Posted on: Wednesday, 4 November 2015 at 4:54:59 PM
Please note that this is a confidential meeting to deal with matters related to staff.A Confidential Special Council meeting will be held on Thursday 5 November 2015 commencing at 5:00 pm in Council Chambers, York Town Hall, York.
PURPOSE OF THE MEETING:
Recruitment of the Chief Executive Officer and appropriate interim arrangements and take any required actions.
GRAEME SIMPSON
Acting Chief Executive Officer
Whats "appropriate interim arrangements" mean?
ReplyDeleteI think it means 'making a temporary appointment for the period between Graeme's departure and the advent of the messiah aka the new CEO'. But I can't be sure. The grammar of the sentence in question is truly horrible.
DeleteCan we have a Happy Festival to celebrate Simpson going?
DeleteCBD Christmas decorations would be a good start.
They have already decked out the highest employment agency in York!
Appropriate interim arrangements definition local pre school age child to fill in as CEO until we find a new CEO ( Pre school aged child more than qualified understands basic questions and answers appropriately , can write their own name, can hear, and can speak without mumbling, can get a group of kids to play nicely, I'd say over qualified ) any thing has to be better than mumbles or maybe the interim arrangements are contacting the dementia ward he should be in, I don't mean to be rude but Graeme Simpson is passed his use by date.
ReplyDeleteAre we allowed to attend?
ReplyDeleteNo, its confidential, so anything discussed will be behind closed doors.
DeleteWhy is it confidential? Yet again, ratepayers are to be denied access to deliberations about how their money is to be spent and actions taken in their name. 'Secrecy in government is the first step on the path to corruption.'
DeleteI imagine the reason for the 'secrecy' is to allow the Councillors to be candid and frank in their deliberations. It concerns me that Pam Heaton has never attended a council meeting, although, she has publicly stated she would do her homework, whatever her interpretation of homework is. Trevor Randell, historically a poor judge of CEO's, Denese Smythe will do anything that makes her feel important, apparently she's still struggling with missing out on the presidency. So whatever the reason is for secrecy, I wouldn't hold your breath!
DeletePam is in it for the glory of 'being a councillor'. She hasn't a clue about Local Government. She wasn't even interested enough to attend council meetings prior to nominating which says a lot about her community interest/concern.
DeleteDoing the homework will not make her a good councillor.
She needs to learn to keep her mouth shut!
Trevor will do what Denese tells him.
So why can't they be candid and frank in front of us? It's our money they're planning to spend. It's in situations like this that the rot starts. Staffing matters relating to folk on the public payroll ought not to be confidential - are are disclosable via FOI.
ReplyDelete'So they came to a castle, called Doubting Castle, the owner whereof was Giant Despair.'
Go into the Shire of York website, click the Council button then Council Documents button, scroll down to Information Statement August 2014 and open the file.
DeleteScroll down to section 6 - 'Documents held by the Shire of York', third paragraph states; "the next section describes the categories of documents available for public access or purchase".
Scroll down to section 6.1 -'Document Access Schedule', the eighth dot point refers to the contracts of the CEO and senior staff.
I interpret this to mean, theoretically of course, any member of the public is entitled to have access to or purchase a copy of the contract for the CEO whoever he or she will be, DCEO Cochrane, Gordon Tester - Development Services Manager (whatever that is), George Johnson - Environmental Health Officer (highest paid in the state), Allan Rourke - Works Manager, Kieth Bunglemeister - Planning Officer.
As we all know very well, regardless of what documents the public are entitled to view, the Shire of York operates in secrecy, which includes the contracts for CEO's, senior staff and any other document it decides is confidential.
James, please give the Council a fair go.
DeleteSelection of the CEO is up to the elected members because they are the employer and have to work with him/her. I believe most of our councillors realise the choice this time will be the making or breaking of our Town.
I am confident several of the Councillors are savvy enough to do background checks of their own.
Smart employers now realise applicants only provide reference names of people they are confident will support them, therefore more checking is required. This is why big companies check face book and the internet.
If those responsible for employing Ray Hooper had been smart, they would have spoken with the then Chittering Shire President Jan Stagbour before employing him.
