IMMINENT DANGER ALERT FOR THE SHIRE OF YORK: - NEW GOVERNMENT-NEW BROOM!

It often happens in the first few months in office. New governments’ look for politically damaging festering sores then get ready to perform corrective surgery. If it causes a political or public stink, then they have time to allow for the odour to disappear and the scars to heal before the next election.

One traditional media outlet politely calls one major problem ‘Bush Shires Mired in Corruption’.

For nearly four years public voices such as York’s two social media sites have continuously raised contentious issues about the performance of the Shire of York, the Department of Local Government and related serious problems.

There are those that scoff about their readership and potency. This site has had close to 360,000 hits over a three-and-a-half-year period and is trolled by the staff of every Government Minister when the concerns raised involve his or her portfolio.

The behind-the scenes impact of these sites, and others, is substantial, even if they cannot be directly measured against positive social and political changes at the time. Although the wheels turn slowly, the supposed intangibles are actually tangible.

Barry Sargeant, the Director General of the Department of Liquor Licencing, was a prime target of this site since he provided a Tavern Licence to the Shire of York. The then government was aware of what he had done and it could be considered unconscionable, but much of it was approved by a former Minister for Racing, Gaming and Liquor and Sport and Recreation, Terry Waldron.

A new government saw in the end for Sargeant, and Waldron, who went to the back benches, retired from politics at the last election.

Now there will be a re-work of local government policy to improve standards and transparency, particularly in the case of rural and regional Shire Councils. That was a demand which is now a fact.

It should include a serious toughening up of the requirements for compliance in all areas of local government governance that would mean changes to the last centuries’ Local Government Act 1998, which is now nearly two decades old and does not appear to measure up.

The Director General of the Department of Local Government & Communities, Jennifer Mathews is on the fat-cat bureaucrat departure list. The Prince of Probity, Brad Jolly, should join her.

They bear the overall responsibility for the surge in complaints of serious misconduct and serious lack of proper governance and probity in councils outside the Metropolitan Area.

Also- it has now been established that many councils have little knowledge of what they are supposed to do, and do not have the skills to manage budgets as small as $2 to $3 million.

A big game changer will be the Auditor General being let loose on local government to provide oversight on financial  auditing procedures , something that the previous government promised to do, but did not get around to.

Now you can forget the $25,000, per annum, spend of a local government corporate credit card by a Chief-Executive-Officer on himself and a few mates.

And there will be no more wrist-slapping with a feather duster for major local government miscreants. It could well be criminal charges, court time and possible jail time. Hefty fines, dismissal and being banned from public office will be other options.

So besides the new government, what was the straw that finally broke the camels’ back?

No it was not York, Dowerin, Toodyay and others, it is the Shire of Exmouth.

However- there are identifiable similarities to York.

1. A Royalties for Regions community project that has failed miserably and caused financial

damage to ratepayers as the facility remains empty. (The difference is that Exmouth’s effort cost $1.1 million while York’s is a staggering $15 plus million.)

2. A Chief-Executive-Officer signed the project contract knowing he had no authority to do so. (The difference is the whole Shire of York Council supported its Chief-Executive-Officer in signing the project contract without any proper financial due diligence for the scheme ever being done)

   
3. The Council gave the Chief-Executive-Officer a generous increase in leave entitlements including paying for travel to a conference on the Gold Coast even though he was already being investigated by the WACCC. (The difference is that the Shire of York Council always gave its Chief-Executive-Officer enormous travel entitlements to go where-ever he wished, hiding his gigantic personal expenses from ratepayers who were demanding an investigation into his corporate credit card usage.)

4. The Chief-Executive-Officer provided a staff member with a dubious rental arrangement as a tax avoidance scam. (The difference is the Shire of York provided its Chief-Executive-Officer with and extremely generous and dubious rental arrangement for reasons it refused to divulge to ratepayers.)

It is all too familiar but the Exmouth saga is recent, the Shire of York’s fiasco four and more years ago.

However the Minister for Local Government, the Attorney General and the Minister for Tourism and Racing Gaming and Liquor have all been made aware of the cause and effects of the Shire of York’s foray into pub ownership.

Next to be contacted will be the Minister overseeing the Department of Commerce/ Consumer Protection.

It is an interesting analogy that in the case of the Forrest Bar & Café the consumer is also the financier of a business that under normal, commercial circumstances could be forced into receivership. The legal ramifications of this have yet to be discussed with the appropriate authority.

No-one is out to malevolently damage the Shire of York and its reputation. Its reputation is entirely in its own hands.

Yes the Shire of York’s past and current actions may be investigated and other matters re-investigated, as new State Government Ministers decide how they wish to proceed and whether they feel it is part of the “Bush Councils Mire of Corruption”.

What the Shire of York should do is tread very carefully, albeit rather quickly to fairly, equitably and legally resolve the contentious issue of its ownership of a Tavern Licence and meet its obligations to the whole York community.

It should know, and does know, that it has no business to own, and should never have been granted, the  Tavern Liquor Licence that has caused the biggest community capital works failure in the towns history and continuing extreme financial pain for ratepayers.

As a matter of interest the name of the Chief-Executive-Officer for the Shire of Exmouth is Bill Price. He is about to pay a large one.

David Taylor.