Grey District Council offers Evan Jones Construction formal apology

Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn. Photo / Marty Melville

Both the Grey District Council and Evan Jones Construction Ltd were today tight-lipped over the reasons behind a public formal apology to the company, published today.

The advertisement, in today's Greymouth Star, states that the council "formally apologises" to Evan Jones Construction Ltd "for any distress it has caused" for not redacting confidential details of a settlement contained within an Audit NZ management report on the audit of the council for the year ended June 30, 2015.

The report had been placed on the council website, but it had since been removed.

Neither Mr Jones, of Hokitika, nor Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn would confirm it, but the Greymouth Star understands the terms of the apology included an agreed payment to Evan Jones.

Evan Jones Construction Ltd was the main contractor for the Greymouth aquatic centre, which opened seven years ago.

The new pool has been dogged with compensation issues since it opened, including drawn out disputes over tiles lifting in the spa pool, and the sagging wooden roof beams, which was subject to a $700,000 compensation deal.

The roof is due to be repaired later this year.

Mr Kokshoorn would only say today the apology around the publication of details about Evan Jones Ltd followed the dispute as part of the construction of the aquatic centre.

"Because the settlement is confidential, I'm not able to say any more but all parties are now happy with the outcome."

Mr Jones said the council had breached a joint confidentiality agreement and the apology "is the end result", after between 12 and 18 months of negotiation. Everyone was now moving forward.

"It was pretty serious, if it's got to where it is at," he said. "It was stuff that the council believed they were in the right."

- Greymouth Star