City set to be censured after tender probe

I will be writing to the commissioner advising that I am intending to issue council with a noncompliance notice ALEX TAY

LOCAL Government Director Alex Tay will issue the Glenorchy City Council with a non-compliance notice after a Tasmanian Audit Office investigation into its procurement of services from CT Management.

Auditor-General Rod Whitehead yesterday handed down the report into Glenorchy’s tendering processes, making some scathing allegations of the council’s conduct over a five-year period.

Mr Tay said the council had not complied with the law in engaging the Victorian company to the tune of more than $1 million for mainly organisational reviews of the council’s structure — and he would be telling Glenorchy Commissioner Sue Smith so.

“I will be writing to the commissioner advising that I am intending to issue council with a non-compliance notice on the basis of the AuditorGeneral’s findings,” he said.

Mrs Smith said the council had a code for tenders and procurement in place during the engagement of CT Management — but she couldn’t say whether it had been “followed appropriately”.

Mrs Smith said CT Management was no longer engaged by the council, but she did not know whether there would be any repercussions for existing staff involved in the tendering processes.

“It [ CT Management] had gone on for too long, it was destabilising enough,” she said.

“I told staff to pay their bills and end it. It’s been going on for five years.”

Suspended Glenorchy aldermen Matt Stevenson — who notified the Auditor-General’s office about the issues — said some of his fellow aldermen had their heads in the sand regarding just how serious the issues were around the use of CT Management.

It has long been a point of division within the council, with suspended mayor Kristie Johnston adjourning a special meeting where aldermen were due to vote on the company’s recommendation for an operational review of the council.

The fallout from this adjournment, which resulted in the council meeting without the mayor, is viewed as the first time the deep divisions spilt into the public domain.

Mr Stevenson said: “Alarmingly, through significant and sustained questioning on the matter over many months, alderman were well aware of the risk that council could have breached its obligation under both the Act and its own tender code.”

Labor’s local government spokeswoman Madeleine Ogilvie said the State Government needed to take clear and direct action in the wake of the findings.

“Minister [Peter] Gutwein has no choice but to refer this matter to the Integrity Commission for further investigation,” she said.

“He also needs to take urgent steps to guarantee that these practices are not occurring at other councils, and in the Liberal Government’s own departments.”