Dumped Duncan relaxed for last supper
Duncan Field (left) was “very relaxed” before his farewell dinner at Boardwalk with senior managers on Tuesday.
They organised everything – “I was just told to be here.”
Asked about likely table conversation, Field said: “I suspect some stories will be told and [there’ll be] some fun.”
He won’t say whether he’ll stay in the Wakatipu – a two-month holiday comes first.
Wife Claire wasn’t interested in chatting, saying “Huh, Mountain Scene” before quickly entering the restaurant.
Queenstown Lakes District Council boss Duncan Field finished his job yesterday with an exit payment of about $32,000.
Equivalent to six weeks of Field’s annual $277,785 package, the payment was kept quiet by Queenstown Lakes District Council until a Mountain Scene Official Information request.
It’s unclear if the money is a “goodwill payment” or a let’s-not-fight concession – mayor Clive Geddes sees it as both.
Mountain Scene: A goodwill payment?
Geddes: “Yeah.”
Geddes says Field suggested his employment contract – which expired yesterday – called for “a payment in lieu of notice” and QLDC agreed.
MS: An element of goodwill?
Geddes: “I think there is, yes, but it’s all about assessing risk.”
MS: So there was a risk that had council not agreed to Duncan’s request ...
Geddes: “No, there was no risk – there was no risk if council met its full obligations under the contract on a basis that enabled no room for there to be any space for a dispute.”
QLDC wanted “no room at all for any chance of a dispute or personal grievance”, Geddes says.
Field, who ran QLDC for 12 years but wasn’t reappointed, also gets his $12,000 annual performance bonus – despite the latest financials to October showing a $594,000 loss against a budgeted $1 million surplus.
Geddes didn’t attend a last supper for Field and wife Claire at the upmarket Boardwalk on Tuesday – “That was managers only.”
QLDC will pick up the Fields’ tab, Geddes says, but senior managers and partners – believed to number 15-20 – paid their own way.
“Maybe the council will pick up the wine for the evening,” Geddes adds.
Boardwalk is a leading resort restaurant, hosting former US president Bill Clinton in 1999 – starters are $13-$22.50, mains $28.90-$82.
Another Field farewell in the Memorial Hall last night was for “wider staff” of QLDC and its quangos, Geddes says – just “a few drinks and nibbles”.
QLDC finance boss Stewart Burns is acting chief executive until Field replacement Debra Lawson joins on March 1.
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