It is usually enough to learn to read to
the skill level you require for your employment, your family, your friendships,
lifestyle and interests.
To fully comprehend everything you read demands a possible higher level of prowess and/or improved tuition.
One easy archaic example is ‘the Archaeans the Trojans shall conquer’. Now sit down and work out who conquers who? Depending on inflection it is either.
Now let us get something very, very straight here because I do not respond to comments unless they come from some asteroid left of Uranus.
No-one is bagging the CEO, Paul Martin. The past he has been reported on is entirely a problem of his own creation and ‘yes’ he is actually a public servant not an entrepreneurial genius.
And yes-he would be highly unlikely to get such highly-paid, full-time employment in the private sector.
This is not denigrating his specific public service career - this is a fact.
Those who interviewed him for the position of Chief-Executive-Officer for the Shire of York had a duty-of-care to ensure Mr. Martin had all the credentials and the capacity to take on the role, as well as having no skeletons in the cupboard.
He has gone from a senior position as CEO of Port Hedland with an estimated, 2012, population of close to 20,000, and one of the world’s largest iron-ore shipping ports, to be the Deputy CEO of Broome with a population of 15,000 that expands to 45,000 in the tourist season.
It would be a fact that to change Local Government Areas and reduce the community expectations and his authority would have resulted in a reduction in his salary package
Half way through his career, Mr Martin, has now chosen to take over the reins of an inland town with little industry other than farming, a huge public debt, dud assets, a defunct tourist industry and a dwindling, rapidly aging population that is one fifth the size of those previous shires. It is called YORK!
This should have once again placed him in a lower public service salary band. It would not be inconceivable that Mr. Martin’s annual salary and accompanying entitlements would have been reduced by $120,000, or more, over the past four years.
As an exercise in comprehension can you put forward a logical explanation for this career move by Mr. Martin? Then hypothesize on why this will give him the ideal opportunity to move on to ‘much bigger things’ such as becoming the CEO of Joondalup?
I am waiting in anticipation for dozens of logical answers. It is a question that requires half-decent responses.
What Mr. Martin may, or may not have achieved in the past twelve months is not known but will be revealed to some when his KPI’s are reviewed in March. Then we may see if he has been ‘champing at the bit’ as one commentator put it, licking his lips or just chewing to relieve the boredom.
Now here is another highly contentious perception. No- Councillors are NOT solely responsible for the Budget! The CEO with the assistance of the appropriate staff prepares and compiles the budget then presents it to Council for their approval-or rejection.
Some councillors may demand that the CEO provides a budget forecast for a capital works program, or similar, but as the WA Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) makes it quite clear, too many rural councillors do not know their budget governance and compliance arse from their elbow.
(This is why CEO jailbirds like Dowerin’s Dacre Alcock appear in local government, then in the penal system.)
I will be ecstatic when I am proved wrong by dozens of lucid, erudite and faultless counterstatements delivered by rural local government council experts.
Mr. Martin should be extremely careful whom he hires in the near future to fill any void he, and his current staff, is not able to. Maybe he should be delving more deeply into the possible future of the Avon Region of Councils (AROC) and the possibility of sharing specialist expertise at less cost.
Tourism has not been high on the agenda since Miss Krakatoa, 2009, also known as Katrina Nicole Watts blew up the positive Tourism Events schedule.
As we know her trial transcript made interesting reading with former CEO, Ray Hooper, begging the court for leniency by claiming Watts’ was ‘enticed to take funds’ and trying to lay the blame on the then Tourism Office Manager, Tanya Richardson and others.
This gave Watts’ council the underlying ability to insinuate that she suffered from a psychotic impulse control disorder, commonly referred to as kleptomania and she received a sentence that in no way compensated for the enormous tourism marketing and promotion damage she had done.
(Or factored in the other years she had spent in jail for the same crimes.)
Now Tourism must change and expand or the only facility open on a daily basis, five days a week, will be the Shire Council Offices.
I have corresponded with the Shire President, David Wallace, on a confidential basis, on a number of occasions and we respect each other’s opinions and, more often than not, agree on matters relevant to the town’s future development and its best interests. Although- from slightly differing perspectives.
It is not a mutual admiration society, it is the realization of the complexities that have arisen through decades of absolute, local government bastardry, rampant connivance and councillors who should not be there!
When you lazily flick through the YRCC Report in the near future you may think the finances have been accounted for by a bookkeeper suffering from a psychotic impulse control disorder who no longer takes their medication.
There is $577,000 in alleged employee costs for something or other. However the amount designated as being for wages, $42,500, appears to have a $27,000 employer superannuation payment component.
