A council report predicted some contracts associated with the works would exceed the chief executive’s delegation to directly approve works up to $300,000 without a need for councillor approval, set out in the council’s procurement policy.
It recommended councillors temporarily grant Dr Harrison capacity to approve up to $3-million per contract for works associated with the project.
Cr Jo Armstrong noted the procurement policy allowed changes to the chief executive’s delegation if approved by the council or in emergency circumstances, and asked Dr Harrison to explain why increasing his delegation was necessary.
“I’m seeking assurance that probity is being properly followed and that we are very public about asking these questions because that’s our responsibility as councillors – to make sure that you know we’re acting in the best interest of ratepayers and making sure that money is being allocated following the proper procurement steps,” she said.
“I understand we’ve put a lot of effort into making sure that procurement process is followed very clearly ... so I’d appreciate just a little more detail around how those processes unfold and how the reporting is going to be undertaken back to council.”
Dr Harrison said it was ‘an unusual circumstance’ but timelines for securing the federal funding made it necessary to fast-track the project.
“We ordinarily wouldn’t ask for this, apart from the fact that this is a commonwealth-funded project. There have been tight timeframes around a contractor issue we’ve had previously,” he said.
“It means that if we were to bring the one or two contracts of this size under this delegation, it starts with a council meeting and then we would notify the contractors, and that would potentially add another month or a month and a half to the process. So there’s an imperative around time.
“All of our usual probity measures around contracting will be applied to this. It won’t be a single-contractor request.
“We’ll go to market and there will still be a normal tendering process around this.
“We’ll be able to expedite it because we are able to decide on some of the delegation rather than council making the decision.”
Safeguard
Dr Harrison said Mayor Bob Sanders would also be required to sign off on any contract exceeding the chief executive’s usual delegation limit as a safeguard.
“We will be reporting to the very next council meeting the details of that contract in full to the council,” he said.
“As far as possible we’ll be using our normal contracting processes which meet probity.”
Cr Luke Preston voiced his support for the move.
“(There have been) setbacks that we’ve had around this project that we definitely weren’t expecting to happen,” he said.
“I think it’s a great move to keep the project moving and meet the deadlines that we need to meet, so I think it’s a must, and I trust the process will be carried out right.”
Cr Rob Armstrong noted the move would allow the project to advance within its allocated budget.
Deputy chief executive Phuong Au, who is due to succeed Dr Harrison when he steps down from his role in October, said works were progressing well at the site.
“The demolition and site-clearing works are continuing to make good progress despite some disruption due to heavy rain in this past month,” she said.
“People will be able to see piles of building rubble and materials. This is part of the process of sorting the different materials before they are taken off site.
“As materials are progressively removed, I think the community will start to see a significant transformation over the site over the next month or so, which is pretty exciting.”
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