Cr. Lipshutz currently heads or sits on the following important Council committees –

• Chairman of GESAC
• Chairman Caulfield Racecourse Special Committee
• Member, Audit committee
• Member Consultation Committee
• And we mustn’t forget his tireless support of the CEO and officers!

Given these multiple areas of responsibility and the subsequent outcomes, 2011 has really become Lipshutz’s ‘annus horribilus’. We focus on just some of the ‘underachievements’ –

• The Seaview/Hawthorn Rd Heritage fiasco where under Lipshutz’s guidance and his newly acquired heritage expertise, the views of 6 professional heritage advisors were ignored and rejected. Result? Needless costs of lawyers, panels, independent ‘advice’ to council – all for nothing. Next time Lipshutz announces ‘I don’t agree’ then perhaps residents should ask for him to display his credentials in the specific area!
• Chairman of GESAC. Another shambolic performance that has been far from open and beyond reproach. Gesac, arguably the ugliest building to be erected in Glen Eira, has risen, phoenix-like, out of the ashes of the old scout and guide halls in Bailey Reserve. Lipshutz as chairman of the steering committee should answer how on earth it got passed by council given that there is no direct transport and we suspect no viable business plan. As late as September Lipshutz was still insisting that the facility would be open in December. April Fools’ day now appears more likely!

Lipshutz has never denied that GESAC will lose money when it is finally up and running. It will not even contribute to the interest payments, yet he continues to maintain that there is no problem – except for the builder. Council has continued to hire and presumably pay staff to accommodate the many thousands of angry ‘members’ who thought their membership would give them a swim this summer. We’ve probably got fitness advisors, swim instructors, and countless others just sitting around, collecting their wages and doing bugger all. More importantly, whilst the costs continue to escalate the Pools steering committee chairman can only say ‘council has used every means at its disposal to have the builder comply with building time lines” and “council has been levying liquidated damages as a consequence of each milestone missed and they are now approximately $1million”. And we’re expected to believe that a huge company such as Hansen Yuncken will sit idly by and cough up the million without a fight in the courts. Get ready we say for more hefty legal fees. Then there’s the fact that since it is a loss-making project making damages stick will be a problem. But, while bullying is fashionable in Glen Eira in 2011, fiscal responsibility takes the back seat.

The auditor general has classified Glen Eira as ‘high risk’. Council is borrowing $25 to construct GESAC – and who knows if this is enough? We presume that council has taken out a fixed interest loan in an economy where interest rates have dropped by 0.5% and look likely to drop even further this coming year. So much for the essential controls over income and expenditure by council’s well paid officers and the audit committee – also part of Lipshutz’s responsibilities. Poor, poor, long-suffering ratepayers, since it is not only us, but the next generation which will be paying off the loan.

• Racecourse/C60. Lipshutz has been a major player here. In a move that went against his own ‘no surprises’ policy, Lipshutz and Hyams moved a sneaky little amendment that gave the gang and Newton control over ‘negotiations’ with the MRC. This was after their initial attempt to include Newton was defeated. But all’s fair in love and war and politics it seems. You tell others to play by the rules and then break the rules when needed, convenient, or expedient. These ‘negotiations’ have been a dismal failure delivering nothing to the community.
• Audit Committee. Probity and accepted best practice appear to mean nothing here. Lipshutz has been a continual member of the Audit committee and for two years sat concurrently on both the Audit committee and the finance committee – surely a conflict of interest and a definite no-no in all responsible organisations. Given his legal background we should expect that Lipshutz would have known better. But even worse, the reappointments of Gibbs & McLean must break all world records. Further their reappointments have all been deemed ‘confidential’, held in secret with no public announcement. We’re still waiting for the 2011 annual report to make an appearance.
• The final lowlight must be the manoeuvrings to design, implement and delegate the ceo appointment process to the special committee – minus Penhalluriack. Even here we’ve witnessed stuff ups – the creation of the committee only to have its delegatory powers rescinded in the space of 3 weeks and new terms drawn up.  Again, everything’s been behind closed doors, even the final voting – although one doesn’t have to be too smart to figure out that Newton has retained his job thanks to the gang and Lobo.

There’s plenty more of course – in voting for various developments that sacrifice public amenity; in doing Newton’s bidding with the last minute gesac car parking extension; with the failure of the audit committee to act responsibly for months and months on the mulch affair, and now for the utter shambles which constitutes the workings of the Pools Steering Committee. All in all a dismal year of failure for Lipshutz and consequently for the residents of Glen Eira.

