Glenorchy turmoil threatens projects

Disunity derails progress, report finds

MAJOR projects and events in Glenorchy worth hundreds of millions of dollars were seriously hamstrung or are even now under threat because of the dysfunctionality of the council and staff, the Board of Inquiry found.

Independent MP for Denison Andrew Wilkie says he is so concerned by the allegations surrounding the Commonwealth-funded KGV redevelopment he has asked the Federal Government to delay signing off on the grant deed for the troubled project. On Wednesday, the Mer

cury revealed the damning findings of the confidential second draft of the report, which has been repeatedly delayed by Supreme Court action.

One of the findings in the much-anticipated report was that a number of significant council operations and projects failed to be monitored by a council staff member.

The report says this included:

THE overdue KGV redevelopment, funded by nearly $9 million from the Commonwealth, and hydrotherapy pool the council later agreed to install.

MONA’s plans to develop the Berriedale caravan park, which has been held up due to emissions from the nearby Cameron Bay sewerage treatment plant.

MONA’s $200 million expansion.

THE implementation of the Wilkinsons Point and Elwick Bay Precinct master plan.

AN international netball game to be held at the Derwent Entertainment Centre, which had to be transferred to New Town after the playing surface was found unsuitable for an international match.

Board of Inquiry members Barry Easther and Lynn Mason found the problems encountered by the council with these developments and events “is evidence of poor strategic planning and failures in risk management and risk mitigation that have resulted in a lack of accountability to the council and the community”.

In 2012 the council’s application to transform the then home of the Glenorchy Foot-

ball Club into a sports and community facility was successful and received $8.7 million federal funding.

Tasmania’s Migrant Resource Centre was to be an anchor tenant because of its strong links with the growing migrant community in Hobart’s Northern Suburbs.

Physiotherapy practice Revive Motional Health was also approached.

The KGV redevelopment project was expected to be completed in May 2015.

Two years later it still hasn’t officially opened, the tenants say it has not been fully completed and a number of deficiencies in the building have been identified.

The report says this includes the Migrant Resource Centre not having a duress alarm, a hot water cylinder in the IT equipment room making it not possible to get the IT equipment inside, kitchens unfit for purpose and the allied health facility not being able to be wired to the standard required for a medical facility.

Perhaps more damning is how the report viewed the pro- ject management of the redevelopment and how council staff interacted with the tenants, two of whom still had not formally signed leases at the start of this year.

In the report it is claimed a staff member advised the football club “this is a commercial transaction, we can knock your building down” despite the fact the club owned the original building on the site.

The report noted one tenant described dealing with the staff member on site as “handto-hand combat all the way”.

It found the football club had been charged $30,000 for electricity supplied to the site during construction because a council staff member failed to get an independent power connection for the builders.

Mr Wilkie, who helped secure the $8.7 million, said he had asked Regional Development Minister Fiona Nash to delay signing off on the grant deed for the KGV project following the revelations about the redevelopment.

“I have been approached on a number of occasions with concerns about the way in which the KGV redevelopment has been managed,” Mr Wilkie said.

“These allegations include that the facilities built are not fit for purpose, that poor project management has imposed significant additional expense and stress on the proposed tenants, and that council has still to finalise leases with anchor tenants.

“It is possible that the Board of Inquiry will recommend a full probity investigation and audit of the management of the project. To that end I believe it would be premature for the Federal Government to sign off on the grant.”

The Mercury has been told by staff members that council was yet to receive any income from the KGV building.

None of the representatives from the three tenants returned the Mercury’s calls yesterday.

It was a similar story with a hydrotherapy pool commissioned by the council, outside of the original project, which failed to meet Australian standards.

Slated to open earlier this year, it still isn’t operational, with a consultant from Melbourne advising in March the pool was “not compliant or fit for purpose”.

In October 2015 a councilinitiated Expressions of Interest process awarded a proposed lease to David Walsh’s Mona for a $6 million accommodation proposal — Mona Accommodation Berriedale (MOAB).

When the museum went to lodge a development application, it was required by TasWater to provide a $100,000 report on the emissions from the nearby Cameron Bay sewerage treatment plant, which does not comply with odour restrictions.

Mona appealed the requirement at the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal, but it was upheld.

The board found the EOI documents did not draw attention to the location of the plant in relation to the caravan park, nor the 400m attenuation zone around the treatment plant that meant developments may not be able to progress under the Glenorchy Interim Planning Scheme 2015.

The report says because of “management’s inadequate oversight of council’s planning and property departments” not only was the MOAB development under threat but “the noncompliance of the sewerage treatment plant also puts at risk further development already proposed for the area, viz., a hotel investment of approximately $200 million”.

Mona co-chief executive of Mark Wilsdon said it was frustrating.

“We’re disappointed that the caravan park project has stalled but we’re hopeful for an outcome that can see Mona and the essential infrastructure coexist in the future, as it has for the past three decades,” he said.

The board also found that despite it being touted as the “council’s biggest opportunity for private sector investment”, the Wilkinsons Point/Elwick Bay Master Plan had failed to be adequately resourced by the council.

And the circumstances surrounding a Scotland versus Wales netball game being moved from the DEC because of an unacceptable playing surface was “evidence of failure to manage the day-to-day operations of a major council asset”.

Glenorchy commissioner Sue Smith said she and council staff were working to get the projects back on track.

“Some of these projects should have been completed by now,” she said.

“On the KGV building two of the three tenants have signed leases, there are still issues to work out with one of them and we are working towards working that out.

“It [the Berriedale caravan park] is now a month-to-month process because the EOI process ran out in January.

“Council has taken back the maintenance of the area and we are working with Mona to keep progressing things.”