Port Phillip CEO Chris Carroll has told Council that he was unaware of the sale of CityWide Waste to Cleanaway until he was told on the morning of the announcement to the Stock Exchange.
The sale announcement came just days after Port Phillip agreed to a confidential settlement with CityWide relating to the waste collection failures of July 2023. The settlement eliminated the uncertainty of a costly ongoing legal dispute and paved the way for the sale to proceed.
While the details remain secret, it’s public that Council abandoned claims for $126,000 in extra cost incurred collecting bins during the crisis.
Verbatim from the minutes
Here is an extra from the minutes of Council 3 July:
‘Chris Carroll, Chief Executive Officer, stated that the timing of the council report was not related to the announcement by the City of Melbourne and Citywide. Council was not aware of the sale at the time of its report and we did not coordinate with them on the release of our report. The first time officers were advised by Citywide of the proposed sale was the morning of the sale announcement on 24 June, via an email from the CEO which included a copy of the press release. I received a phone call from the City of Melbourne CEO on the same morning advising the same. In response to the ongoing media speculation, I had previously asked the CEO of Citywide in a phone call in late February 2024, whether their waste business was being sold. He said there was nothing he was able to discuss with me and would communicate with me on this if, and when, appropriate. The sale of Citywide’s waste business did not form part of our settlement negotiations. Officers were aware that may have been an eventuality and we planned appropriately in terms of those negotiations for potential outcomes.’ (Source )
Meanwhile ….
A senior Cleanaway executive is a current Port Phillip Councillor and has told fellow councillors that she could become the executive in charge of her corporation’s Melbourne metropolitan waste contracts, including Port Phillip.
Readers may recall that it is now on the public record that an employee of City of Melbourne (which owns CityWide) was on the selection panel that helped award the waste contract to CityWide in 2022.
Ouch. Double ouch.
