Glen Eira Debates

We’ve decided to have a closer look at the question of who will be Mayor following some recent comments. We’ve already stated that we believe it would be another case of “indecent haste” if the Mayor were to be elected tomorrow night. Two days following the announcement of the successful candidates is certainly not enough time for these individuals to make rational and long term decisions on the future. When a Mayor can wield so much power (ie gagging councillors, allowing residents to address council and most importantly, determining what can be over-ruled with no option for dissent) then who assumes the title of Mayor is crucial.

We speculate that there are possibly three candidates – Hyams, Pilling, and Lipshutz, with the latter as perhaps Deputy Mayor. We’ve ruled Esakoff out given that she’s been in the role 3 times and making it 4 times would be over the top even for the gang. That leaves room for some major political manoeuvring. We have 3 Labor councillors (Delahunty, Magee and Lobo); 2 Greens (Pilling and Sounness) and 4 Libs (Lipshutz, Hyams, Esakoff, Okotel). The possible combinations and permutations are mouth watering.

• Will the Greens join forces with Labor to run the roost and elect Pilling? If they do, what does this augur for the rest of the life of this council?
• Will Lobo ditch his Labor mates and side with the gang? What would Crean & Staikos think of this?

All in all, it should be a real eye-opener tomorrow night!

Thursday night (8pm) will see the first meeting of this council. The agenda items make for interesting reading.

• Council has generally left the frontispiece on its Agenda and Minute papers for Special Council Meetings blank apart from the date and logo. Not this time! There’s a nice little subliminal ‘message’ reading – “The primary object of a Council is to endeavour to achieve the best outcomes for the local community having regard to the long term and cumulative effects of decisions.” – s3c(1) Local Government Act”.
• Councillors, apart from signing the Oath of Office will also be “invited” to sign the Code of Conduct.
• There are also 4 options in relation to the Mayoral election – 1. Vote for a 1 year term for Mayor and Deputy Mayor; 2. Vote for a 2 year term for Mayor and Deputy Mayor; 3. Defer till next Ordinary council meeting or (4) Defer until no later than 30^th November.
• There’s also a notice about Councillor Expenses policy and remuneration.

We’ve done a quick search to determine how other councils may be approaching the first meeting of the new councils. Whilst not too many agendas are up as yet on other councils’ websites, we have located the following – none of which make any mention of the election of Mayors, nor of the ‘offer’ to sign the Councillor Code of Conduct. Most councils appear to be taking the sensible option and allowing a couple of weeks for councillors to come together and work out who will nominate, and how they will each vote. (See: Port Phillip, Boroondara, as examples).

The outcomes of Thursday night’s meeting will reveal much about the new dynamics and the power structures within Council. Meanwhile, the administration is still up to its old tricks we feel.

From: “Jill Esplan (Glen Eira RO)” <Jill.Esplan@vec.vic.gov.au>

Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:54:27 +1100

Subject: Computer count result.

Dear Candidates,

Please find attached the computer results of the 2012 Glen Eira election.

Congratulations to the successful candidates :

Camden : Michael Lipshutz, Mary Delahunty and Thomas Sounness

Rosstown: Margaret Esakoff, Karina Okotel and Neil Pilling

Tucker: Jamie Hyams, Oscar Lobo and Jim Magee.

The formal declaration will take place at 9am tomorrow morning at the Town Hall.

Regards,

Jill Esplan

Returning Officer

Glen Eira Council Election

ph. 9563 5013

There must be real fun and games going on at the count. We now have confirmation of the THIRD DELAY! (See below). There are two possibilities for these continued delays – (1) computer problems, or (3) major argey-bargey with and between scrutineers. If the latter then we assume things are indeed very, very, close in at least 2 wards.

“Dear Candidates,

Here’s the promised update.

The calculation will now take place for all wards in alpha order commencing at 6pm this evening.

The declaration has now been tentatively set for 9am tomorrow morning.  The venue remains the same.

Regards

Jill Esplan

Returning Officer

Glen Eira Council Election

ph. 9563 5013

In front of countless residents waiting to vote late this afternoon, Esakoff, Hyams and Jack Esakoff sank to the lowest depths of gutter politics and personal slander. Here’s what happened.

