He worked with three mayors and one Government-appointed commission during his time in office.<\/p>\n
The former police officer led a staff of about 1300.<\/p>\n
Notable events of his tenure prior to the landslide include the elected council being fired and replaced with commissioners for four years, the controversial marine precinct sale, the Harrington St carpark build failure, the civic precinct development and construction of the council\u2019s new administration building.<\/p>\n
Grenfell previously spent seven years as chief executive of the Whakat\u0101ne District Council, and was a senior manager at the Upper Hutt City Council and the Hutt City Council before that.<\/p>\n
Prior to moving into local government, he had 20 years\u2019 experience with NZ Police, rising through the ranks to become Wellington\u2019s top cop.<\/p>\n
What the Davison report found<\/p>\n
Six holidaymakers were killed when the landslide crashed into the council-owned Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park campground on January 22, following record rainfall.<\/p>\n
Davison\u2019s 238-page review was made public on August 19<\/a>. It found the landslide risk was known to the council but systemic issues meant it was not properly managed. <\/p>\n Issues included expert warnings about slip risks to the campground over decades not being properly escalated or mitigated, and staff not being educated about landslide warning signs. <\/p>\n Opportunities were also missed to evacuate the campground before the slip.<\/p>\n Davison did not find that any individual\u2019s acts or omissions caused the deaths, and his review did not determine civil, criminal or disciplinary liability.<\/p>\n Davison made 10 \u201csystemic recommendations\u201d to the council and five directed to emergency response officials.<\/p>\n The council accepted all recommendations and is working to complete them<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Government, WorkSafe, police and the coroner are also running inquiries into the slip tragedy. <\/p>\n Reaction to the report <\/p>\n Government MPs, former mayors and councillors described the review\u2019s findings as \u201cdeeply confronting\u201d and \u201cgutting\u201d, while others said they were not surprised it exposed systemic failures<\/a> within the Tauranga City Council.<\/p>\n Grenfell said he had not been aware of a risk to life at Mount Maunganui before the fatal slip and, at the time, said he remained the right person to lead the organisation\u2019s response to the review.<\/p>\nThe council commissioned retired High Court judge Paul Davison, KC, to review its actions leading up to the slip. Photo \/ Alyse Wright <\/p>\n