Consultant on failed landfill paid almost $1 million

LEVIN: A district council ignored its own financial controls to outlay almost $1 million on a single consultant, adding to a mountain of costs over a controversial dump.

What was meant to be $7500 of consultancy work in 2020, by May 2022 had ended up costing Horowhenua District Council ratepayers $895,000, auditorgeneral John Ryan found.

The council paid invoice after invoice from Morrison Solutions despite having no plan, no business case and no written contract,

Mr Ryan said in a letter to the council on Tuesday.

‘‘The spending was within delegated authority, and we have not identified a conflict of interest,’’ he wrote.

‘‘However, the absence of a written and clear rationale for the work and selection of the provider, and absence of a contract, raises questions about whether that spending represents good value for money.’’

Altogether, the long and tangled process to decide the fate of the dirty Hokio landfill has cost ratepayers $1.6 million, and it was not over yet, Monique Davidson, who as chief executive since last May has worked to salvage a fraught situation, said.

Cr Sam Jennings, who sparked the auditorgeneral’s investigation, felt vindicated.

‘‘It’s bittersweet . . . You don’t like to have to complain about your own council,’’ Cr Jennings said yesterday.

‘‘I don’t think ratepayers have got good value for money because obviously, we’ve spent around $1.5 million on a process that we’ve had to start over again.’’

The council was due to meet yesterday to hit the reset button and consult yet again with the community over the dump.

The dump was meant to earn the council money, but instead

Ms Davidson revealed the council’s solidwaste operations were about $8 million in debt.

The dump has repeatedly polluted the groundwater and stream that runs through the Hokio Beach coastal settlement, in breach of its consents.

The dump itself has been ‘‘temporarily’’ closed since 2021, with the waste — both Horowhenua’s and nearby Kapiti’s — trucked north to a big private landfill near Marton.

Mr Ryan said the council’s procurement processes were weak to start with, and were not followed anyway when it first engaged Morrison Solutions for what turned out to be a complex job — reviewing a 2020 report that recommended keeping the landfill going.

The previous chief executive told the auditorgeneral the reasons he directly engaged Morrison, but these had not been documented, Mr Ryan said.

Any such spending above $30,000 demanded a procurement plan, but none was done.

The auditorgeneral looked into conflict of interest, but found no evidence of a preexisting connection with the consultant.

‘‘Although we have not identified a conflict of interest in this case, it is worth noting that situations like this can lead to questions about whether there is one.’’

Cr Jennings said it was a bit disappointing Mr Ryan did not investigate this further.