Mulch ado about council’s gardening service
Jason Dowling
October 15, 2011
A south-eastern council is facing probity investigations, including for a potential conflict of interest where a councillor who owns a hardware store that sells garden mulch pushed the council to close its free mulch service for residents for health reasons.
Glen Eira Council is believed to be under investigation by the Ombudsman’s office and Cr Frank Penhalluriack faces a separate investigation by the local government inspectorate over his push to close the mulch facility.
Cr Penhalluriack was also investigated by the council earlier this year over allegations he bullied the council’s chief executive, Andrew Newton.
Cr Penhalluriack denies he has a conflict of interest on the mulch issue or bullied the chief executive. The local government inspectorate has confirmed it is investigating Cr Penhalluriack and the Ombudsman’s office refused to comment.
The council voted in April to remove its Glen Huntly Park mulch facility.
In 2010, Cr Penhalluriack had requested an external consultant be employed to undertake an assessment of the health risks associated with the free mulch service.
The report found ”it is likely workers and mulch users are potentially exposed to bacteria (e.g. legionella) and fungi as a result of handling the mulch material”, and made six recommendations to manage the risk, five of which the council said it had implemented.
Separate advice to the council for the state Health Department said ”there is no evidence to suggest woodchips have ever been the source of legionella disease and a person would be very unlikely to contract legionnaires’ from handling woodchip mulch”.
Cr Penhalluriack told The Saturday Age he did not have a conflict of interest in pushing for the mulch facility to be closed, despite selling mulch from his Hawthorn Road hardware store.
”The mulch sales through Penhalluriack’s are 0.2 per cent of total sales,” he said, and had not increased since the free service had been closed.
He said safety concerns were the only reason he pushed to close the free mulch service.
”They have taken the mulch out, but the facility is still there, and the CEO has an obligation to act on a council resolution expeditiously.”
The Glen Eira council recently faced criticism for ignoring the advice of its own staff to heritage-protect a home owned the mayor, Margaret Esakoff.
. Cr Esakoff excused herself from voting on the issue.
The mayor said the Whistleblowers’ Protection Act prevented her from commenting on any possible Ombudsman’s investigation.
She said she was unable to comment in relation to bullying claims because of confidentiality provisions in the Local Government Act.
COMMENT: When government agencies such as the ombudsman and the municipal inspector are sent on total wild goose chases over something as inconsequential as a 0.2% councillor’s interest in the mulch business, versus concerns over potential health risks for workers and residents, then there is something drastically wrong with our system.
We keep asking the most basic questions:
- Why is this story continually in the limelight? Is it really the most important thing that is happening in Glen Eira?
- Who stands to gain the most by potentially discrediting Penhalluriack?
- Why aren’t questions being asked as to why the mulch was put there in the first place? If so perfect to start with, then why the need to implement the ‘experts’ recommendations as a result of the scientific findings? What does this say about overall approaches to risk management?
- Who tipped off the Age about the mulch story and why tip them off now, especially since the story is so old?
- Who complained to the Municipal Inspectorate and/or the Ombudsman and why?
- Is it coincidental that this story re-emerges in both the Leader and The Age when the CEO appointment process is starting?
- Why the continual emphases on Penhalluriack when the council vote was 7 to 2 to close down the mulch shed? He certainly wasn’t the Lone Ranger on this.
- Why does it take 4 months (and still counting) to table a council resolution for a Request for a Report on another potential location for the facility – whilst still keeping the $160,000 shell standing? It couldn’t be, could it, that finding another location would basically put the issue to bed for the community?
- If conflict of interest is the current catchcry and flavour of the month, then let’s go whole hog and perhaps investigate every single Glen Eira councillor and administrator on a whole gamut of potential issues. Let’s turn over every rock and cranny and see what lies underneath. But please, enough with the mulch already!
Glen Eira Debates 
October 15, 2011 at 12:17 PM
I will vouch for Frank any time of the week, day or night.
Frank wouldn’t and couldn’t give a rats about free mulch in a bunker kilometres away from his shop, or in fact even if it were across the road from his shop.
The man is mulch bigger than that.
It’s the pip-squeak at the Town Hall that has a bunker mentality set in concrete, of the yellow kind.
October 15, 2011 at 12:32 PM
Conflict of interest? Maybe try –
1. frisbee
2.MRC
3. heritage
4. 2005 ceo appointment
5. Inkerman Rd
6.Maddocks
October 16, 2011 at 12:13 AM
Yep, a pretty good conflict of interest summary of the past year or so. Just as well GE debates wasn’t operating a year or more ago. To go back beyond two years or so is just too depressing.
October 15, 2011 at 3:15 PM
I thought it was common knowledge that Frank enjoys his heritage frisbee’s, and likes to throws them out on Inkerman Road, with his mate Mr Maddock. He was so into the fun, he missed his 2005 appointment with the CEO at the MRC. Well you just goes to show, that not even the mastermind Frank can’t be in two place at once.
