An independent roadworks report, which found the Naracoorte Lucindale Council only met four of 15 key performance indicators, also found the ire of outgoing CEO Trevor Smart.
After winning a $68,000 tender from five other applicants with higher and lower quotes, Wheaton Enterprises—a highly qualified construction and civil engineering firm—praised the participation of the council’s outdoor field and administration staff in its 89-page report.
The report also praised eight improvements the council had made, but was critical that some data was made difficult to access and a report was withheld.
Mr Smart hit back at the council’s February 28 meeting.
“There’s some very unusual parts of this report, particularly the Wheaton’s report, including naming the specific consultant in a resolution,” Mr Smart claimed.
“Probably the more critical one is the over-involvement in the authoring and directing of what should be in the tender specification.
“I make that comment because that just hasn’t happened with any other tender we’ve done.
“So, this is just a stand-alone type of involvement, which I think goes into almost operational.”
His comments and claims were supported by Crs Craig McGuire and Damien Ross.
Cr Cameron Grundy asked if the Local Government Act had been breached.
Mr Smart: “I’m not sure, Cr Grundy. I’m not sure about the Local Government Act.
“I’d be concerned about the legislation, which would be the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
“I’d remind everyone in this room that all elected members are public officers under that Act.
“All council staff are public officers under that, and any contractor that we engage on a contract also is a public officer.
“So, everyone in this room and/or the contractors that we use have an obligation.
“If they have some suspicion, they need to report it.
“So, (the) Local Government Act, probably no known contravention, but there may be other legislation that is more serious.”
The roadworks review came about because previous councils since 2014 had not had roadworks audited by independent, experienced, and qualified civil engineers.
To update it, the current council’s strategic plan included a roadworks review.
Five tenders were eventually considered “in confidence” at the council’s April 23 meeting last year.
They resulted from an October 2023 motion on notice by Cr Cameron Grundy: “That council seek expressions of interest from independent industry assessors, including but not limited to Tim O’Connell of Tim Wheaton—Wheaton Enterprises of Adelaide and others for the purpose of carrying out a review into council’s unsealed roadworks building and maintenance programs, along with the associated plant and equipment usage with the finalised Terms of Reference to be confirmed.”
Cr Grundy explained aspects of the terms of reference of an audit being done at the Northern Areas Council by Wheaton Enterprises for its road review and efficiency of plant and equipment. He suggested it be passed on to the administration.
He said it was not something to get defensive about and explained how such a review could highlight things the council was doing really well.
Previously, Mr Smart had said there was no budget for a review, and whether or not it could be done in-house depended on what councillors wanted included in it.
Crs Craig McGuire and Damien Ross supported Mr Smart and an in-house review.
Cr Grundy dismissed that as being like “marking your own homework” and read parts of the Local Government Act, which referred to the responsibilities of councillors.
Crs Darren Turner, Abigail Goodman, and Peter Ireland highlighted the many benefits of such an audit, while Cr Tom Dennis opposed the concept as it was a motion on notice.
The motion was seconded by Cr Turner. Crs Trevor Rayner, Crash Downward, Ireland, Goodman, Turner, and Grundy voted in favour.
Crs Monique Crossling, Tom Dennis, Craig McGuire, and Damien Ross voted against.
Expressions of interest and quotes were publicly sought with five applications received “in confidence” at the council’s April 24 meeting last year for a Review into Roadworks Efficiency and Plant and Equipment.
According to minutes since released, the most expensive quote was $324,622 from Vibaden Services, and the cheapest was $300,000 less—Marshfield Consulting Services at $24,900.
Other highly qualified civil engineers tendering to do the review included Bernt Consulting, which quoted $60,750, Tonkin Consulting – $35,000 and Wheaton Enterprises – $68,000.
Various inclusions, exclusions, and time frames to complete the review were listed by each of the tenderers in a report by director infrastructure, Daniel Willsmore, who recommended the audit be done by Tonkin Consulting.
Tonkin has done a lot of previous work for the council.
Elected members, who had access to the entire set of tender documents and quotes from each applicant, eventually selected Wheaton Enterprises, and so began a series of site visits, investigations, surveys, interviews, and a detailed analysis.
Culminating in an 89-page report with an offer by Wheaton Enterprises to attend a council meeting to discuss it, the document was released last year in the November 26 meeting agenda. Under the general observations section, the report highlighted eight areas of improvement.
“Council appeared to have undertaken significant steps to improve their overall cost-effectiveness and corporate efficiencies (in eight areas),” the report said.
But the report criticised the council for making data difficult to access and withholding a report.
“The provision of information in formats that required a significant amount of time to convert was perceived by Wheaton Enterprises (WE) as an indication of reluctance from some council officers to participate in this review,” the report says.
“This perception is unfortunate, as is the assertion that WE personnel had relationships with some elected members that may cloud the impartiality of this review.
“To be clear, WE have acted with the best intent to undertake this review professionally and independently.
“We understand that the council previously undertook an Operations and Technical Services Department Review Report—Baker Ryan Stewart—(BRS) in May 2014.
“It is disappointing that, despite several requests, this report was not made available by the council.
“We understand that a number of operations, which are the subject of this report, were considered and commented on in the BRS May 2014 report, with recommendations made.
“We suggest that the BRS report be reviewed again, as it may help identify consistent themes and recommendations.
“Field and administration staff were welcoming and accommodating to our requests for information.
“Plant operators were open and forthcoming with their views, which was appreciated.”
The report released at the council’s November meeting is called a Revision B report, with the council management criticising some of Wheaton’s findings in earlier correspondence.
Of 15 high-level areas of roadworks investigated, Wheaton’s only ranked four of them as meeting expectations.
They included plant selection, plant maintenance processes, WHS procedures, and operational workforce participation.
Road gravel crushing operations partially met expectations.
Six of the council’s main responsibilities were below expectations with improvements recommended.
They included sustainable operations and resheeting with 35kms required annually, resheeting methodologies, road grading methodologies, road maintenance grading productivity, plant utilisation, and workforce training.
Three areas below expectations with considerable improvements recommended included road resheeting productivity, project controls for consolidated management planning, scheduling and resourcing, as well as budget development and cost controls.
Road resheeting costs received no rating as plant rates were not set and first budgets were not established.
Mr Smart also claimed there was “no opportunity” for director infrastructure Daniel Willsmore to present his report at the council’s November meeting last year.
Following a successful motion by Cr Trevor Rayner at the council’s January meeting, the council decided to wait until the new CEO Kelly Westell arrived later this month to discuss the roads reports rather than having to discuss it, then discuss it all over again after she arrived.
It is unknown if Wheaton’s offer to attend a council meeting to discuss the report will be accepted.
This article appeared in The Naracoorte News.