Wastenet, a joint venture between the Invercargill City Gore District and Southland District Councils, hit headlines this year as the opposing councils failed to reach an agreement.
At a WasteNet Advisory Group meeting yesterday representatives from Gore and Southland councils said they would pursue action to recover monies from the ICC after it decided to close the tender process.
Last week, Smart Environmental’s lawyers indicated if a tender contract was not awarded, the company would consider ‘‘every possible avenue to recover its costs and losses associated with the RFP [request for proposal] from the council’’.
Yesterday, in a letter handed to Invercargill chief executive Clare Hadley, Gore chief executive Stephen Parry said the council would follow the request of ICC as ‘‘there was little alternative’’.
‘‘The council agrees to end the request for proposal process and in doing so reserves its right to pursue cost recovery against the Invercargill City Council.’’
To date, Wastenet has invested about $240,000 on the request for proposal recyclables acceptance services with consultant’s fees, a report from ICC group manager Cameron McIntosh said.
Southland mayor Gary Tong alsosaid his council would send a letter similar to Mrs Hadley’s.
He said he was aware of the letter from Smart Environmental to ICC and said now was a ‘‘wait-and-see process’’.
‘‘But we certainly reserve that right to pursue cost on behalf of our ratepayers who have been part of this process.’’
Issues with the controversial tender process began much earlier.
In 2011, Southland disAbility Enterprises (SDE) — a company which employs people with disabilities — signed an eight-year contract with WasteNet to sort recyclables at its Invercargill plant.
In 2018, the parties commenced negotiations to renew the contract and SDE requested a higher payment.
WasteNet announced it would not renew the contract with SDE and put it out for tender.
In June 2019, Southland disAbility Enterprises councils both voted to adopt the WasteNet recommendation to award the contract to Smart Environmental. The Invercargill City Council went against it.
In the last ICC council meeting, councillors approved a motion to end the contract.
Mr Tong said Wastenet would continue but they would need to have further discussions about the future of recycling services.
‘‘I hope we can continue to work together in a proper manner that doesn’t have an effect on our ratepayers,’’ Mr Tong said.
