ROBE council and its former chief executive Roger Sweetman committed misconduct and maladministration in handling the town’s marina project which blew out by $126,000, the state Ombudsman has ruled.
Ombudsman Wayne Lines started investigating the coastal council and its ex-chief executive after receiving a whistleblower’s complaint on the upgrade of the Lake Butler Marina Project which was undertaken in 2013.
Council initially resolved to allocate $170,000 towards the development of the marina precinct, with elected members being told by Mr Sweetman the amount would not cover the cost of the project in October 2014.
In January, council voted to include an additional $90,000 towards the project and in February, resolved to allocate a further $32,000, with over half being identified as a result of an increase in plant hire rates.
Mr Lines’ report, which is included in council’s April monthly meeting, found council failed to obtain more than one quotation for “at least nine significant transactions” despite the “clear requirements” of council’s procurement policy.
“In my view, the procurement policy is clear in its intention,” he said.
“It also serves to show to council’s ratepayers that in securing goods and services, they can be confident in the council’s prudence and methodology to obtain value for money.
“The chief executive officer should have been mindful of that and ensured the council was procuring goods and services at competitive prices.”
Mr Lines said the failure of Mr Sweetman to ensure the procurement policy was properly applied breached the Code of Conduct and on that basis committed misconduct in public administration.
“In my view, the chief executive officer was involved at all of the critical stages of the project,” he said.
“Despite indicating at an earlier stage of the investigation that he considered the council complied with the procurement policy, I have made a finding that this was not the case.”
He said the breach would “prima facie, constitute a ground for disciplinary action” and said he would report the matter of misconduct to council’s principal officer.
The report continues to state the council failed to apply or ensure the procurement policy was properly applied “on a number of occasions”, as well as failing to “make any meaningful enquiries of the reasons for the blow out in the project budget”.
“The failure to apply the Procurement policy, however, reflects a practice or pattern of conduct resulting in a substantial mismanagement of public resources,” Mr Lines said.
“It reflects a lack of transparency and accountability in terms of the selection process.”
Mr Lines said council’s mismanagement was “substantial” given the scale of the project, as well as the fact there was a failure to comply with the procurement policy “on a significant number of occasions”.
Mr Sweetman, who left the council the day the report was tabled, acknowledged he failed in ensuring the correct processes and procedures relating to quotes regarding the construction of the marina entrance in a statement.
The statement, which is included in council’s April agenda, said Mr Sweetman did not agree with some of the assumptions made in the Ombudsman’s report, saying it was his belief Mr Lines does not “fully appreciates the difficulty in procuring goods and services within rural regional areas where the number of suppliers for certain products are limited.”
Mr Sweetman said council used the “extensive experience and knowledge” of its senior staff in obtaining goods and services from local or regional suppliers, with staff being “well aware of the costs” and ensured prices were not inflated.
He said council’s administration has taken the findings of Mr Lines seriously and improved its governance practices to ensure it is compliant with the Local Government and council’s procurement policy.
Council must report to the Ombudsman by May 3 outlining what steps have been undertaken to give effect to Mr Lines’ recommendation.
Elected members will consider options at tonight’s meeting.
