Perth Voice Interactive

A FAILED geothermal heating project at Beatty Park has resulted in Vincent city council having to return $100,000 to the federal government.

Mayor John Carey was uncharacteristically furious at Tuesday night’s first council meeting for 2015, strongly criticising his team of senior officers for what he called a culture of poor project management.

“I can think of numerous examples,” he said. “Like the Beaufort Street artwork where the contract should have been managed better so we’re not in this scenario, and it’s not for our [new] CEO to fix up the mess.

“And that’s what it is, it’s a mess! From poor project management by this council, by this administration, and I’m really angry about it because we’ve seen the culture in the organisation that says ‘it’s alright, it’s okay’! We’re not being tough enough. I am angry. And I am pleased that we have our new CEO looking at this issue and trying to fix it.”

The $100,000 grant had contributed towards a geothermal heating ventilation air conditioning system (HVAC) at the revamped leisure centre.

But because the supposedly you-beaut way of delivering heated pools at less expense wasn’t working the HVAC project was shelved and the money returned.

Water has been lukewarm at best and a brand new pump broke down four or five times a year.

Mr Carey was gobsmacked to learn that officers had known of various problems with the major contract since April last year but had done next to nothing, before Len Kosova’s appointment as CEO, to bring contractors to account.

In a report to councillors, staff say “various contractors” who’d worked on the project had since been contacted but the council had “failed to identify culpability” for poor performance and breakdowns.

An independent audit will now seek to figure out what went wrong but in the meantime the HVAC cash must go back to the department because the council will miss a required project deadline.

Mr Kosova says the problem could be anything from poor design to poor installation or a combination, and the task now is to figure out which contractor is responsible and “seek recompense”.

The actual geothermal bore the project taps has more volume and is even hotter than first thought, so if the kinks can be hammered out it should, theoretically, work even better than first thought.

by DAVID BELL