It would appear that within some WA Local Government Council’s there may be no constitutionalized moral compass, no properly defined ethics, nothing considered as being confidential or privileged and no principles regarding protection of private information- when dealing with correspondence from a member of the public.
Within the Shire of York’s hallowed halls there could be potential misconduct whether through just plain ignorance or pre-mediated Machiavellianism.
When it is internal memoranda or communications authored by someone within the Shire of York regime, which they are forced to release under the Freedom of Information Act, 1992, the often ridiculous redactions are there ostencibly to withhold, from the public, what it wishes to be considered as private and confidential.
The actuality is more likely to be that the Shire is attempting to withhold information and control the content of released documents that it fears may be damaging to itself.
Recently I emailed a ‘STRICTLY’ Private & Confidential communication directed personally to the President of the Shire of York only.
Mr. Wallace chose to distribute this communication without my authorization.
Firstly I consider this as a rather disgusting effort from a Shire President of any Local Government Area. This action should be considered to be in-breach of any decent, Local Government Area Code of Conduct.
Secondly there is such legislation as the Privacy Act 1998, that grants any individual the right to be advised when, how, where and why their private and confidential information is to be used.
Mr. Wallace’s actions could be argued as having a direct link to a previous communication that raised concerns regarding the performance of the Shire of York’s Chief-Executive-Officer- directed to him as the Shire President representing Council, all ratepayers and being in charge of the CEO’s performance.
Its content, based on released FOI documents, included allegations that the CEO had mislead Council regarding the qualifications of Local Government Engineering Consultant, Mr. Brett Howson.
Independent investigations allegedly show that Mr. Howson is not registered as a qualified Engineer, either then or now, with any recognized registration body or on his own Linked-in page.
Despite this, Mr. Howson was hired as an engineering consultant under the auspices of the CEO, firstly in 2016 to provide a “Draft 10-Year Road Program for Council- and then was employed by him as Acting Executive Manager Infrastructure and Development responsible for overseeing this program’s physical progression. It is a fair and reasonable question to ask why engineering qualifications were and are not necessary.
Included in this communication was a request made to Mr. Wallace for the matter to be subject to an internal investigation, and for the CEO to be asked to step aside for its duration.
Mr. Wallace failed to respond despite a polite request to do so. The matter should have been contentious enough for Mr. Wallace to respond in a timely manner.
Due to a lack of any response whatsoever Mr Wallace received the STRICTLY PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL correspondence which he chose to distribute to Shire Councillors without permission.
It was suggested within this email that failure to undertake any form of investigate could place local road users at personal risk through possible unprofessional supervision of road maintenance and construction.
Also that there was an attendant financial risk to ratepayers from a 10-year road program development that may be a inappropriately managed and fails to meet required local road engineering standards.
I would like to remind Mr. Wallace and the Shire of York that anyone claiming that they are a Doctor when they are not, may face serious consequences. Using the title Engineer when you are not, in certain circumstances, may have a similar outcome.
I will not bother to request any form of response to this from Mr. Wallace. Given the circumstances and the recent performance there may now be little chance for a display of accountability and professionalism normally expected from a public-office-bearer of his status.
A clear, concise, decisive explanatory response that resolved all issues raised, which should be expected from a Shire President, has not been forthcoming. Now Houston-there could be a problem.
DAVID TAYLOR.
After speaking with a highly qualified local authority on roads, I was shocked to hear that through the absolute neglect by the Shire of York, our road network requires a minimum of 4.4 million dollars per year for the next ten years to bring the roads to anywhere close to an acceptable safe standard.
ReplyDeleteIronically, 4.4 million is approximately the cost to the ratepayers for an administrative department that is so incompetent and so grossly negligent it poses the greatest risk to the wellbeing of ratepayers.
Heading this incompetent second-rate empire are three senior employees whose combined salary package is half a million dollars per annum, that’s nearly $2000.00 every single working day, for what, to increase risk and fuel inevitable higher than average rate increases?
The CEO, following long established bureaucratic protocol, seems to think that simply employing more staff to write more reports will fix the problem.
Can't be 4.4mill that works out at 85k a week.
DeleteEasy done anon 18.58
DeleteLast years tender for roadworks was 1.5 million, done in a matter weeks, and it was only a fraction of the road network that was worked on.
