A LATROBE City councillor has made a last-ditch effort to stop a major overhaul of how council spends ratepayer money, from the purchase of office equipment, to large construction projects.
Cr Darrell White will attempt to have the newly-adopted procurement policy repealed at the next council meeting on 7 October after the issue this week divided councillors.
As part of the annual review of council’s procurement procedures, crs Michael Rossiter and Dale Harriman put forward their own amended policy which was considered on Monday night.
“This will ensure the efficient procurement of goods and demonstrate accountability to ratepayers,” Cr Rossiter said in support of the policy’s immediate adoption.
But a council officer’s report has warned the changes will result in “significant and unreasonable disruptions and delays”, damaging council’s reputation in the community and impacting on its ability to attract state and federal funding.
Under the plan, managers will be able to authorise significantly less expenditure.
For example, general managers who were previously able to approve up to $100,000 in expenditure, will now be limited to $25,000 and the chief executive who was authorised to approve $200,000 for construction works will have that amount reduced to $50,000.
Any matters above this figure would have to be put to a council meeting for approval.
For purchases under $1000, officers will now be required to obtain two verbal quotes which have to be recorded, rather than one unrecorded; and goods or services including construction work of more than $50,000 will now be put to public tender.
The officer’s report argued the number of changes required would in fact make council less efficient.
It found implementation of the policy would cost $300,000 in its first year, including $90,000 for the upgrade of the electronic purchasing system and about $210,000 to employ three extra staff members.
This would equate to $2.49 million over 10 years, according to the report.
The report states under the changes, the number of tenders issued would increase from about 70 to 220 a year.
Under the new policy, variations on construction projects would be heavily scrutinised, with the majority now needing council approval.
According to the officer’s report, up to 100 contract variations are processed annually and could relate to the discovery of rock or soft ground during excavation, changes requested by the client, or design issues.
The report estimated about 80 per cent of variations on building projects would now need council approval, resulting in the compilation of an extra 80 reports to be squeezed into the 22 available council meetings per year.
Cr White described the changes as “radical”, which committed council to an additional financial commitment.
He said council’s existing policy already met best practice guidelines and the changes had not yet been put before its external audit committee.
Cr Harriman, who seconded the policy’s adoption, said its efficiencies would offset any extra cost.
“It’s just better return on the ratepayers’ dollar and more care with how it’s spent,” he said.
Monday night’s vote was split, with crs Harriman, Rossiter, Sharon Gibson and Peter Gibbons voting in favour of the new procurement policy and crs White, Graeme Middlemiss, Kellie O’Callaghan and Christine Sindt voting against it.
Acting mayor Gibson cast the deciding vote in favour of the policy’s adoption, saying there needed to be a more “robust” mechanism for procurement.
Advance Morwell president John Guy criticised this move, saying the general protocol for councillors who had the casting vote in the event of a tie, was to vote in favour of the status quo, which in this case was the original recommendation of simply noting the policy, rather than its immediate adoption, as put forward by Cr Rossiter.
“It seems to me there are some councillors that want to get involved in the operations of the council, which is not their job,” Mr Guy said.
Cr Gibson said councillors were “elected to do the best for their ratepayers and to be prudent in how they spend their money.”
Council officers will now hold off on implementing the new policy until Cr White’s rescission motion is considered next month.
Cr Rossiter declined a request to elaborate on his brief comments at Monday night’s meeting.