The minutes of December 14^th, 2010 record the following comments by Cr Lipshutz in response to a public question–

“The second assumption is that one of my sons is a regular player of Frisbee and is a member of as you call it “the Frisbee group” There is no basis for you making that assumption. Once again as an exercise in intellectual dishonesty you make a leap in logic in assuming that as my son has played Frisbee in the park and that his name is on a facebook page that he is a regular and habitual member of this so called “Frisbee group” as you call it. I can only assume that you have been living under a rock and are unaware of Generation Y’s social networking. Facebook is a regular and usual system of social networking but the mere presence of a name on that site does not translate to my son or indeed any other person being a member of a group. 

All answers to your questions have been dealt with honestly and in a responsive manner. ….Perhaps you could identify which if any Frisbee Group you are referring to and further provide some empirical evidence of any of my sons regularly playing Frisbee in such a group. You seem to think that by repeatedly making unfounded and wild accusations those assertion become true. You appear to be a follower of the Josef Goebbels school who said if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”.

COMMENT – these statements sound very much like a categorical denial of any official affiliation of Michael Lipshutz’s son (Josh) with any specific Frisbee group. There is the admission that Josh does play Frisbee, but that it is in a purely casual capacity. We beg to differ!

We urge all readers to carefully examine the following cached image of CP Frizza on Fridays. Readers will note that on the left hand side there are two categories – ‘Admins’ AND “Officers’. Each category has a hypertext link in the name of ‘Josh”. Clicking on this reveals that the ‘admin’ person and the ‘officer’ is none other than Josh Lipshutz – Cr. Lipshutz’s son!

Before anyone suggests that this affiliation may have occurred AFTER Cr. Lipshutz made his strident and insulting denial, we have seen cached versions of this and other pages which precede December 14^th. One very early page in particular identifies Josh Lipshutz as a ‘member’ of this specific Frisbee group, despite Cr. Lipshutz’s categorical denials. Further, on the image provided above, one of the statements attributed to Josh Lipshutz clearly suggests his role is far greater than a mere occasional ‘social player’ of this regular Frisbee game.

If we are correct, then the only possible and logical conclusion would be that Lipshutz has mislead Council and has breached both the Local Government Act and the Councillor Code of Conduct.

PS: The current Frisbee page has made several changes – deleting the category of ‘Officers’ – but the link to Josh Lipshutz under ‘Admins’ still remains. See: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37156836057#!/group.php?gid=37156836057&v=wall

The following post on Council’s secrecy has appeared on Cr. Pilling’s blog  under the heading of “Council meeting items and the issue of confidentiality”.

“The seemingly burgeoning amount of in-camera (confidential) agenda items not only here in Glen Eira but also in other municipalities including the City of Melbourne where a recent meeting had less than twenty mins of public discussion has been highlighted recently. I acknowledge the concerns raised on this issue by the local website Glen Eira debates.

Yesterday I raised the following points with other Crs and the CEO.
-“One of the issues for Glen Eira in 2012 is how to address the seemingly increasing amount of confidential items that are held in the in-camera section of the meeting agenda- increasingly so over the past few years.

Our aim as a Council should be to reduce this to the essential minimum so as to allow for as maximum public discussion as possible on agenda items.

Whilst I acknowledge that there are instances such as business tenders and OH @ S issues that require confidentiality I feel that there needs to be far greater efforts in keeping other items in the public agenda. Other councils such as Port Phillip if necessary spilt the item in two to allow for public discussion.

At each of the pre-meeting assemblies there should be an improved discussion and questioning as to the why and of the need for any proposed confidential agenda item,”

COMMENT: We acknowledge that this is a step forward in meeting community concerns and congratulate Cr. Pilling on his initiative and making his email public. However, we see a real paradox in the suggested ‘solution’.  Discussions will again be held behind closed doors; excuses and (spurious?) explanations as to why something should remain ‘confidential’ will be provided and that will be the end of the story. The solution must be open, frank, and full discussion on this issue in ordinary council meetings. The Grill’d episode is the perfect example of why there needs to be public explanation as to why Newton deemed this item as confidential. Councillors have it in their power to remove ‘confidential’ status via a vote and resolution. Even if this vote is defeated, it will serve the interests of transparency – let the community know how each councillor votes and the reasoning  behind such voting. Secondly, if councillors are really concerned about how this council operates, then they should focus their attention on the Local Law and the meeting procedures. This draconian and anti-democratic document needs to be rescinded and then rewritten. Posturing behind closed doors does not serve the public interest!