The reality is that for ten years or more a pack of idiots has been running this community. Every dollar that was robbed from road maintenance funds and shuffled accross to parties and piss ups will now cost the community 50 dollars because once a road falls apart it costs a fortune to rebuild it.
And if you build a new road and overlook the drainage it will fall apart in 5 years instead of lasting 100.
Bret Howson and Paul Martin have done this community no favours, they have simply lined their own pockets.
4.4 million a year sounds realistic to me, The 2016 Talis Report page 21 states that 4.573 million is needed per year for ten years to get the roads back to a safe standard.
Sadly the report was superseded by the recommendations of none other than Bret Howson, champion of worthy causes, such as Howson Management.
You're right Anonymous 2 June at 22:12
Delete"The projected cost to provide the services covered by the AMP includes operations, maintenance, renewal and upgrade of existing assets over the 10 year planning period is $45,726,000 or $4,573,000 per year.
Current maintenance expenditure levels are stated to be based on historical data to meet the basic level of service, and are considered to be inadequate to meet required service levels. There is a future requirement to amend the AMP to include linking required maintenance expenditures with required service levels.
The AMP provides future projections of required operations and maintenance expenditure. However these projections are based on current levels escalated in line with increases in the value of the asset stock. This means that the required maintenance expenditure levels may be currently understated in
the AMP.
The projected renewal costs in the AMP, which are based on data from the ROMAN road
management system, are expected to be more reliable that the maintenance expenditure projections. However, improvement to work practices and introduction of “low-cost” renewal methods may result in savings.
The Shire’s estimated available funding for road management tasks for this period is $16,883,000 or $1,688,000 per year. This is a funding shortfall of $2,884,000 per year, resulting in a funding level that is 37% of the cost to provide the service."
So in a nutshell.
DeleteIn May 2016 Council are told by a highly respected chartered professional engineer that they need to find another 2.88 mil a year or the roads are cactus.
Then in August 2016 newly employed party boy Paul Martin introduces good friend Bret Howson as top flight engineering consultant who then states they only need an extra 500 thousand a year and another 500 thousand that he will make by improvements in efficiency.
Total bullshit and an insult to the intelligence and integrity of authors of the Talis Report.
Both these men will be held to account, the truth will prevail and justice will be served.
Our council is getting a harsh lesson in reality. .
Ask some questions and hold these rogues to account or perish along with them.
We've had an asset manager for 2 years now. Whats his job apart from writing about how screwed our assets are. Council don't mind spending 100s of thousands on the rec center most of us don't use but all of us use roads.
ReplyDeleteThat Mr Howson was hired as an engineering consultant was a false representation by the CEO and the Shire President knew the CEO intended to employ a previous associate, where was the SP's due diligence, all he needed to do was inquire about Howsen's qualifications and we wouldn't have been lumbered with more incompetence.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone driven along Spencer Brook road and noticed the potholes where the bitumen meets the gravel, some places they're 150mm, deep enough to easily tear the wheels off my Getz.
Yes Houston we have a problem.
ReplyDeleteThe roads designed by Bret Howson and built in 2017 under contract are unsafe and sub standard. Now only a fool would belive that council are not liable in the event of a serious accident.
Time to replace Dave Wallace, he is a noted fool and we need wise leaders to dig ourselves out of this hole made by gross incompetence and bare faced corruption.
CEO Paul Martin is in deep trouble and should be stepped aside pending a thorough review of his management performance.
His relationship with Bret Howson needs to be explained as does the significant sum of money Mr Howson has been paid for his fraudulent services.
Yes, Wallace should do the right thing, move over and let the young fella have a go, at least he's got a brain. The problem with York is the old Yorkie mentality of having to have an old York name, preferably a farmer, in the chair, that is exactly the problem and why York's so fucked up. It all went to shit in 1961 when the Road Board became Local Government, then Local Government went to shit in 1995 when the Town Clerk was replaced with the CEO, with wages commensurate to highly qualified professionals. The problem is these LG CEO's are bottom feeders ie an opportunist who seeks quick profit usually at the expense of others or from their misfortune.
DeleteRoads are important but aren't the be all and end all, there is other infrastructure in desperate state of repair, the swimming pool for instance. Compared to other pools in the state ours is a mess and embarrassing for visitors. Most residential roads have no footpaths, even those with quite a few houses in them.
ReplyDeleteWorse than I realised.
ReplyDelete