2016-10-17 General Committee Meeting Notes

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                               17 OCTOBER 2016


2.      Legal Review
Colin Biggers & Paisley were engaged by Council to draft and provide extensive legal advice on
the Lease Agreement negotiations between AHGI and Council.
A broad summary of the items that required clarification and negotiation included:

Items                            Outcome

Maintenance of the buses         AHGI has agreed to maintain all trial buses at no additional cost
                                 to Council.

Risk & Indemnity                 Each party is responsible for its actions.

Insurance                        AHGI is to maintain public liability insurance and Industrial
                                 Special Risk Insurance for the Charging Units. Council is to
                                 maintain Compulsory Third Party insurance.

Breakdown                        AHGI is liable for direct losses only, and only if the bus has not
                                 been repaired or replaced within 7 days

Definition of Buses              Definition of buses includes charging infrastructure.


3.      Lease Agreement
The lease agreement as negotiated is attached to this report. At the time of writing this report,
staff have received confirmation from AHGI that it will execute the lease on Thursday 13 October
2016 at a meeting with Council staff and TransLink. Confirmation that this has occurred will be
reported verbally to the General Committee.

Previous Council Consideration

Ordinary Meeting 19 May 2016, Item 1, Page 14
That Council note the report by the Project Officer to the General Committee Meeting dated 16
May 2016 and the Further Report to the Ordinary Meeting dated 19 May 2016 and
A.      Nominate Higer Bus & Coach as the preferred supplier for Contract 1516T067 for a six
        month lease cost of $131,200 (excl GST) subject to the capacity of the local Energex
        infrastructure at Noosa Junction Bus Station and Diyan Street, Tewantin.
B.      Delegate authority to the Chief Executive Officer to negotiate and agree to any remaining
        items requiring clarification and to award Contract 1516T067 to Higer Bus & Coach
        subject to satisfactory compliance with the remaining conditions.
C.      Authorise the CEO to negotiate with TransLink, Sunbus and Higer Bus and Coach
        regarding the implementation, monitoring and reporting of the live trial; and
D.      Approve the funding of the live trial to a maximum of $508,530 to be met from the Public
        Transport Levy Reserve.

Finance & Risk
1. Technological Risk:
Whilst AHGI (trading as Higer Bus & Coach) have been producing electric buses for many years
for overseas customers, this project involves technology not previously used in Australia and is
an Australian first for local government in Australia, AHGI Australia (lessor), TransLink, Sunbus
(operator) and Energex.



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