Penhalluriack was speaking with a voter in the queue who had asked him a question. The unholy triumvirate were on the opposite side of the queue. Penhalluriack started answering the resident’s questions by pointing out the huge interest bill accrued via GESAC and the impact on rates for the next 15 years. Esakoff intervened with “tell the truth Frank”. Penhalluriack told her to mind her own business since he was basically engaged in a private conversation. Mr Esakoff then accused Penhalluriack of lying and the crème de resistance came from Hyams who stated that Penhalluriack has no “principles”.

Not only was such behaviour embarrassing, it demeaned council and in particular these 3 individuals. We also have to wonder whether it possibly breached the councillor code of conduct. This is not the first time that Hyams has revealed his true colours with obnoxious remarks directed at both councillors and residents. Mr Esakoff’s performance over these past two weeks also needs to come under scrutiny. As for Esakoff herself, we can only surmise that if she had devoted as much time to being an informed councillor as she is to muck-raking and electioneering, then Glen Eira would be a far better place.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Council elections everywhere are on the nose. Media reports across the state have featured:

• Alleged physical confrontations
• Police charges
• Refusal to disclose financial contributions from developers
• Countless complaints to the VEC and Municipal Inspectorate
• Appalling lack of public information regarding the various candidates
• Stooges everywhere
• And much, much more

Glen Eira Council elections have not been immune to many of the above criticisms. The Leader has been totally derelict in its duty to report the news. We can only wonder why. It’s indeed a sad state of affairs when we’ve received scores of emails from residents asking for information on the various candidates – whether we know what political party they might belong to and what their preferences are.

Reports from residents tell us that the front steps of the town hall has been the scene for altercations between councillors and candidates; between residents and councillor husbands; formal complaints about accosting residents in the car park and other sundry matters. Certainly not a good look.

Yesterday however took the cake. A queue of up to 100 people was streaming out the polling booth early evening. Many were frustrated at the delay and at the inadequate staffing of the booth. At one point those waiting in the queue were told to go to the East Caulfield location! Not good enough! When literally hundreds of thousands of dollars are handed over to the VEC to conduct elections then one has every right to expect that the service is totally professional and efficient.

We also cannot fathom why the VEC places ‘Candidate Statements’ on its website – but only for those councils which have postal voting and NOT attendance voting. Nor can we fathom why the VEC refuses to publish each candidate’s voting card. It’s no wonder that council elections are treated as a joke by many and that candidates who do not have a huge bank balance, and are not supported by political parties and/or groups, are at a major disadvantage.

Politics has indeed become a dirty business. Glen Eira is no exception.

Presented in the order of preference. Given the pats on the back at the last ordinary council meeting between Esakoff and Pilling and the spiel about how well this group of Rosstown Councillors all got on and how well they worked together, the How-To-Vote card would appear to belie the self-congratulatory performance put on by all and sundry on that occasion!

ROSSTOWN WARD

Pilling

1. Pilling
2. Mikelsons
3. Hsu
4. Okotel
5. Ho
6. Esakoff
7. Caspi
8. Dunstan

Mikelsons

1. Mikelsons
2. Pilling
3. Hsu
4. Okotel
5. Ho
6. Esakoff
7. Caspi
8. Dunstan

TUCKER WARD

Read

1. Read
2. Hedger
3. Magee
4. Gatoff
5. Pilcher
6. Andonopoulos
7. Buch
8. Kay
9. Lobo
10. Cade
11. De’Ath
12. Dudeja
13. Hyams
14. Myers

Hedger

1. Hedger
2. Read
3. Gatoff
4. Magee
5. Pilcher
6. Andonopoulos
7. De’Ath
8. Kay
9. Dudeja
10. Cade
11. Buch
12. Lobo
13. Hyams
14. Myers

CAMDEN

Souness

1. Souness
2. Delahunty
3. Dempsey
4. Steedman
5. Spiegel
6. Kuran
7. Lipshutz
8. Forge
9. Weil
10. Penhalluriack
11. Kraina

In less than 48 hours the electorate will be voting. The calls for change have been loud and clear from many candidates. We sincerely hope that the new council will signal the beginning of a new era  – one of respect for the community and processes of governance that are scrupulously fair, transparent and accountable. The acid test for all councillors will come in the first few months. Residents will then have the opportunity to gauge whether they have been sold empty promises or whether words will finally be matched with action.

