Local Government, Rodney Hide. More than 200 nominations were received for the 31 roles.

Remuneration per annum for directors and chairs was determined by way of benchmarking against comparable organisations, including other CCOs and state owned enterprises, as well as a range of private sector organisations.

The asset base, budgets, revenues and staff size, as well as the complexity and level of risk, were all taken into account when recommending fee levels.

As such, ACIL, TEED, RFA and ACPL’s directors initial fees per annum will be $35,000, deputy chairs $43,750 and the chairs $70,000.

For the AWDA directors fees will be $40,000, the deputy chair $50,000 and the chair will earn an initial fee of $80,000 per annum.

Auckland Transport’s directors will earn $52,500 its deputy chair will earn $66,625 and the chair $105,000 per annum.

The Auckland Council will establish its own remuneration policy for CCOs once it is in place.

There will be seven substantive CCOs, with oversight provided by a committee of the Auckland Council.

The seven will include a statutory entity, Auckland Transport, and the existing water provider, Watercare.

The others are:

* Auckland Council Investments Ltd (ACIL) and its subsidiaries Auckland Council Investments (AIAL) Ltd and Manukau City Investments Ltd, which will manage the Council’s holding in Auckland International Airport;

* Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development Ltd (TEED);

* Regional Facilities Auckland (RFA);

* Auckland Council Property Ltd (ACPL); and

* Auckland Waterfront Development Agency Ltd (AWDA).

Watercare has been classed as a continuing council organisation (CO), Until it becomes a CCO in June 2012, its existing Board will stay in place and no appointments are required under the provisions of the LGTMRA.

The Auckland Council will be able to appoint new Directors to Watercare after November 1 this year, as it will for the new CCOs.

Simon Allen has been named chair of Auckland Council Investments Ltd and Auckland International Airport Limited.

Mr Allen has significant governance experience, including six years as chair of the New Zealand Stock Exchange. Until recently he was the chief executive officer of ABN Amro New Zealand Limited. ACIL’s deputy chair is Miriam Dean. A QC and barrister in sole practice, Ms Dean is a director of the Auckland Transition Agency. Until 1995 she was a partner with law firm Russell McVeagh.
Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development Ltd (TEED) will be chaired by David McConnell. Mr McConnell is managing director of the McConnell Group, and has followed a career in engineering consulting.

Regional Facilities Auckland (RFA) will be chaired by Sir Don McKinnon.

A former deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sir Don spent eight years as the Commonwealth Secretary

General. Deputy chair of RFA is Dame Jenny Gibbs, a well-known patron of the arts. Dame Jenny served on the Auckland University Council from 1975 to 2009, including two terms as Pro Chancellor.

Auckland Council Property Ltd (ACPL) will be chaired by Sir John Wells. He is currently a professional director and chair of a number of companies including the Auckland City Property Enterprise Board, Fisher Funds Management Limited and Rugby New Zealand 2011 Limited.