A Clutha farmer wants compensation for emotional harm after the Clutha District Council rejected his company's tender for a section of land it has leased from the council for the past 15 years.
Matau Farm Ltd director Mark Budge has appealed the council's decision to accept another tender for the lease of a reserve near the Kaitangata Rugby clubrooms in Kaitangata.
Documents released in the agenda for today's council meeting show Mr Budge believes a council staffer gave him misleading information that affected his bid.
When Matau Farm's lease expired this year, the council, following usual practice, put out tenders for a new lease.
Mr Budge claims documentation provided to him indicated Matau Farm's tender was the highest. However, no tenders were accepted and and the lease was re-tendered.
In the second tender, it was stipulated the intended use of the land should be for grazing.
Mr Budge claims he was told by a member of council staff he should declare in Matau Farm's tender bid its intention to use the land for growing silage. He did so and believes that information resulted in Matau Farm being unsuccessful in bidding for the land, which instead went to Collingwood Farms trustees Evan and Tracey Dick.
Mr Budge complained to council chief executive Steve Hill, who responded that while the conversation was not recorded with the staff member, the invalidating information was included in the tender bid after the conversation.
Mr Hill said Matau Farm would not necessarily have won the tender because other tenderers did not have the chance to make a bid that included use for supplementary feed. Matau Farm had used the block for several years for supplementary feed without permission so the playing field was not even; in hindsight, the fairest tender process would have been for grazing and/or supplementary feed, but due to the localised nature of the tender process it was not possible to restart the tender process and the decision to award the tender would have to stand.
However, Mr Budge asked the council to restart the tender process.
He also sought an unspecified sum to compensate for ''emotional harm and distress ... business reputation, loss of future income and legal costs.''
Mr Hill sought legal advice on an appeal. Milton lawyer Kerry Dowling, representing the council, said he did not believe the tender process could be restarted, nor was the council required to and the council had no legal requirement to accept a tender from Matau Farm.
He noted Mr Budge's tender was not the highest received.
In regards to ''misinformation'' from the council, Mr Dowling said Mr Budge drew his own conclusions from a telephone conversation he had with a council staff member.
The council will discuss Mr Budge's requests today and make a decision on whether to uphold the accepted tender for the land.
