Appendix 2: Summary time line
Inquiry into the Mangawhai community wastewater scheme.
| 1997 | Mangawhai Planning study. |
| 1998 | Mangawhai Infrastructural Assets Study (the Study) carried out for Council by Beca. |
| June 1999 | Council commissions and receives report on its ability to borrow. |
| September 1999 | Council agrees to implement recommendation in the Study for a reticulated wastewater treatment system. |
| April 2000 | At a workshop, Council considers strategic plan for implementing the infrastructure identified in the Study that had been prepared by Beca. Plan outlines methods for delivering project, including PPPs. |
| May 2000 | Council agrees to tender implementation of the Study, to appoint members to a project steering team, and to establish a Community Advisory Group. |
| May to August 2000 | Council runs a tender for a Project Manager. |
| September 2000 | Beca Consortium selected to be the Project Manager. |
| February 2001 | Council workshop on Council's preferred risk profile for private sector participation. Council agrees at workshop to use a Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT) PPP. |
| April 2001 | Expressions of interest for a BOOT project to develop a wastewater scheme are advertised. |
| August 2001 | Simon Engineering, NorthPower, and EarthTech shortlisted to proceed to the RFP stage. |
| October 2001 | Council elections. |
| August 2002 | Council decides to award preferred proponent status to Simon Engineering. Council starts negotiating with Simon Engineering. |
| September 2002 | Chief Executive of Council decides to assure himself about the process used for the project, and appoints Larry Mitchell to carry out this work. |
| December 2002 | Larry Mitchell provides his assurance report to the Chief Executive. Local Government Act 2002 is enacted, meaning Council can no longer use a BOOT for its wastewater scheme project. |
| January 2003 | Council decides to change project from a BOOT to a Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) project and to continue negotiations with Simon Engineering on that basis. Council also decides to seek funding from central government through the Sanitary Works Subsidy Scheme (SWSS). |
| June 2003 | Council changes its borrowing management policy, by including segmentation of debt and changing its borrowing limits. |
| July 2003 | Council puts out first statement of proposal on the wastewater scheme for consultation. No costs specified, but statement of proposal advises pre-tender estimates were for capital costs of less than $17 million, and annual operating costs of $800,000. |
| November 2003 | Council successful in obtaining $6.63 million as SWSS subsidy. |
| July 2004 | Council adopts Development Contributions Policy for Mangawhai wastewater. |
| October 2004 | Council elections. |
| January 2005 | Simon Engineering's parent company is placed in voluntary administration. |
| February 2005 | Council withdraws Simon Engineering's preferred proponent status and begins negotiations with EarthTech and NorthPower. |
| March 2005 | NorthPower advises it is no longer interested in the project. |
| June 2005 | Council agrees to contract with EarthTech to deliver the scheme, The construction price is estimated as $26 million and annual operating price is $748,000. |
| August 2005 | Council accepts the offer from EarthTech, including loan funding to be provided by ABN Amro. Council suspends its Development Contributions Policy. |
| October 2005 | Council, EarthTech, and ABN Amro sign contract documents. |
| February 2006 | Council adopts second statement of proposal for wastewater scheme for consultation as part of the consultation on Council's LTCCP. Capital costs of the project are estimated to be $35.6 million. |
| March 2006 | Council agrees to adopt the draft audited 2006-2016 LTCCP for consultation. |
| March 2006 | Chief Executive of Council makes an offer to purchase the Lincoln Downs farm for the disposal site. |
| May 2006 | Council provisionally approves purchase of the farm. |
| June 2006 | Council changes its Revenue and Financing Policy and Liability Management Policy to include debt segmentation, with the effect that EcoCare debt is excluded from the borrowing limits applying to the rest of Council's debt. Council adopts a new Development Contributions Policy. |
| September 2006 | EarthTech carries out work on growth assumptions to understand sizing requirements for the scheme. |
| September 2006 | Council and EarthTech file application for resource consents for scheme. |
| October 2006 | Beca and EPS provide paper to Council on growth assumptions and charges to ratepayers. Council adopts recommendations in paper. Project costs are increased to an estimated $57.7 million. |
| December 2006 | Council contracts to buy the farm. |
| March 2007 | Resource consents granted for the scheme. |
| October 2007 | Council elections. |
| November 2007 | Council signs amended project contract documents. Construction costs are now estimated to be $37.8 million, and total loan to be provided by ABN Amro is $53 million. Scheme to be bought by Council in two stages. |
| January 2008 | Construction of the scheme starts. |
| May 2008 | Council fixes the interest rate on the loan using a swap. |
| July 2008 | Changes in the ownership of EarthTech. The part of EarthTech responsible for constructing and operating the scheme becomes Water Infrastructure Group. |
| February 2009 | Date for completing the first part of construction is unable to be met. This was due to the Council requiring additional work to be carried out. This meant the swap needs to be broken, costing $840,000. |
| June 2009 | Council agrees to adopt the draft audited 2009-2019 LTCCP for consultation. |
| July 2009 | Project Director issues certificate of commercial acceptance for second part of scheme that had been constructed, although works not completed. Council buys second part of the scheme. |
| January 2010 | Official opening of the scheme. |
| March 2010 | OAG and Office of the Ombudsmen start to receive complaints about the targeted rate for the Mangawhai wastewater scheme. |
| August 2010 | OAG asks Council to legally review its targeted rate for wastewater. |
| October 2010 | Council elections. Council receives legal advice that there were problems with the targeted rate for wastewater. |
| January 2011 | Total project costs estimated to be $63.3 million. |
| September 2011 | Minister of Local Government advises Council it is "on watch" and identifies areas where progress needs to be made by April 2012. |
| October 2011 | Chief Executive resigns. |
| November 2011 | Council appoints a new Chief Executive. |
| February 2012 | Council receives legal advice identifying issues with its rates. |
| March 2012 | Auditor-General begins inquiry. |