CEO: I’ll sue you
Mathew Dunckley
2 March 2005
Moorabbin Glen Eira/Kingston Leader
GLEN Eira chief executive officer Andrew Newton has threatened to sue city councillors if they don’t renew his $250,000-a-year contract.
In a letter leaked to the Leader, Mr Newton threatened to sue any councillor who voted against his reappointment, alleging a breach of the Fair Trading Act.
The letter, dated February 11 and confirmed by several councillors, is the latest in a flurry of leaks from the council.
The reappointment process stalled in December and the council voted against Mr Newton’s reappointment at a confidential meeting on February 7.
The council was expected to announce a decision to advertise the position last week but the Leader understands it has instead had to seek legal advice following the threat from Mr Newton.
In his letter, Mr Newton said all councillors had agreed to publish an advertisement declaring the council’s intention to reappoint him.
“I am advised that each councillor who resiled from that intention on February 7 has breached the Fair Trading Act,” the three-page letter stated.
“If a resolution is not put and passed reappointing me, you will leave me no choice but to act on legal advice to sue those ouncillors personally for very substantial damages.”
The council had a number of options open to it last September when it first considered his reappointment, the letter stated.
“Given what you have said and done (since September), the only conscionable decision open to you, that does not carry unfavourable consequences, is to do what you said you would do.”
Mr Newton also alleged breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act stretching back to 2002.
Mr Newton claimed the council had not acted on his concerns and if he was not reappointed, he would be forced to seek further damages.
“In any objective analysis the runs are on the board,” Mr Newton said. “This is a high performance-low cost organisation. The mayor has confirmed earlier this week that there are no allegations of performance issues in relation to me.”
Mr Newton and most councillors refused to comment on the issue when contacted by the Leader last week.
Cr Alan Grossbard would not comment on the subject of the letter but said any appointment by the council should not be “dealt with under the veil of alleged threats”.
Cr Noel Erlich said he had “100 per cent” confidence in Mr Newton and criticised other councillors for not backing the chief executive officer’s reappointment.
“Look at it from his point of view. He thought he had a job and now they have turned it around inexplicably and that it is unfair,” he said.
Glen Eira Debates 
November 9, 2011 at 2:00 PM
Lawyers must adore this poor ol’ soul who is continually bullied. If council doesn’t pay for these legal fees then he sure can afford it himself. Last contract was around $320,000. Not a bad increase. Works out roughly to $10,000 per year increase. In my book threats are also a form of bullying.
November 9, 2011 at 2:37 PM
This is very old news, is there a reason to have a re-run of this?
November 9, 2011 at 3:11 PM
I think it’s always good to know where we’ve come from so that the same mistakes aren’t repeated. I also think that with all these secret ceo special committee meetings going on that the past could be repeating itself. Don’t you think it’s very strange that the delegation powers of this committee are tied up with Occupational Health and Safety? We know that there are allegations of bullying. Reading between the lines the past is fast becoming the present.
November 9, 2011 at 4:39 PM
How’s the pre Christmas business going, Noel.
November 9, 2011 at 8:28 PM
Those of us who took an interest in council affairs back in 2005 know that Newton had every right to sue. Council told him that he would be re-appointed then reneged. What would you do?
The main culprits were Grossbard and Marwick, supported by Esakoff and Hyams. If the past does become the present I’d look at councillors rather than the CEO.
BTW Grossbard is very close to Lipshutz.
Anyone see a pattern here?
November 9, 2011 at 9:10 PM
How could they reneg if he is still there. Fool.
November 9, 2011 at 9:50 PM
Concerned Resident, I suggest you get the facts first to avoid making ignorant statements. For a start you might care to read the Whelan Report.
November 9, 2011 at 9:18 PM
They are not secret ceo special committee meeting, they are meetings held incoffidence to protect everyone involve, as you see from 2005, it has to be done right and by the book, with all the I’s dotted.
Given them a fair go, in this respect.
November 9, 2011 at 9:59 PM
So much of what The Age wrote on 12 Aug 2005 could have been published yesterday. Here’s a sample:
————-
The … Government has sacked a suburban council after a scathing report found it had degenerated into a hotbed of “personality clashes, politics and egos”.
Local Government Minister … said she was forced to take the dramatic step after a report said the Liberal-dominated council had “degenerated to a level which could be accurately described as dysfunctional and irresponsible”.
“Their conduct is characterised by hostile, acrimonious behaviour, denigration of colleagues and a lack of mutual respect and goodwill–behaviour which seriously inhibits their decision-making capacity,” said the report…
… political infighting and hostility between the nine councillors had become so entrenched that council meetings were often used to “point score” or embarrass one another.
Glen Eira Mayor Margaret Esakoff was shocked by the news yesterday.
