Fess up, councillors

MP slams Glen Eira spin on report

A LOCAL politician has lashed Glen Eira Council following the release of a damning report. Bentleigh Labor MP Rob Hudson said he was ‘‘very concerned’’ at the revelations in the report by the Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate.

The council had already breached chief municipal inspector David Wolf’s main recommendation to be more open and transparent by refusing to publish the report on its website, he said. Residents have to phone the council’s service centre to obtain a copy.

Mr Hudson said the media release about the report was ‘‘a complete obfuscation’’ of what the inspector found. ‘‘That’s unprecedented,’’ he said. ‘‘Every other report goes up on the council website. To put out a media release that doesn’t properly convey what the inspector found . . . puts a spin on what the inspector said.’’

The inspectorate completed a nine-month investigation into 27 complaints of alleged conflicts of interest and misuse of position.

‘‘If you read between the lines, this report is a substantial rap over the knuckles for the councillors and the way the council operates,’’ Mr Hudson said. ‘‘Given the council has already been dismissed once I would have hoped the councillors would have learned the lessons from that.’’

Inspectorate spokeswoman Samantha Murray said the organisation could provide advice but the report’s details were ‘‘a matter for council to discuss’’. Mayor Steven Tang said the document had been made available. ‘‘While it was . . . private and confidential, council is determined it’s not kept confidential.’’

TANG’S LETTER

With reference to the article Get back to basics, Caulfield Glen Eira Leader, September 7, 2010, the inspectorate found in relation to the majority of complaints that there was no breach of the Act or no evidence to support a breach of the Act.

In fact, four of the five examples cited by the Leader were found to be in one of these two categories.

This is clearly different to a finding of insufficient evidence to prosecute. Council welcomes the recommendations.

It must also be noted, however, that the inspectorate has chosen to make recommendations as a result of this investigation rather than taking the many more punitive actions available to it.

Cr Steven Tang, Mayor, Glen Eira City Council.

For the third time, a municipal investigation into Glen Eira Council has basically revealed itself to be a total whitewash. Over the coming weeks we will dissect each finding made in the report and point out its fallacies, and its loopholes.

We’ll begin with the finding that councillor Requests for Reports are delivered in a ‘timely’ manner and that officers have fulfilled their duty by carrying out council resolutions.

On the 16^th October, 2007 the following request for a report was made by Lipshutz and Whiteside –

“That a report be prepared as to the Council depot in Caulfield Park being removed from Caulfield Park to another location in or out of the City”.

The motion was put and CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

No such report has ever been tabled at Council Meetings! Timely? – only 3 years late and still counting!

Even more damning is the fact that on April 7^th, 2010 a public question by Mr. Campbell asked:

“Could you please report the result of the investigation requested by Cr. Lipshutz into an alternative site for the ‘Works Depot’ currently located in the Crown Land of Caulfield Park and what action is planned to re-locate this Depot and when is it planned that this will occur.”

 The response was:

“The outcome of the investigation was reported on page 52 of Council’s 2008/09 Annual Report. A suitable alternative site that meets Council’s requirements has not been found. Councillors remain committed to continuing the search for an appropriate site.”

When we go to page 52 of the 2008/9 Annual Report, this is what is there –

Conclusions: 

• No report has ever been tabled at Council
• Three years later NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE
• Public question remains unanswered as to what and when
• Lipshutz, since you moved the motion for a report, what have you done about this?
• The comment seems to indicate that the depot will NOT BE MOVED, only reduced in size! This is not what the request for a report stated, nor what the answer to the public question inferred.
• If this is correct, then when was the decision to ‘downsize’ made, and by whom?
• Doesn’t the Annual Report contradict the answer to the public question?

 Like everything else, this council seems to be of the belief ‘out of sight, out of mind’. We’ll bury the detail, keep the residents ignorant, and go on in our merry way! That all this is acceptable to councillors, inspectors, and Ministers is damning in the extreme. It certainly is not acceptable to ratepayers!

The minutes of June 29, 2010 record the following as part of an answer to a public question:

“The nine Councillors meeting as the Council set policy and the Council Officers implement policy. The policy as set by Council is one of reasonable laws reasonably enforced.”

It’s amazing that if this is in fact a ‘policy’, it is not to be found in ANY MINUTES of ANY COUNCIL MEETING!

What’s even more revealing is that Council itself refers to this phrase, not as a ‘policy’, but as a ‘motto’. We direct readers’ attention to the Quarterly Reports  Sections 13.9 and 13.10 – http://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/Files/Sevices_Report_June_2009.pdf

We highlight this issue as it again goes to the heart of good governance. Policies are meant to be tabled, endorsed, and ratified at full council meetings. ‘Reasonable laws, reasonably enforced’ thus remains a figment of the imagination, a convenient slogan that is capable of camouflaging abuse, discrimination, and lack of accountability. There are no guidelines, no criteria, no public dissemination, of how, when, and why such a MOTTO will be interpreted and implemented. Nor is it clear whether this ‘motto’ applies to all laws, or just certain ones. If someone is two minutes late back to their car only to find a parking fine, will ‘reasonable laws, reasonably enforced’ also apply?

The past few months have seen repeated public questions from a social soccer group. They seek answers to why, when they have a permit costing $1600, council does not fine other groups who do not have a permit, and who repeatedly use sporting grounds that are not allocated to them. These questions have invariably focused on the meaning of council’s oft used phrase ‘reasonable laws, reasonably enforced’. In this instance, we surmise the following:

1. It would be too embarrassing to go through another ‘kids in the park’ fiasco where John Brumby, Ian Thorpe and other luminaries castigated Council severely for their actions in threatening to fine a bunch of school kids for running around Princes Park.
2. $1600 is chicken feed compared to the permit fees paid by other clubs – so this group of social soccer players is ‘expendable’!

But, all this begs the question of good governance and councillors’ failure to question and act. Their simple ‘request’ to be ‘consulted’ before fines are enacted is laughable. What does this mean in reality and will it apply to all infringement notices, or just to the social soccer people? Why aren’t the public privy to all so-called ‘policies’? When will councillors actually do their jobs and SET POLICY, that is open, transparent, and in the best interests of all community members. To hide behind slogans that are trotted out whenever convenient is not good government!

It’s only taken a week, but seems that there is some movement at the station. In an absolutely dramatic move, the media release of the Inspector’s findings has finally made it onto the Glen Eira homepage!! No more hunting about on an impossible website, no more attempts to sidestep what the Leader and Glen Eira Debates has publicised. There it is, in full public view! Mind you, this is only the MEDIA RELEASE! The actual report is still off limits so it seems. Such courage from councillors is to be commended. Yes, we are moving at a snail’s pace towards transparency and accountability as recommended by the report! Well done councillors!

We have finally received a copy of the Municipal Inspector’s Report and have uploaded it into our permanent archive, under the heading INSPECTOR’S REPORT.

A short foreward first! We believe that the report was released to the media last Wednesday, without the knowledge of all councillors. In other words, there was a leak! Further, we have also learnt that once an individual went to council chambers requesting a copy of the findings, the service desk were under instructions to call down someone like Paul Burke, or other directors.

The media having in its possession the report, sought feedback from community members. The report has thus been widely distributed and we now place it for all to see on our website. Please read it carefully, and offer your comments. The findings, the processes adopted by certain individuals within council, are of major concern.

POSTSCRIPT: We’ve taken up a suggestion made by one of our readers and uploaded both the 1998 Walsh Report and the 2005 Whelan Report. Wonderful symmetry here – Walsh, Whelan, Wolf and Walker! These earlier reports are now also archived under  Whelan and Walsh Reports on the left hand side of the homepage.