CITY of Ballarat councillors have ordered officers to undertake a review of the municipal procurement policy before the end of the year following an uproar over a contract awarded to Pipecon.<\/p>\n
The move came during last week\u2019s regular meeting and was backed by mayor Cr Daniel Moloney after members of the community spoke out against a decision to award a $2 million construction contract for works on Tait Street, Sebastopol to the developer.<\/p>\n
Pipecon was found guilty of safety breaches that led to the deaths of two workers in Delacombe in 2018, which resulted new state industrial manslaughter laws that were passed two years later.<\/p>\n
The company is also currently under investigation for a third death, and Cr Moloney said safety should be a more considered part of the City\u2019s procurement policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis should be a policy review that reflects community sentiment and values that ultimately dictates or directs how council should be spending community money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve placed a great emphasis in the past on local content and good value\u2026 but I think the expectation of the community is you consider those values after you\u2019ve gone through a consideration of all safety criteria.\u201d<\/p>\n
A rally attended by more than 100 people was held opposite Town Hall in Queen Victoria Square during the meeting and three community members expressed their concerns during public question time.<\/p>\n
One of the presenters, Jay Morrison, brought forward a petition with more than 1150 signatures requesting council review the Tait Street tender decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite council having multiple avenues under the Local Government Act that were presented to council as options to actually step back\u2026 no steps appear to have been taken,\u201d Mr Morrison said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe families of those workers feel very flogged off by council officers as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response City of Ballarat CEO Evan King said there was \u201cno legal process\u201d available to rescind the tender decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CITY of Ballarat councillors have ordered officers to undertake a review of the municipal procurement policy before the end of the year following an uproar over a contract awarded to Pipecon. The move came during last week\u2019s regular meeting and was backed by mayor Cr Daniel Moloney after members of the community spoke out against […]<\/p>\n