At the standard rate of employee contributions, being normally 9.5 %, paid on wage and salary earnings, then super paid on $42,000 is $4,000, leaving $22,000 floating around.
A figure of $27,000 as an employer superannuation contribution is based on a salary such as Paul Martins’, being in the vicinity of $250,000.
This is the sort of creative accountancy that attracts the attention of the WA Corruption and Crime Commission and a possible sunbaking session at Acacia.
It is also alleged that for every meal transaction at the YRCC of $100.00 all ratepayers contribute for the entrĂ©e and sweets to the tune of $30.00 each. This should mean a regular Friday night musical contribution from ‘Pat & Tony’s Gastric Band’ so they both sing and pay for their own supper.
To fully comprehend everything you read demands a possible higher level of prowess and/or improved tuition.
One easy archaic example is ‘the Archaeans the Trojans shall conquer’. Now sit down and work out who conquers who? Depending on inflection it is either.
Now let us get something very, very straight here because I do not respond to comments unless they come from some asteroid left of Uranus.
No-one is bagging the CEO, Paul Martin. The past he has been reported on is entirely a problem of his own creation and ‘yes’ he is actually a public servant not an entrepreneurial genius.
And yes-he would be highly unlikely to get such highly-paid, full-time employment in the private sector.
This is not denigrating his specific public service career - this is a fact.
Those who interviewed him for the position of Chief-Executive-Officer for the Shire of York had a duty-of-care to ensure Mr. Martin had all the credentials and the capacity to take on the role, as well as having no skeletons in the cupboard.
He has gone from a senior position as CEO of Port Hedland with an estimated, 2012, population of close to 20,000, and one of the world’s largest iron-ore shipping ports, to be the Deputy CEO of Broome with a population of 15,000 that expands to 45,000 in the tourist season.
It would be a fact that to change Local Government Areas and reduce the community expectations and his authority would have resulted in a reduction in his salary package
Half way through his career, Mr Martin, has now chosen to take over the reins of an inland town with little industry other than farming, a huge public debt, dud assets, a defunct tourist industry and a dwindling, rapidly aging population that is one fifth the size of those previous shires. It is called YORK!
This should have once again placed him in a lower public service salary band. It would not be inconceivable that Mr. Martin’s annual salary and accompanying entitlements would have been reduced by $120,000, or more, over the past four years.
As an exercise in comprehension can you put forward a logical explanation for this career move by Mr. Martin? Then hypothesize on why this will give him the ideal opportunity to move on to ‘much bigger things’ such as becoming the CEO of Joondalup?
I am waiting in anticipation for dozens of logical answers. It is a question that requires half-decent responses.
What Mr. Martin may, or may not have achieved in the past twelve months is not known but will be revealed to some when his KPI’s are reviewed in March. Then we may see if he has been ‘champing at the bit’ as one commentator put it, licking his lips or just chewing to relieve the boredom.
Now here is another highly contentious perception. No- Councillors are NOT solely responsible for the Budget! The CEO with the assistance of the appropriate staff prepares and compiles the budget then presents it to Council for their approval-or rejection.
Some councillors may demand that the CEO provides a budget forecast for a capital works program, or similar, but as the WA Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) makes it quite clear, too many rural councillors do not know their budget governance and compliance arse from their elbow.
(This is why CEO jailbirds like Dowerin’s Dacre Alcock appear in local government, then in the penal system.)
I will be ecstatic when I am proved wrong by dozens of lucid, erudite and faultless counterstatements delivered by rural local government council experts.
Mr. Martin should be extremely careful whom he hires in the near future to fill any void he, and his current staff, is not able to. Maybe he should be delving more deeply into the possible future of the Avon Region of Councils (AROC) and the possibility of sharing specialist expertise at less cost.
Tourism has not been high on the agenda since Miss Krakatoa, 2009, also known as Katrina Nicole Watts blew up the positive Tourism Events schedule.
As we know her trial transcript made interesting reading with former CEO, Ray Hooper, begging the court for leniency by claiming Watts’ was ‘enticed to take funds’ and trying to lay the blame on the then Tourism Office Manager, Tanya Richardson and others.
This gave Watts’ council the underlying ability to insinuate that she suffered from a psychotic impulse control disorder, commonly referred to as kleptomania and she received a sentence that in no way compensated for the enormous tourism marketing and promotion damage she had done.
(Or factored in the other years she had spent in jail for the same crimes.)
Now Tourism must change and expand or the only facility open on a daily basis, five days a week, will be the Shire Council Offices.
I have corresponded with the Shire President, David Wallace, on a confidential basis, on a number of occasions and we respect each other’s opinions and, more often than not, agree on matters relevant to the town’s future development and its best interests. Although- from slightly differing perspectives.
