On 15 November 2012 The Daily Examiner published an article with this opening:
CLARENCE Valley Council achieved "the biggest failing you can have in project management".
Costs are spiralling for the redevelopment of the Townsend Depot and councillors at this week's committee meeting grilled management.
By his own admission, council deputy general manager Rob Donges conceded the plans for the redevelopment had not been thought through.
"The biggest failing you can have in project management is that at the start of the project not all parties agree on what you're doing," Mr Donges said.
"That's what happened here."
The initial "plucked" figure given to councillors for the project, which started in 2010, was $1m, which has since increased to nearly $2m.
Now, there is a request for an additional $589,867, which would bring the total cost of the project to about $2.6m.
What the article did not say was that when council management put a $1million guesstimate as to total project costs to a council meeting before the redevelopment was put out to tender, it had done little or no prior investigation of the site or consultation in relation to the work related needs of the end users.
In December 2010 three of the seventeen tenders submitted for demolition, site preparation, electrical work and construction of buildings were accepted and, council management was authorised to negotiate with one or more of these successful tenderers for construction of Modular Offices and Amenities because their original tenders were not considered best value for money in that area.
During the same meeting Council's elected members were also made aware that the redevelopment budget had blown out to $1.9 million. Around that time it was decided to sell and lease back the nearby Water Cycle Townsend Depot to assist with redevelopment costs.
The sale of the North Coast Water site brought in more money than council management expected. However by September 2011 when authorization was granted to transfer the property title to the new owners, council management was telling a council meeting that sale of the North Coast Water depot had resulted in $21,474 worth of costs not budgeted for.
The next piece of bad news for councillors and ratepayers did not turn up until 13 November 2012, when Clarence Valley Council's Civil & Corporate Committee Meeting was informed that further cost overruns had blown the Maclean Depot redevelopment budget out to somewhere between $2.6 and $2.8 million.
It seems that every stage of the redevelopment is running over budget, primarily because council management decided that it would be a competent project manager.
This is now a running joke among increasingly cynical residents and ratepayers.
Graphic from Google Images
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