————-
Its a standard operating practice of the rich and powerful to threaten to sue to achieve what they want, and Andrew was being disingenuous when he said he had no choice. The culture of Glen Eira council continues to drift from bad to worse, although not all of that can be blamed on him. It shouldn’t be a matter of pride that Glen Eira council features on a Crikey list of Australia’s Dodgiest Local Councils.
As a postscript to the sacking: the subsequent apointment of an Administrator had diabolical consequences for some of us, as it spelt the end of Planning decisions being made in accordance with the planning scheme–all overseen by our CEO.
November 9, 2011 at 11:43 PM
Lester was a godsend to Newton. Everything was rammed through. No opposition, no rejection and postal voting to top it all off.
November 10, 2011 at 1:31 AM
Poor old Glen Huntly. Wrong again. He should get his facts right. Its a pity he (or she?) wasn’t there at the council meetings back in 2004/5.. Glen Huntly claims council reneged on an undertaking to re-appoint Newton. Wrong. The council records (open to the public to read) show that after councillors discussed the matter at an informal meeting, the Mayor, Cr. Bury, apparently wrongly informed the CEO that a decision had been made. In fact Council had not made any decision, it had yet to meet. So Council could not have reneged.
What of Glen Huntly’s claim that “Newton had every right to sue”? It all depends on the what was discussed between Mr Newton and the Mayor, but we shall never now be sure of that because Cr. Bury passed away some years ago. If Newton did have any right to sue, it would perhaps have been with the Mayor for misinforming him. On the other hand, the CEO would be fully aware, naturally, that no council decision had been made, and that consequently, there was no ‘legal cause’ for suing any of the councillors.
We all know there is a lot of mythology currently floating around Glen Eira, but we should not add to it. Please just stick to the facts, Glen Huntly.
November 10, 2011 at 9:19 AM
Apparently Burke was the minute taker in those days. Nothing has changed judging from the recordings of the last few weeks.
November 10, 2011 at 10:21 AM
Circus Watcher, I also refer you to the Whelan Report – section on “CEO RE-APPOINTMENT PROCESS” from P74.
The Whelan Report does not support your claim that Cr Bury “wrongly” informed the CEO a decision had been made. The report indicated that he accurately conveyed the consensus view of councillors for re-appontment. The report says he was “authorised” by the council to communicate this view to the CEO. A formal motion to re-appoint was passed unanimously a few days after. Then the trouble started.
There’s more in the report – I suggest you read it.
November 10, 2011 at 10:38 AM
Only council can “authorise” anything as in the “authorisation” of Newton and the Gang about the Racecourse centre. There was no formal council decision made.
November 10, 2011 at 12:48 PM
Newtons re-appointment was not unaimous. If the minutes record this then they are wrong. Not surprising as Glen Eira has a proven history of spinning and cleaning up records to suit the administration.
The fact that they use the word “unamious” in the minutes instead of simply carried is spin in itself.
November 10, 2011 at 1:30 PM
The Whelan Report was more spin. It was tabled in the Parliament to stop litigation against Whelan. Note the way he handled the Surf Coast where millions of dollars went missing and how he handled Glen Eira. Whelan was being paid by the State Government of the day to do a job. They were happy with his work. The Member for Bentleigh at the time thought it was pretty good. Didn’t help him in the long run. That’s politics.
November 10, 2011 at 3:29 PM
lol
November 10, 2011 at 10:15 AM
If Newton tried to sue his quality of life would change dramatically. Supreme Court actions takes years. In the mean time he would be unemployable in local government. No Council would take him on with that sort of outsatnding action. Anyone that has been through civil litigation will tell you that there are no real winners.
November 10, 2011 at 4:51 PM
Glen Huntly quotes poor old Merv Whelen’s report. That was just a political whitewash. I suggest Glen Huntly quotes instead Mayor Bury’s “Memoranda to Councillors”. They tell the real story. That’s where I got my information from, the horses mouth so to speak. (Some horse, some mouth).
In reality, Anon 7 hits the nail on the head. Newton blotted his copy book when he threatened to sue the councillors, his erstwhile employers. Who would want to employ him after that? Who would dare employ him? Perhaps that is why Newton keeps desperately clinging to power, even after all these years. If you continually cross swords using lawyers and threats of legal action, bullying councillors, and so on, then what other council would want you?
Let us test that proposition. There is, right now, a CEO position available that Andrew would surely like. In the interests of helping the needy, I suggest he apply for the newly available position of CEO at Boroonara Council, where the CEO Catherine Dale advised council staff (last month) that she would not be seeking a second contract. She said she planned to finish her contract, which expires in February next year..Perfect timing for Andrew.
Boroondara is the third largest council in Victoria, clearly a challenge for a high performing executive. Council has a huge $197 million budget, and serves 165,000 residents. If Andrew is half as good as he tells us, winning all those Mickey Mouse Awards, then he should be a shoo in. We encourage him. We say: Go, Andrew Go!