Record: Tauranga City Council notice on the Minister of Local Government’s decision to appoint a CommissionThe finding
Record: Office of the Auditor-General letter on the Harington Street car park building projectThe finding
Record: Taupō District Council notice: “Taupō District Council chief executive taking up role in New Plymouth”The finding
Chief Executive, Taupō District Council: endedGareth Green
Chief Executive, New Plymouth District Council: beganGareth Green
Record: Taupō District Council notice: “New chief executive appointed to Taupō District Council”The finding
Record: Tauranga City Council notice of the chief executive’s reappointmentThe finding
Record: Office of the Auditor-General letter declining further inquiry into Tauranga City Council spending decisionsThe finding
Record: New Plymouth District Council notice: “New Plymouth District Council Chief Executive resignation”The finding
Record: Tauranga City Council City Future Committee minutes, 31 March 2026The finding
Director (Council Staff Representative), Bay Venues Limited: beganGareth Green
Record: Companies Register: Bay Venues Limited (1955233), directorsThe finding
Record: Tauranga City Council notice: “New board appointments to Bay Venues Limited and Tourism Bay of Plenty”The finding
Record: Tauranga City Council notice: “New board appointments to Bay Venues Limited and Tourism Bay of Plenty”The finding
Record: External review into the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park landslide (Hon Paul Davison KC)The finding
Record: Tauranga City Council notice: “Tauranga City Council accepts findings and recommendations from external review”The finding
Record: Emergency Council meeting agenda, 29 September 2026The finding
Record: Tauranga City Council notice: “Tauranga City Council CEO resigns”The finding
Chief Executive, Tauranga City Council: endedMarty Grenfell
Record: Wastewater Management Review Committee agenda, 7 October 2026The finding
Positions by year
Positions on record, by year. Each row is one subject; dates come from the records cited on that subject's page.
Positions on record, by year. Each row is one subject; dates come from the records cited on that subject's page.
Subject
2023
2024
2025
2026
Marty Grenfell
none on record
none on record
none on record
◐ Tauranga City Council (start not on record)
Gareth Green
◐ Taupō District Council (start not on record)◐ New Plymouth District Council (end not on record)
none on record
none on record
● Bay Venues Limited
Marty Grenfell
undated: Chief Executive, Whakatāne District Council
Gareth Green
undated: Head of Office – Manager of the Mayoral Office, Tauranga City Council; undated: Acting Chief Executive, Tauranga City Council
Findings
This register is the public list of people and organisations the index names, with the findings about each. Subject The person or organisation a finding is about. Finding One statement about a named person or organisation. It rests on an official record, or on a news report that is labelled as such. A finding marked [A] rests on an official record. That is a court ruling, an order from a public body or an official report. The finding links to it. A finding marked [B] is a claim from a named news outlet. The label says which outlet. The index has not tested it. The index accuses no one. Nothing is published that the cited record cannot support. Anyone named can reply, and a reply is published beside the finding. Who publishes this, and how to answer.
[A] official recordpublished
Tauranga City Council’s agenda for the 7 October 2026 meeting of its Wastewater Management Review Committee gives notice of the meeting over the name “Gareth Green” and the title “Acting Chief Executive”. The council’s notice of 6 July 2026 describes him as its Head of Office – Manager of the Mayoral Office.
Tauranga City Council’s notice of 6 July 2026 lists Gareth Green as “Council Staff Representative/Director” of Bay Venues Limited, the council’s largest council-controlled organisation, for two years from 1 July 2026, and describes him as “a direct appointment as the Council’s staff representative”. He was then the council’s Head of Office – Manager of the Mayoral Office.
Resigned as chief executive of New Plymouth District Council on 22 December 2025, having “accepted a position as the Manager of the Mayoral Office at Tauranga City Council”. He had held the chief executive role since 27 March 2023, and before that was chief executive of Taupō District Council, which said on 22 December 2022 that he had held that role for six years. Tauranga City Council’s City Future Committee minutes of 31 March 2026 list him as Head of Office – Manager of the Mayoral Office.
Tauranga City Council’s notice of 29 September 2026 says Chief Executive Marty Grenfell “has today resigned from his role, with the Council accepting his resignation”, and that his last day in the office will be 2 October 2026. The notice says the council “will appoint an interim Chief Executive”. The council had announced his reappointment for five years from 4 September 2023.
On 18 December 2020 the Minister of Local Government confirmed that a Commission would be appointed to Tauranga City Council, stating: “The Council’s response has not presented me with sufficient evidence on how it is addressing its problems. I consider a Commission to be necessary to deliver the strategic leadership that the Council and city needs.”
The external review the council commissioned into the 22 January 2026 landslide at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park, released on 19 August 2026, states that “TCC knew of the landslide risk to the campground” and that “This was a systemic failure with tragic consequences.” It places the criticism with “the organisation that left the campground manager and his staff so ill-equipped and unprepared”, says “The failure was not the fault of any one person”, and makes no finding as to civil, criminal or disciplinary liability. The council accepted the findings and recommendations the day the report was released.
The council’s agenda for an emergency meeting on 29 September 2026 lists no open business (item 11 is “Nil”). Its only substantive item is public-excluded item 13.1, titled “Davison Report Implications”, for which it recommends excluding the public on the ground of “legal professional privilege” (ss 7(2)(g) and 48(1)(a) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987).
The Office of the Auditor-General’s letter of 26 May 2021 on the council’s Harington Street car park building project, written in place of a full inquiry, said that “several aspects of the Project … did not accord with good procurement or governance practice”. It cited an external review for the council that identified “gaps in documentation and information” and “conflict of interest management practices not aligning with good practice”.
On 26 August 2025 the Office of the Auditor-General wrote that it did not intend to carry out further inquiry work on six council property and spending decisions. On the Marine Precinct sale it said it had earlier declined because of High Court proceedings, that those had concluded, and that an inquiry was unlikely to add value. On the other five matters it stated: “We have not seen evidence to substantiate the concerns raised with us about the probity of the decision-making processes”. It said it was not its role to judge the merits or price of the decisions or compliance with the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, and noted that “it was sometimes difficult for us to establish the process the Council had followed, based on publicly available information”.