LEST WE’VE ALREADY FORGOTTEN ANZAC DAY 2015

RECAPPING:-
On, April 25, 2015, the whole of Australia celebrated the 100^th Anniversary of the Gallipoli Landing, a momentous occasion in our nation’s history.

Many small towns across the country obtained an ‘ANZAC Centenary Local Grant’ to help commemorate an epic day of remembrance, showing the deepest respect in honouring their ancestors who fought and died in the war-to-end-all-wars.
               
So did the SHIRE OF YORK, which eventually obtained the grant after stuffing the process up, big time!

WHY?
In April 2014, the Shire of York’s Senior Finance & Projects Officer, Gail Maziuk made an application through the office of Christian Porter, Parliamentary Secretary to the then  Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, for an ANZAC Centenary Local Grant of $38,154. (It has never been denied that Ms Maziuk did this. It should have been her direct responsibility and cannot be blamed on Ray Hooper who had resigned.)

The nominated intent was to refurbish York’s name plate memorial with an enlistment register with regimental colours and provide a concrete plinth for the Krupp gun. It was an extremely worthy cause that would receive the required funding.

Evidence suggests that the Shire of York’s grant application could be best described as an embarrassingly flawed abomination, similar to its original application for the Tavern Licence for the York Recreation and Convention Centre where no proper community impact analysis was provided. Ms Maziuk was the Senior Finance & Projects Officer on each occasion and Mr Gordon Tester was the nominated applicant for the Tavern Licence on behalf of the Shire.

Both could be considered “monkey see, monkey do” level applications, where both the Federal Government was eager to hand out the ANZAC grant, and the Department of Racing Gaming and Liquor had been told by the then Minister, Terry Waldron, to give approval for a Tavern Licence to the Shire of York, prior to the 2013 State Election, as a political ‘Pork Barrelling’ exercise.

Records show that the Shire of York’s ANZAC grant application for $38,154 only contained quotes totalling $7,450, a $30,740 shortfall in necessary cost information. There was another quote for $4,085 which bore no relevance to any memorial funding. It was officially a grant application fiasco!

As of 3.20 PM, Tuesday, January 13, 2015, both Commissioner James Best and Acting CEO Graeme Simpson were made aware of this abject failure by an external Email, and what their obligation was to the York community. That was to immediately attempt to obtain the grant and allow the people of York to honour their fallen in front of a newly renovated shrine, on a special, centuplicate remembrance day that will never be repeated.
This reminder was delivered just three months prior to April 25, 2015.

Best’s response was a ridiculous, tautological denial. The grant application had not been unsuccessful, there was still grant funding available and, apparently, all that was required was missing invoices to be forwarded.

No-one had said it was unsuccessful- just that York did not have it and wanted it prior to ANZAC Day.

The fact that $30,740 worth of important invoices, affecting a once in a lifetime celebration, had gone missing for nine months was  a irrelevant oversight to Commissioner Best, instead of an inexcusable error.

Unfortunately, the trivialization of responsibility for accountability by Senior, Local Government Public Servants is a stance fully supported by the Department of Local Government (forget the Communities).

So now you can guess why it is imperative to elect some new councillors with known accountancy and business acumen, academic discipline, great communications skills and an understanding of past mistakes, to ensure a more positive future and to compensate for the continually demonstrated, professional inadequacies shown by some of the Shire of York Administration and the DLGC.

These people will have to clean up a mess! A mess that may well include an investigation by the WA
Police Major Fraud Squad into financial matters concerning former Chief Executive Officer, Ray Hooper, with the possibility there could be accessories before (and/or after) the fact.

Also, as the Shire of York Administration has now been told, by Council, to hand over all relevant documents for police examination, any failure to do so could have serious consequences. One may be ‘attempting to hinder a Police investigation’ which can be deemed to be a criminal offence.

The candidate profiles suggest that James Plumridge has the academic discipline, Heather Saint, the financial background, and Jane Ferro, the local business experience to be worthwhile, newly elected members. This is not an opinion- it is there in black and white and not based on perceptions or emotion. Also each appears to have no illusions- or delusions- of what will be required and the unenviable task that confronts them.

A primary responsibility will be to evaluate the current capabilities of the Shire of York Administration to perform its role effectively with no permanent Chief Executive Officer and the Deputy CEO on maternity leave.

Key staff member, Gail Maziuk, has now changed positions from Senior Finance, Projects & Administration Officer to Human Resources & Compliance Officer. Why? Is a matter for conjecture and the community can form its own opinion.

What is not in dispute is that both these roles, outside of Local Government, would require the employee to have tertiary qualifications in accountancy, project management and Human Resources as well as extensive experience and success in each Key Performance Indicator for their primary duties and responsibilities. That is a given.

Now Mr. Gordon Tester has resurfaced at the Shire as Manager Development Services but not in his previous role as Manager, Health and Building Services. Then- he should have had the nickname

“Toilet Tester” because he had no idea how many toilets were required for public use in a particular local business that required public toilet facilities.

It is alleged that Mr Tester should bear a large degree of responsibility for the WA State Ombudsman declaring that the Shire of York suffered from a “Defective (flawed, shoddy, inoperative, inadequate, deficient) Administration”.

What Manager Development Services means to York is anybody’s guess? What Mr Testers professional accreditation to perform this role is anybody’s guess? And why he was not re-employed as the Environmental Health Officer is another matter for conjecture.

The Environmental Health Officer is now a Mr George Johnson, who is not an employee, but under contract to provide his extremely expensive professional services to the Shire ad infinitum.

Finally, the proposition has been put forward that an academic should be intrinsically honourable and that a school teacher is an academic. It is a humorous, but flawed assumption. Not even the priesthood is full of honourable men and a primary/ secondary schoolteacher is not considered an academic. ‘An academic’ is a scholar, lecturer or Professor at a university or other seat of higher learning.

If this is the type of presumption made by the average Local Government Election voter, that all is needed in a councillor is honour, then similar to Perth Lord Mayor, Lisa Scaffidi, we all get what we deserve. So Mr or Mrs ‘Get Real’- get real! And make your vote really count.

David Taylor
York Ratepayer.