ONE MAN’S TROUBLE IS ANOTHER MAN’S TREASURE

York’s Politicus Annus Horribilus appears to be continuing unabated as 2015 happily chugs along.

We all know a major reason is an ineffectual and recalcitrant Minister for Local government and his merry band of misfits still denying York’s citizens their democratic right to have elected representatives. (Unfortunately this untenable situation may not cease in July 2015 when we were told it will.)

Just as importantly, many feel that York has not had a Chief Executive Officer or a council to meet what should be appropriate local government standards, or local community needs, this century. That is fifteen-years of enormous backward steps for one of the Australian mainland’s oldest inland towns-still in existence. Once famous for its major ‘Events’, it is now a non-event.

Enough has been said about Razor Ray Hooper. Since then we have had a new, startlingly ineffective local government administrative dilettante in Michael Keeble.

Not only was he here for six months too long, he had a disgusting “potty-mouth” and the remarkable ability to vacillate. That is twist and turn on a five cent piece in any direction he thought the wind was blowing. (This- being a gentle breeze wafting just for his benefit and best interest.)

Then a strange thing happened, Mr Keeble decided to denigrate the ability of his current administrative staff by saying, to his knowledge, not one of them had a tertiary qualification (of any description) to meet their job descriptions. 

He then selected the Deputy CEO, Tyhscha Cochrane, for a special rant claiming she was not good at her job, had made no reasonable attempt, in three years, to improve her knowledge of local government regulations through appropriate training, and was in charge of the Shire’s official communications library which was antiquated, inefficient and poorly structured. And he intended to shift her sideways to another position.

In an inordinately short time after this effort, Michael left the building, and York, hopefully never to be seen or heard from again.

Now his replacement, a Mr. Graeme Simpson from somewhere or other, has claimed his Deputy CEO, one and the same person, is an exemplary employee. And, by inference, any making of little boo-boos through repetitive data entry from what his predecessor stated was an inefficient database is not an uncomment error.

Unfortunately one person’s not uncommon error through repetitive data entry within a Local Government Council database can be another person’s tampering with, and possible falsification of, official Council documents.

Such a massive variation in the assessment of an employee by a different direct superior, in just a few months, beggars belief and once again puts the efficiency, effectiveness and credibility of Local Government Chief Executive Officers under the microscope. 

There is also the effectiveness of the WA Local Government Association (WALGA) in ensuring Local Government probity- and quality. 

The current Chairman of WALGA, Joondalup Mayor Troy Pickard, is allegedly a very close associate of the DLGC’s probity Uber-Spinmiester, Brad Jolly. In fact, some feel they are each other’s doppelganger.

Now here is an interesting bit. Press reports in 2014 said that Wayne Troy Pickard, as Mayor of Joondalup, was accused of a serious breach of the financial interest provisions of the Local government Act 1995. Reports suggested that Prima Facie evidence existed that Mayor Pickard had failed to comply with requirements under section 5.65 of said Act regarding proximity interest between Pickard and a third party.  

At her discretion, determined under section 5.116 of the ACT, the DLGC’s Director General, you guessed it, Jennifer Matthews, decided not to refer the Prima Facie evidence to the State Administrative Tribunal. That good news information for Mayor Pickard was forwarded on by the DLGC’s Executive Director, Sector Regulation and Support. You guessed right again, Brad Jolly.  Enough said!

Nowadays, for a Chief Executive Officer of a Rural Shire to perform to meet required demands, he or she should have the Wisdom of Solomon, the financial acumen of Nelson Rockefeller and the ‘visioning’ of Nostradamus. (A shire Council is a competitive business, in direct competition with other Shire Council’s to attract new ratepayers, new commercial investors and additional tourist numbers to name but a few areas of required generative growth.)

If the Shire of York’s Council or Chief Executive Officers’ have come even close to ticking any of these boxes over the past 15-years- you can line me up in front of a firing squad. What they have done is tried to attract retirees to a potentially collapsible retirement village, attempted to sell contaminated blocks of land to unsuspecting investors, sent the tourist industry to the wall and built a recreation and convention centre which may never be debt free.

A tiny select group of yokels did feel that a major Perth rubbish dump near the town was an  exciting, new, external commercial investment and the possibility of a bauxite mine near the York Racecourse was a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity.

Maybe this was because there was the potential for a lucrative contract to assist in maintaining the fifty-or-so SITA trucks ploughing up and down the Great Southern Highway each day, or the chance to be a local board member of a Chinese-owned bauxite mining company. Who knows?

The politicized bureaucratic Gods from Perth have told the people of York to forget the issues of their councils past, smell the roses, and move forward to the tune of the Pied Pie-Baker of Byford, Tony Simpson, and his DLGC bureaucratic bungling band.

What I say to them is you cannot guarantee a positive future without ensuring that all the dirty linen of the past has been aired, cleansed and will not be soiled again. I suggest that neither Simpson- nor his DLGC can insure us against that happening.

I now make the following, personal request.

This is- upon their return to office, Councillors Matthew Reid, Denese Smythe, Pat Hooper and David Wallace immediately seek to employ a Chief Executive Officer outside the square, a person who has not been contaminated by being employed as a public servant, particularly under the current WA local government regime. This has happened in the past. (Neither WALGA or the DLGC should have any say in this matter.)

The person chosen should, preferably, be less than forty years of age, have a University Degree in Business Management and be offered a three-year contract only, where clearly defined Key Performance Indicators must be met in specified periods.

Any senior Shire of York staff member, employed prior to April 15, 2014, must immediately undergo a performance revue to ensure their past performance has met the fair and reasonable standards now required by the current Council and ensure that their qualifications and definable expertise meet their current, and past, job descriptions.

There should be no employment positions made available by Council that do not fulfil the specific needs of the York community. For the Shire of York to have a Human Resources Manager looking after its staff, when it cannot adequately communicate with, and does not have the respect of its ratepayers is a sick joke. York cannot afford such a macabre sense of humour.

Any new senior staff members employed by Council must have the tertiary qualification compatible with the advertised position and their resume must reflect at least three years satisfactory employment in a similar role.

With regard to any future involvement of York & Districts Community Matters in possibly disseminating propaganda on behalf of the current administration, this will be tempered by the fact that Mark Lloyd, its’ Editor and Publisher is not a journalist and therefore he should be fully aware of his limitations.

In the past Mr. Lloyd has sought my assistance on several occasions when threatened, in writing, by Ray Hooper. Mr. Lloyd was aware of my thirty-year involvement in the Australian media.
One particular instance was the publication of a cartoon caricature of Mr. Hooper depicting him in a similar vain, and garb, to Adolf Hitler. 

I provided Mr. Lloyd with a rebuttal which Mr. Lloyd published next to Mr. Hooper’s threatening, yet ridiculous diatribe. Mr. Lloyd published this rebuttal under his own name which I had no problem with. (Mr. Hooper’s response was deathly silence.)

In conclusion I am sure Mr. Lloyd is an astute business who understands the meaning and ramifications of his publication to be allowed ‘to be distributed, by post, as a newspaper’.

David Taylor.