The tyre fairies, assuredly complete with the required waste removal permits, have
whisked away the offensive pile of rotting rubber from the main street,
hopefully never to be seen again within the Shire of York which has no
adequate, legal, permanent disposal facility.
Unfortunately they were specifically ‘Tyre Fairies’ and the car bodies and car batteries (with the attendant carcinogenic chemical elements), as well as rats, mice and the odd dugite have yet to be removed.
The Shire of York, as an entity, should be applauded for its efforts in finally removing a potentially dangerous eyesore. It would have engaged with the business owners citing from the Policy Manual 2016, Council Policy/ Governance CP 1 5 ‘Enforcement’ that includes, in ‘Principles’, notwithstanding (a) immediate action is taken when required to ensure public health and safety and for the protection of the environment.
This Shire of York was notified of the problem on September 5, 2016, so its response was less than immediate- but to be equitable to all parties involved there would have had to be time taken for procedural fairness regarding the issuing of infringement notices and obtaining the required permits to remove, transport, and store the offending rubber goods.
A stimulus to increase the speed of the process may have come on September 15, 2016, when Environmental Health Officer, Mr. George Johnson, should have read the warning by the WA Health Department regarding the increased volume of mosquitos and the increased risk of related infections throughout southern WA this summer. He should then have ascertained that the risk to the York community could be exacerbated by tyre-style, stagnant swimming pools for mosquito lava being in the main street, and proceed accordingly.
In the best interest of proper, effective community engagement including accountability, Mr. Johnson should now advise ratepayers, through the Shire of York Official Website, that all proper procedures were undertaken in this matter and that these tyres have not been retained within the shires’ Local Government Area boundaries as occurred in 2014.
Regarding the Shire of York Website an email was sent to the Chief-Executive-Officer, Mr. Paul Martin, on September 29, 2016, querying the quality and timely updating of this extremely important local government community information resource.
Specifically it raised the issue that important additions to the Shire of York Administrative staff had still not been listed as being members of staff, even though their appointments had been approved and ratified by Council weeks ago.
It was suggested to Mr. Martin that this tardiness was unacceptable in any other sphere of government and/or private enterprise and tended to suggest either inefficiency or laziness. (Obviously, the problem was recognised and the names and employment positions of these three employees broadcast on the Website within 24-hours.)
From now on it would be in the best interest of the Shire of York to use its website as a transparent community conduit advising every one of the processes it is undertaking to provide responsible local government. A supposedly new era in administration requires vastly improved channels providing for openness and accountability.
Mr. Martin has arguably agreed, responding by stating that the broadcast of the details of the new employees should have been sooner. The Shire now has someone who is responsible for the development and updating of the site and its improvement is a high priority. Although not specified, the employee most likely is the Executive Manager Corporate and Community Services, Ms. Suzie Haslehurst who has Information Technology as part of her brief.
In the near future this should allow Mr. Martin to provide relevant information of concern to the community within a designated page of the Shire of York Website, thereby potentially reducing the number of concerned ratepayers forced to the only public recourse available to them =Question Time at Ordinary (and Extraordinary) Council Meetings.
It is slightly bemusing that the content of this innocuous correspondence from Mr. Martin is claimed by the Shire of York Administration as being confidential (including attachments) and potentially privileged information. The only attachment was my original correspondence to Mr. Martin which is subject to my right to confidentiality and privilege that is not required.
Nothing in Mr. Martin’s correspondence could be considered confidential by any legal authority and if released publically (which it has) any breach of confidentiality case would be thrown out of court.
Basically why this potential threat of ‘confidential’ is used by all levels of government in its correspondence is because there can be no confidence in the accuracy of what has been written. You are certainly not privileged to receive this pap. The confidential clause is there to provide immunity to the Minister, department and agency from public humiliation.
One positive is that the Shire of York’s administration ‘Dream Team’ is now positioned with positive results not only to be expected but demanded. The fact that two iconic cafes in York, the Carriage and the former Bugatti’s are closed and a massive Aldi’s shopping complex is being built in Northam is not going to make York’s financial resurrection any easier or give the dream team a dream run.
David Taylor.
Unfortunately they were specifically ‘Tyre Fairies’ and the car bodies and car batteries (with the attendant carcinogenic chemical elements), as well as rats, mice and the odd dugite have yet to be removed.
