Council's sensitive documents found at tip

[Erica Absetz <erica () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/136292/council's-sensitive-documents-found-at-tip

Confidential documents and other sensitive financial papers from the
Buller District Council have been found dumped at a tip and the mayor
admits it is a drastic mistake.

Westport woman Jenny Thomas came across the pile of paperwork while
looking for glass bottles at the tip at Karamea last Thursday.

Ms Thomas says the material included personal information on
ratepayers and staff, creditor invoices, debtor records and general
financial information.

Ms Thomas says the council has a duty of care to destroy that and
needs to find a better way of disposing its documents.

Buller District Council mayor Pat McManus says a council contractor
was supposed to bury the documents but dumped them without waiting for
a digger.

Mr McManus says the skip of material was at least seven years old, but
admits some of it may have been confidential.

He says a council department that was cleaning out the old papers
tried to save ratepayers money by having them buried them rather than
spending $5000 on shredding the documents.

Mr McManus blames the mistake on a communication breakdown and says it
is a one-off.

He says the council's contractor, Westreef, is investigating how the
mistake happened.

Westport uses the nearby Karamea tip as it no longer has a landfill.
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