An Invercargill recycling company employing people with disabilities has bitten back at two southern mayors it says have spread "misinformation'' about contract negotiations.
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Southland disAbility Enterprises (SdE) released a statement today in reaction to Southland Mayor Gary Tong and Gore Mayor Tracy Hicks' comments yesterday.
They broke protocol to release information on the preferred unnamed tenderer for an upcoming revision of a Southland-wide recycling contract.
"To date WasteNet and the three councils have showed no regard for the job security for the SdE workers. As SdE has long suspected the issue is about money not the people.''
Mr Hicks and Mr Tong released their statement after Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt used his casting vote on Wednesday night to vote against the recommended option to take the contract away from SdE.
SdE holds the contract, which finishes at the end of this month.
Another contractor is preferred by joint-council committee WasteNet, and was voted for by the Southland District and Gore councils.
This means the tender process will have to be revisited.
Mr Hicks and Mr Tong provided information about SdE and why it was not the preferred tenderer, including claims of stalled financial negotiations.
The two mayors said SdE wanted "more money for less production''.
However, Mr O'Connor said WasteNet asked for a price based on an increased 9000tn per annum compared with 7000tn it received now.
It also said the current contract was $1.36M per annum not $1.13M as stated in the mayors' release.
"Contrary to what the mayors say, WasteNet has never offered financial expertise to assist SdE.''
SdE's initial request for an extra $700,000 per annum was based on "dramatic changes in the recyclables commodities market and increased operating costs''.
The request was eventually revised to $380,000 per annum.
"The contract price had not been reviewed in 7 years and SdE, like other recyclers throughout New Zealand was severely effected by the collapse of the recyclable commodity market.''
The information released confirmed the preferred tenderer would increase automation rather than manual sorting which SdE was "never going to be able to compete with''.
Mr O'Connor also contradicted a claim that WasteNet offered to roll over SdE's service on the same terms and conditions for another year to allow for a transition period, which SdE rebuffed.
"SdE offered to extend the existing contract for a further 12 months subject to it being paid the same price as it had tendered. WasteNet declined that offer."
WasteNet actually offered an extension subject to CPI adjustment with WasteNet being entitled to give three months notice of termination, he said.
SdE agreed to a two-month extension of the contract, but had not heard back from WasteNet, he said.
Invercargill City Council chief executive Clare Hadley said it had no comment about the statement from Mr Tong and Mr Hicks.