The Shire of York, as an entity, should be applauded for its efforts in finally removing a potentially dangerous eyesore. It would have engaged with the business owners citing from the Policy Manual 2016, Council Policy/ Governance CP 1 5 ‘Enforcement’ that includes, in ‘Principles’, notwithstanding (a) immediate action is taken when required to ensure public health and safety and for the protection of the environment.
This Shire of York was notified of the problem on September 5, 2016, so its response was less than immediate- but to be equitable to all parties involved there would have had to be time taken for procedural fairness regarding the issuing of infringement notices and obtaining the required permits to remove, transport, and store the offending rubber goods.
A stimulus to increase the speed of the process may have come on September 15, 2016, when Environmental Health Officer, Mr. George Johnson, should have read the warning by the WA Health Department regarding the increased volume of mosquitos and the increased risk of related infections throughout southern WA this summer. He should then have ascertained that the risk to the York community could be exacerbated by tyre-style, stagnant swimming pools for mosquito lava being in the main street, and proceed accordingly.
In the best interest of proper, effective community engagement including accountability, Mr. Johnson should now advise ratepayers, through the Shire of York Official Website, that all proper procedures were undertaken in this matter and that these tyres have not been retained within the shires’ Local Government Area boundaries as occurred in 2014.
Regarding the Shire of York Website an email was sent to the Chief-Executive-Officer, Mr. Paul Martin, on September 29, 2016, querying the quality and timely updating of this extremely important local government community information resource.
Specifically it raised the issue that important additions to the Shire of York Administrative staff had still not been listed as being members of staff, even though their appointments had been approved and ratified by Council weeks ago.
It was suggested to Mr. Martin that this tardiness was unacceptable in any other sphere of government and/or private enterprise and tended to suggest either inefficiency or laziness. (Obviously, the problem was recognised and the names and employment positions of these three employees broadcast on the Website within 24-hours.)
From now on it would be in the best interest of the Shire of York to use its website as a transparent community conduit advising every one of the processes it is undertaking to provide responsible local government. A supposedly new era in administration requires vastly improved channels providing for openness and accountability.
Mr. Martin has arguably agreed, responding by stating that the broadcast of the details of the new employees should have been sooner. The Shire now has someone who is responsible for the development and updating of the site and its improvement is a high priority. Although not specified, the employee most likely is the Executive Manager Corporate and Community Services, Ms. Suzie Haslehurst who has Information Technology as part of her brief.
In the near future this should allow Mr. Martin to provide relevant information of concern to the community within a designated page of the Shire of York Website, thereby potentially reducing the number of concerned ratepayers forced to the only public recourse available to them =Question Time at Ordinary (and Extraordinary) Council Meetings.
It is slightly bemusing that the content of this innocuous correspondence from Mr. Martin is claimed by the Shire of York Administration as being confidential (including attachments) and potentially privileged information. The only attachment was my original correspondence to Mr. Martin which is subject to my right to confidentiality and privilege that is not required.
Nothing in Mr. Martin’s correspondence could be considered confidential by any legal authority and if released publically (which it has) any breach of confidentiality case would be thrown out of court.
Basically why this potential threat of ‘confidential’ is used by all levels of government in its correspondence is because there can be no confidence in the accuracy of what has been written. You are certainly not privileged to receive this pap. The confidential clause is there to provide immunity to the Minister, department and agency from public humiliation.
One positive is that the Shire of York’s administration ‘Dream Team’ is now positioned with positive results not only to be expected but demanded. The fact that two iconic cafes in York, the Carriage and the former Bugatti’s are closed and a massive Aldi’s shopping complex is being built in Northam is not going to make York’s financial resurrection any easier or give the dream team a dream run.
David Taylor.
It will be interesting to see if the costs are passed on to Shell.
ReplyDeleteA friend told me yesterday that the Shire charged the proprietors of the service station $950 forf removing the tyres. Is that true?
ReplyDeleteIf true, it will show up in the financials in either the coming OCM or Novembers OCM, if memory serves me right it should be listed under private works.
Deletethe tyres have all been removed, car bodies have been removed and also batteries, if you would care to go have a look!!! the shire (and its workers) had nothing to do with any of it. yes there may be some tyres on the premises, but hello it is part of the business that they run there so where else do you think they are going to store them? or do you think they should do a trip to perth every time they replace a set of tyres? be realistic and think before you get on here and rant about something you clearly have no idea about
ReplyDelete