We set out below what we believe must eventuate in order for real and lasting change to occur. These are not prioritised in any special order – apart from the first item regarding Meeting Procedures. We welcome your comments and any additions you might like to make to this list of ‘must do’s’.

THE LOCAL LAW AND MEETING PROCEDURES

The entire Local Law needs immediate and speedy amendment. It must include:

• Notices of motion
• Rescission provisions
• Dissenting from Chair
• Councillor questions without notice
• Rights of reply without notice
• Agendas to be set in consultation with Mayor and one other councillor
• Advisory committees incorporated into meeting procedures with full agendas and minutes published
• All advisory committees (apart from Audit) to have community representation and to be open to the public
• Officer reports tabled at advisory committee meetings to be included in minutes of such meetings
• Public questions at start of council meetings
• Current ‘harassment’ provision removed from public question exclusion criteria
• Residents provided with 20 minutes to ask verbal questions of individual councillor, officer, or Council without notice at each Council Meeting
• Removal of Clause 326 (‘organised’ sporting groups)
• Petitions to be submitted by ward councillors and vetted by ward councillors. Once accepted then obligatory that the petition is forwarded on to relevant department for further action and responded to within the next 2 ordinary council meetings.
• Guidelines/policy created to limit the overuse of ‘confidentiality’ ( ie. secrecy)

DELEGATIONS

How and what authority is delegated to officers requires careful consideration. We suggest:

• Councillor ‘call-in’ for all planning applications (ie. if one councillor decides that the decision should be made by council rather than officers, then this application will go to a full council meeting)
• Planning applications to automatically go to council when 5 objections are submitted
• Sporting allocations to be decided by Council resolution

PLANNING & MISCELLANEOUS

• The development of structure plans for major activity centres
• Creation of Parking Precinct Plans for all Housing Diversity Areas
• Insistence on removal of training from Caulfield Racecourse in accordance with 2009 agreement
• Revamping, with full consultation, Local Area Traffic Management Plans and adherence to those plans
• Reworking of the Community Plan that fully incorporates and addresses resident concerns
• Tendering decisions to be tabled at council and to include selection criteria, officers responsible, final grades for each tender
• Website that includes capital works program including information on: progress, cost to council, grants from government, projected completion date and final completion date
• Delegated planning committee reports to feature in every council meeting and to include ‘user satisfaction surveys’
• Audio/video recordings of council meetings to be placed on the web, or available to residents upon request
• Revamping of Audit Committee including advertising of external membership for all incumbents
• No councillor to serve more than 2 consecutive years on Audit Committee
• Councillors be provided with ‘portfolios’ as part of their responsibility
• Councillors decision to have their email accounts treated as confidential to be strictly enforced
• Officers to be named in all reports (ie authors, and who is ultimately responsible)
• Immediate full review of the Planning Scheme and updating of all policy documents. This is to be done with intensive, full community consultation and the establishment of a resident/councillor/officer working party which will report fully and regularly to Council
• Publication of grant applications – their success and/or failure
• Regular ward meetings and/or the establishment of Village Committees. Council to respond promptly and fully to issues raised
• No development which increases or intensifies dwellings per lot to be issued with residential parking permits anywhere in the municipality
• Cost benefit analysis to accompany all Officer reports for major projects
• Maximum open space levies for all developments in municipality
• Revenue from above to be used to only acquire open space
• All councillor Requests for Report to be tabled at ordinary Council Meetings

Councillor/Staff Code of Conduct

• The Staff Code of Conduct be publicly available on website
• Staff/councillor conflict to automatically go to mediation as first step
• Removal of ‘gagging’ strictures in the Councillor Code of Conduct

This is a long list but essentially all these ‘reforms’ deal with governance and transparency. That has been the root cause of the ills which have plagued this council for over a decade. The final point we wish to make is that we also believe it is imperative that the CEO position be advertised and that ALL councillors be part of the selection process. What do you think?