Nobody should blame the Council for having confidential meetings. The blame lies with the inherently corrupt and anti-democratic culture of local government in Western Australia, a culture systematically promulgated and enforced by its self-serving overseers in the state government bureaucracy.
DeleteFor heaven's sake, councillors, appoint somebody with tertiary qualifications, from outside the system if possible. Don't be swayed by departmental recommendations. Make sure you follow through on references and parchments - believe it or not, there are some cunning frauds out there. As well as checking references, get some independent opinions from previous places of employment. No more dinosaurs or corporate psychopaths, please!
Yet another meeting but, 8 working days later, still no minutes posted to the SOY website for the 26/10/15 Ordinary Council Meeting.
ReplyDeleteNow 12 working days since the 26/10/15 OCM and still no minutes posted to the SOY website.
DeleteWe have a good Shire President and a couple of good Councillors, now we need a bloody good CEO who is prepared to cull the useless deadwood from the Administration.
ReplyDeleteI have been reliably informed that Mr Graeme Simpson will finish as Shire of York ACEO on Friday 13 November and Mr Mark Dacombe will take over as ACEO on 16 November.
ReplyDeleteAutomatically we're better off, at least Mr Dacombe can string a sentence together without using stupid analogies, meaningless legal quotes and weasel words.
Mr Dacombe also has an IQ bigger than his shoe size, so things are looking up.
RESOLUTION 031115
DeleteMoved: Cr Smythe Seconded: Cr Saint
“That Council:
Terminate the employment of Mr G K Simpson as Acting Chief Executive Officer effective from the close of business on Friday, 13th November, 2015.
Mr Simpson remain in the employ of the Shire of York until 20th November, 2015 to allow for a smooth transition in the role of Chief Executive Officer.” CARRIED: 6/0
Seems pretty self explanatory to me!
Why terminate him then keep him on? He's been inoperative from day one.
DeleteGood move by the new Council, at last we might be heading in the right direction. Hopefully, the new ACEO has a tiny bit more respect for members of the community than Graeme Simpson ever had.
ReplyDeleteI don't suppose the tosser will get the minutes out before he goes?
DeleteHope there will be no Ratepayers money wasted on a farewell party for him.
ReplyDeleteThe following is a statement made by Commissioner Cole, City of Canning:
ReplyDelete"The City needs its community members to keep their queries to the City as “circumspect” as possible, because each query made is costing money and if we (the community, the scrutinisers of Councils like Canning Accountability and ratepayer groups) ask more Qs, then the City will have to employ more people and that means it will have to lift rates higher".
Sound familiar?
Indeed it does. When will these people understand that all they have to do is tell people what they want or need to know. A lot of the information people ask for - especially about disbursement of municipal funds - should be freely available online. That would save time and money.
DeleteSecrecy is unnecessary and expensive.
As Stephen Fry would say, interesting use of the word 'circumspect'. Says Macquarie: '...1. watchful on all sides, cautious, prudent...2. well-considered.' I would have thought questions raised by Diana Ryan of Canning Accountability and others like her were all of those things. A loud raspberry to Commissioner Cole (no longer in office, by the way - democracy restored in Canning under Mayor Paul Ng).
Ex CEO Hooper and his band of merry councillors are to blame for the distrust the community had in Council and still has in the Administration.
ReplyDeleteWe now have a Shire President and a couple of Councillors we can trust, we just need to clean out the senior staff.
Was it necessary for the Rodeo organisers to have the music and PA up so loud last night?
ReplyDeleteI live on the East side of York near Mt. Brown and the noise was awful. It must have been worse for residents living closer to the venue.
Inconsiderate bastards kept the whole town awake.
ReplyDeleteI hope the Councillors do the right thing by the residents they represent and place restrictions on the Bands volume and cut off time for the proposed Easter Rodeo.
ReplyDeleteIt was really not fair on the elderly and those with small babies.
Loud Music emanating from Functions Centres in York
ReplyDeleteSleep deprivation - Tensions resulting
Residents living adjacent to and within a 2 kilometre radius of “Laurelville” Function Centre are subjected to the type of ‘thumping drumming’ music played at functions held at “Laurelville,” the music level is of an unacceptable volume so as to cause sleep deprivation, Tensions and Health issues are resulting.