The following article appeared in today’s Melbourne Weekly Bayside
Council called to account
Investigation recommends retraining. By Henrietta Cook
Ascathing state government report into the activities of Glen Eira City Council has revealed transparency and accountability issues. The Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate investigation, which started in March and involved interviews with 35 witnesses, was spurred by 43 complaints about the behaviour of councillors and council staff.
Although no prosecutable breaches of the Local Government Act were found, chief municipal inspector David Wolf advised the council to introduce training for councillors and ensure an independent minute-taker records all meetings.
‘‘The investigation revealed shortcomings in the transparency and accountability of councillor behaviour and, on occasion, administrative practice at councillor level,’’ Mr Wolf said in the report. Mayor Steven Tang said the council was determining ‘‘the most appropriate, timely response’’ to the recommendations.
‘‘Council welcomes the findings and that no further action is warranted in relation to a number of complaints,’’ he said. ‘‘It should be noted that the inspectorate interviewed both councillors and members of staff.’’
Glen Eira Residents Association president Don Dunstan described the report as ‘‘complete whitewash’’ and said the investigation had failed to uncover the root of the problem – administration.
‘‘They have to clean up administration. All senior staff should be replaced. They are like Yes Minister, but 10 times worse,’’ he said.
‘‘While discussing the CEO appointment, one councillor unplugged his microphone to make sure he wasn’t recorded. When you have that level of distrust nothing can work.’’
Only 27 complaints were investigated, as many fell outside the inspectorate’s jurisdiction or were not supported with suitable evidence.
This is the third time the council has been investigated in the past 12 years. In 2005 the state government sacked nine Glen Eira councillors amid allegations of incompetency.
Glen Eira Debates 
September 13, 2010 at 12:02 PM
Don Dunstan should know better. How about it Don. Make specific allegations and prove your assertion. Don’t just mouth off with your jaundiced opinions.
September 13, 2010 at 2:49 PM
Don Dunstan is entitled to his point of view. As a past councillor of the City of Caulfield he would have the advantage of an insider’s knowledge of what goes on. Aside from this, the recent set of posts on this site clearly indicate that there is something drastically wrong with the way this council operates – and it has been going on for a long, long time. As I see it, the tragedy of the Inspector’s Report, is that it puts all the blame on councillors and hence reinforces the administration’s control. This is already evident in a number of ways. Neil Pilling’s blog has been silent for a couple of months, whereas earlier he was quite prepared to put forward his views. Has he now been ‘shut up’ as a consequence of this investigation and the final report?
Don Dunstan spoke about trust. It is sadly lacking within this council. Until there is real transparency nothing will change, and it won’t change as long as this CEO and his directors remain in power.
The next issue is therefore what to do about it? Councillors can sack the CEO by simple resolution. It might cost them half a million dollars but the community would be better off. Half a million bucks is not a lot when one considers how much this council grabs off its ratepayers. If councillors are truly concerned about improvements as Tang alleges, then this should be the first step. Get rid of the disease that has been at the heart of this organisation for a decade now. It is really starting to putrify and stink to high heaven
September 13, 2010 at 3:12 PM
What a joke all this is! Newton organises cosy weekends away for councillors where they are ‘trained’. Councillors don’t set the agendas for these ‘training’ session – Newton and his men do. So if something is wrong with the ‘training’ we know where to look. Wonder if any of these councillors attended the VLGA training sessions and it sure would be interesting to compare the concoction that Newton gave them, compared to what the VLGA offers. ‘Training’ is a euphemism surely. Indoctrination would be the better word.
September 13, 2010 at 4:10 PM
Agree – a total joke! Esakoff, Hyams, Lipshutz, Whiteside, Tang have about 100 years of councillor experience between them, so let’s ‘retrain’ them!! They must be really slow learners then if they haven’t picked up what’s required after all this time. Penhalluriack, Pilling, and Magee at least have some excuse – they’re newbies and Lobo is an ultra newbie. But back to the central issue. If all these guys need ‘retraining’ then what was Newton doing all this time. Was he fulfilling his duty to ‘educate’ and ‘train’. Or was it to his advantage to let the sh*t hit the fan as he has done in the past. The buck ultimately stops with him.
September 13, 2010 at 11:11 PM
Think some have missed the point here.
“Training” was the penalty prescribed – it was a cop-out which gave the appearance of addressing the problems in council without sacking them. They don’t actually need “training” – I don’t think the problem is ignorance of procedure.
I’m sure they knew exactly what they were doing when they were holding secret meetings, using personal emails for council business and turning off their mikes.
No amount of “training” will improve the behaviour of this council.
And by the way, can people here use a name other than “anonymous” – it gets very confusing.
September 13, 2010 at 11:51 PM
You’re spot on Glen Huntly – councillors knew what they were doing when microphones are turned off, etc. etc. etc. The crux of the issue is the CEO. As Dunstan stated if there’s no trust in the administration, then this is the kind of tactic you resort to. Problem is that these guys (councillors) just keep stuffing up as they did in 2005. You’d have thought that they would have learnt by now!
September 13, 2010 at 11:16 PM
And on a different matter, I know some here were quite hopeful about Cheryl Forge as a councillor.
Well she’s already shown her colours by siding with the likes of Esakoff, Hyams and Lipshutz in a division on the very first item on the agenda.
If anyone thought Forge was going to stand up for residents rights they are going to be disappointed. She’s just toeing the party line.