October 15, 2011 at 8:01 PM
This is all so contrived it’s unbelievable. I just have to keep wondering why, if there was even the remotest possibility of conflict of interest, that Penhalluriack wasn’t warned or cationed about it. This is Newton’s job. He probably acted the same as when he didn’t warn a certain councillor about his growing mobile telephone bills but just kept all the records for an opportune time. What a fabulous ceo who really is looking after the interests of councillors and residents. Get rid of him now.
October 15, 2011 at 10:09 PM
Anon 4 you shoot from the hip without the slightest regard for the truth. In other words you simply make it up. If you refer to a question Veronica Martens asked of the then Mayor in 2005 you would know that Mr Newton wrote to the Mayor informing her of telephone misuse. The Mayor failed to inform her Council.Who was that Mayor?
October 15, 2011 at 11:39 PM
From Council’s webiste:
Cr Margaret Esakoff (Mayor)
Phone: 9524 3225
Fax: 9524 3358
Mobile: 0407 831 893
Email: mesakoff@gleneira.vic.gov.au
Cr Esakoff is current Mayor of Glen Eira City Council.
Cr Esakoff is a long-term Glen Eira resident of approximately 50 years, was educated in (McKinnon Primary and Kilvington Girls’ Grammar), and lives in, Rosstown Ward.
She is married with two adult children, runs a small business with her husband, and has vast experience in all aspects of business administration.
Margaret is committed to improving residents’ quality of life, has a strong community involvement and takes a keen interest in all community issues. She wants to see community satisfaction rates with Council continue to grow.
She is serving her third term on Council, was Mayor of Glen Eira in 2004-5 and 2006-7, and Deputy Mayor in 2007-8.
October 15, 2011 at 11:50 PM
I’m wondering if Frank has thought about loading a few shovel loads or a few bags of mulch into his car. Then taking it home to his wife and asking her to glue/sew it on to his least favourite suite so he can wear it at the next Council meeting. I’m sure the health warnings could be glued/sewn onto the back like a ballroon dancers number.
October 16, 2011 at 10:58 PM
The Mulch facility is an embarrassment to the CEO, and to those Councillors who wanted to “bury” the issue. Council was free to decide the matter differently, but at minimum it should be provided honest and professional advice upon which to make decisions. A report was prepared highlighting several problems and deficiencies with the operation of the facility, and Council acted promptly. If people are really concerned about waste, then there are even bigger ticket items to explore, such as the refurbishment of Town Hall’s toilets.
Once a complaint is made about an alleged breach of LGA, then it should be treated seriously and investigated. Whether its waste of time or not, or costs money, that’s just the price we pay for democracy and representative government. I hope whoever lodged the complaint did actually take the time and trouble to read LGA. If they did, then I’m surprised they pursued it. From LGA 77A(4): “A relevant person does not have a conflict of interest in a matter if the direct interest or indirect interest of the relevant person is so remote or insignificant that the direct interest or indirect interest could not reasonably be regarded as capable of influencing any actions or decisions of the relevant person in relation to the matter.”
It annoyed several people intensely that there were only 4 councillors on the Caulfield Racecourse Precinct Special Committee making such highly political decisions. This is the dangerous consequence of interpreting “conflict of interest” too broadly. Its highly undesirable to have councillors intimidated into declaring conflicts of interest simply because they have accepted reasonable hospitality from the MRC. Andrew Newton has probably accepted reasonable hospitality too, and lobbied for C60. Several State Parliament MPs are members of the MRC too, and had no qualms about voting for the land swap to the benefit of the MRC. We need to be reasonable.
Consider LGA 78E: “A person has an indirect interest in a matter if there is a reasonable likelihood that the residential amenity of the person will be altered if the matter is decided in a particular way.” Yet councillors routinely vote to support development that violate GEPS provided its well away from where they live. This is much more serious than mulch, as the discrimination and carelessness is having an impact on people’s health and well-being.
One final thing: I don’t like seeing references to the “free mulch facility”. Its not free. We all pay for it, indirectly, whether we use it or not.
October 17, 2011 at 2:31 PM
Chip Chip Chipping……….
We are at
http://freegleneiramulch.blogspot.com
Yes im sure alot of people want this embarrassing issue to go away and they are surprised that residents do feel strongly about community facilities being closed for dubious reasons….
October 17, 2011 at 5:19 PM
It’s good to see that (MODERATORS: word deleted) Penhallurhack getting busted. The guy has a criminal past, you would’ve thought he’d learnt from his time in the big house.
October 17, 2011 at 7:49 PM
Pity you haven’t learnt a thing about common decency!
October 17, 2011 at 9:45 PM
Council’s on profile of Councillors’ acknowlegdes that Cr. Penhalluriack spent time in the slammer for advocating retailers be allowed to open at a time convenient for consumers … in this case all day trading on the weekend. This hardly puts him in the Mokbel category. And who of us wants to go back to only Saturday morning trading.
October 18, 2011 at 9:47 AM
We live in a society where we must all respect and abide by the laws even if we don’t like them. At church the reverend told us there is no degrees of wrong in the eyes of the Lord, a sin is a sin. Mr Penhalluriack needs to live by the rules of society just like everyone else. He is no different to the rest of us.
So when can my Dad get his mulch pile back?