It is not a mutual admiration society, it is the realization of the complexities that have arisen through decades of absolute, local government bastardry, rampant connivance and councillors who should not be there!
When you lazily flick through the YRCC Report in the near future you may think the finances have been accounted for by a bookkeeper suffering from a psychotic impulse control disorder who no longer takes their medication.
There is $577,000 in alleged employee costs for something or other. However the amount designated as being for wages, $42,500, appears to have a $27,000 employer superannuation payment component.
At the standard rate of employee contributions, being normally 9.5 %, paid on wage and salary earnings, then super paid on $42,000 is $4,000, leaving $22,000 floating around.
A figure of $27,000 as an employer superannuation contribution is based on a salary such as Paul Martins’, being in the vicinity of $250,000.
This is the sort of creative accountancy that attracts the attention of the WA Corruption and Crime Commission and a possible sunbaking session at Acacia.
It is also alleged that for every meal transaction at the YRCC of $100.00 all ratepayers contribute for the entrĂ©e and sweets to the tune of $30.00 each. This should mean a regular Friday night musical contribution from ‘Pat & Tony’s Gastric Band’ so they both sing and pay for their own supper.
If I ever hear of another York Local
Government Public Servant mouthing off that any form of
private enterprise is a threat to the
shires commercial operations we will be having a possibly extremely
unpleasant ‘one-on-one’ conversation, you should consider getting yourself a
very good lawyer and wish you had believed in Competitive Neutrality !
More than enough erudite, anonymous local commentators have said it is high time everyone forgot the past and moved on. These are great sentiments indeed.
Next time you have nothing better to do have a read of the Shire of York Websites sacred message ‘Building on our History to create our Future’. It makes you tear up and grab for the Kleenex.
Then you discover that ‘history’ means ‘the past’. So why don’t you ask the Shire to change it to ‘Remember our Ancestors who built our Future’. Then that nasty five-letter word disappears and you can all live happily ever after- with the past passing into history.
David Taylor.
More than enough erudite, anonymous local commentators have said it is high time everyone forgot the past and moved on. These are great sentiments indeed.
Next time you have nothing better to do have a read of the Shire of York Websites sacred message ‘Building on our History to create our Future’. It makes you tear up and grab for the Kleenex.
Then you discover that ‘history’ means ‘the past’. So why don’t you ask the Shire to change it to ‘Remember our Ancestors who built our Future’. Then that nasty five-letter word disappears and you can all live happily ever after- with the past passing into history.
David Taylor.
Perhaps Mr Martin saw the potential like many unsuspecting tree changers did over the years and thought he was the man to bring York to fruition?
ReplyDeletePerhaps he thinks he can develop the tourism industry so farming isnt the only viable industry?
Perhaps he thought the huge public debt could be made to be manageble?
Perhaps he thought the dud assets can be repaired and restored with sufficient funding?
Perhaps he thought once he acheived all these things he could attract the right 30-50yr old tree changers to reduce the mainly rapidly aging population.
Lots of "perhaps" above. I guess only Mr Martin knows the answers. Our Councillors though who interviewed him should also know the answers.
The best way in my opinon to know if someone is up to the task is to place measurables on their KPI's i.e. reduce outstanding rates by x% (each quarter or by EOFY), introduce or establish x amount of events (by x date), reduce FOI's by x% etc etc. There could be so many and York is so bad they don't need to be huge percentages. The following year they run again and after 3yrs there should be some realy noticible change. I beleive after 3yrs there is a review of the 5yr contract but maybe this has changed. Measurables don't appear to have been implemented and that is the fault of the Council.
Mr Martin knows this is I'm sure. Let's hope he has placed some measurables on his staff otherwise KPI's are very subjective i.e. EDO/CDO can improve public rlations but how does anyone know if it has improved? Or the Executives can reduce wastage but what is it compared to?
The YRCC financials are way off in my opinion. Clearily allocations are not proportional in particular staffing. The comment relating to other local convention venues being a "threat to the shires commercial operations" is appalling and should be removed altogether before being adopted. Infact, the whole report should be deferred in my opinion until the financials make sense.
Up until tonight I have followed both blogs and enjoyed the distinctly different styles of comments.
ReplyDeleteWhen I logged into 'the other blog' this morning, Anonymous 23 February at 06:19's comment sickened me.
I find this type of moron repugnant and a style I choose not to read, consequently I have deleted the link to that site.
Na-nana-naa-nah
I don't always agree with what you say but as far brighter people than I have said, I'll defend your right to say it.
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't mean that I'll simply tune out, or worse, delete the link blah blah, if I don't agree with what I read.
It would be terribly boring if we spent all our days blowing smoke you know where.