AT the July council meeting, Mitchell Shire Council (MSC) voted to decide upon the contract for Harley Hammond Reserve’s upcoming project— new netball courts and lighting upgrades for Broadford.
The recommendation was that council award the contract to Field Form Pty Ltd for the contract sum of $830,232.17 (inclusive of GST).
Council’s risk matrix listed just four risk implications certain to affect residents as they go about their day-to-day activities across the project’s duration.
Firstly, to manage residents, businesses and user groups safety during the project, Council will create a traffic and site management plan for distribution and will proactively keep residents abreast of any changes.
Incidentally, a due diligence check found that the contractor is familiar with similar project scenarios, and this helped to determine a lesser risk for the project and the nearby residents.
Secondly, inclement weather also went from high to medium with Council deciding to factor wet weather into the projects timeline and to put measures in place to mitigate drainage and erosion impacts on nearby infrastructure.
Only two other risks raised concerns; unseen setbacks in existing conditions, particularly latent so were rationalised from medium to low and finally budget blow outs will be mitigated as all materials including shortages and price increases are written into the contractors lump sum arrangement.
On the sustainability front, MSC’s minutes reported that the Netball court lighting is LED.
Councillor Bob Humm moved, and Cr Andrea Pace seconded the motion.
“I support this recommendation,” Cr Humm said.
“I believe they [the contractors] are from Whittlesea. I’m a bit disappointed that no contractor from the Mitchell Shire has actually put in for this contract. I hope our contractors within the Shire look at tendering for some of these contracts. They are quite large, and I’d like to make sure that that funding gets rotated around the Shire.”
The motion was carried unanimously. The timing of construction works will be scheduled in close consultation with user groups to minimise disruption to regular activities and ensure continuity of access wherever possible.