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Shire of York at risk of suspension
The Shire of York could be suspended after the Department of Local Government and Communities uncovered "a significant number of issues" around the council's ability to provide good governance.
Today Local Government Minister Tony Simpson issued a show cause notice asking why the council should not be suspended for up to six months.
Mr Simpson said the department began to monitor the shire in September.
York council could probe former chief
“During the monitoring period, a significant number of issues emerged, giving rise to concerns about the council’s ability to effectively manage the operations of the shire and to provide good government for the people in its district,” he said.
“I have formed the view there is sufficient evidence that it is inappropriate for the Shire of York’s council to continue without intervention."
In July this year a report recommended former chief executive Ray Hooper be asked to explain claims made by ratepayers and a former councillor that his conduct between 2008 and 2104 contravened the public sector's code of ethics.
It also recommended councillors Pat Hooper and Tony Boyle be asked to explain allegations that they contravened the Local Government Act.
The report included allegations that people who made complaints about the chief executive or the council were then visited by shire rangers or a health or building inspectors with complaints about their pets or threats of legal action.
Ray Hooper strongly denied the allegations.
His successor as chief executive, Michael Keeble, resigned in September citing “constant abuse by certain ratepayers” and “abuse of me and my position from which council is unable to either control nor shield my staff”.
The Shire of York has 21 days to respond.
Pure coincidence that Tony Simpson received this on Monday:
17 November 2014
Hon. Tony Simpson
Minister for Local Government
8th Floor
Dumas House
2 Havelock Street
WEST PERTH 6005
Dear Minister
CC Mr. Brad Jolly
Your Ref: YORK LOCAL COUNCIL FIASCO
CONFIDENTIAL
WITHOUT PREJUDICE
I politely request that you make one of two necessary executive decisions. Dismiss the entire Shire of York Council or dismiss Councillors Pat Hooper and Tony Boyle who are effectively holding the town to ransom with their intractable, recalcitrant and vengeful behaviour in chambers, and in the street.
The future of Western Australia’s oldest inland town, steeped in history back to the time of the Swan River colony, is in your hands. As a former Victorian bear in mind that York was settled three-years prior to the first permanent settlement in Victoria and four-years before Melbourne. It deserves to be nurtured as a historic icon, not to become a victim of the Department of Local Government and Communities inexplicable, indefensible inaction on behalf of the York community.
If you continue to fail to act you will be forever remembered as the politician, whose lack of appropriate intervention, helped severely damage another irreplaceable part of Australia’s rich and diverse history. A criminal investigation does not dignify an excuse to let a whole town suffer!
Since April 15, 2014, when the then Chief-Executive- Officer, Ray Hooper, resigned amid allegations
of misuse of a corporate credit card, his replacement has effectively been dismissed, the Deputy
President of the Shire has resigned and six senior staff members have either resigned of their own volition or been forced to leave.
Five months later you finally authorized a probity enquiry, and on November 5, 2014, the community and ratepayers are at last advised that an employee of the Shire is facing a criminal investigation
Your claim is that your primary interest is to ensure the Shire is able to perform the functions required and expected by the York community. Very glib, but how do you and your department expect the Shire of York to function given the circumstances listed above? This is not a rhetorical question.
It is alleged that the employment of Michael Keeble as Chief-Executive-Officer was facilitated by
Michael Fitz Gerald, the author of the damning report on the Shire of York administration. This in itself raises the question of why a personal friend of the author of this highly sensitive report was
employed to assist in dealing with its outcome. It should be noted here that Michael Keeble applied for a position with the Shire of Denmark. He was not even granted an interview
Last month- as a deeply concerned ratepayer, I made a request for a private meeting with Michael Keeble. It took place at the Dome Coffee Shop, Midland on Wednesday October 29, 2014 at around 2.30pm.
Mr Keeble was fully aware that the main topic for discussion was to be the possible removal of Councillor Pat Hooper and Councillor Anthony Boyle from the Shire of York Council using his knowledge of any actions taken by them which could be used as just cause for their removal.
I advised Mr. Keeble, in writing, prior to this meeting that he was under no obligation to accede to my request.
However his Personal Assistant contacted me to arrange the meeting, anywhere in Perth, on the understanding that the performance of Boyle and Hooper would be discussed. He more than likely drove his designated Shire of York vehicle, to-and- from the meeting, a distance of 190 Kilometres.
Mr Keeble made the following assertions, statements, and claims to me regarding Mr Boyle, you, as the Minister for Local Government and Communities, Ms. Tyhscha Cochrane, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, and Mr Hooper.
I am more than willing to provide a Statutory Declaration attesting to the veracity of the following conversations: -
Mr. Keeble alleged that in his position as a Shire of York Councillor, Anthony Boyle, acted improperly by unilaterally waiving rates owed by the York Race Club to the Shire. This was a large sum ($160,000) and as Mr. Boyle is-or was a member and past president of the club there could be a clear Conflict-of-Interest. Given this, if the allegation is correct, there would appear to be just cause for you to dismiss Tony Boyle or ask him to step aside while the matter is investigated.
Mr. Keeble stated that the Minister for Local Government and Communities, Mr. Tony Simpson has
the power to sack individual Local Government Councillors such as Boyle and Hooper but was both
too weak to do so- and had too many unresolved issues with the amalgamation of Local Government Councils in the metropolitan area to care- or have the ability to handle simultaneously.
A rather unflattering assessment you would think.
Mr. Keeble stated that the Deputy Chief-Executive-Officer of the Shire of York is not good at her job. Over a number of years (since January 2011), she has not made any reasonable attempt to improve her knowledge of a senior position in local government by seeking to gain appropriate tertiary qualifications and that the Shire’s official correspondence library, of which she is in charge, is antiquated, inefficient and poorly structured.
Mr Keeble went on to say that he was attempting to “move Ms. Cochrane sideways”.
It should be duly noted that Ms. Cochrane will be the Acting Chief-Executive-Officer until a
suitable successor is found.
Mr. Keeble then said that, to the best of his knowledge, only two employees of the Shire of York have any tertiary qualifications, intimating that this was a reason for some failings of the Shire of York to adequately provide proper administrative services to the community.
It is a distinct possible that both employees with tertiary qualifications are no longer employed by the Shire of York.
Mr. Keeble suggested that the salary package of $240,000 for the Chief-Executive-Officer of the Shire
of York is excessive and is no guarantee of the quality of any future applicant, He also suggested that based on his own experience and the general perception of the quality of the Shire of York Council by others working in the local government sector, York’s chances of attracting a suitable applicant are slim.
He went on to describe York as a “s…house”.
Finally Mr. Keeble stated that he felt that the President of the Shire of York, Matthew Reid, is an asset to Council but he cannot make any necessary changes because of the negative attitude of
Councillors Hooper and Boyle. I am led to believe that, allegedly, your Department of Local Government and Communities is deliberately harassing Mr. Reid for no good reason.
I now draw your attention to the suitability of Pat Hooper to remain a councillor.
Mr. Hooper has allegedly aggressively pursued certain ratepayers by making potentially slanderous
and abusive comments behind their back. This has occurred on a number of occasions in a public place with the general public present.
If this type of behaviour does not bring the supposedly highly regarded position of Local Government Shire Councillor into disrepute- I do not know what does. It is absolutely an abuse of power and position that should not be tolerated by you or your department.
During his tenure as President of the Shire of York, Councillor Hooper effectively allowed a known criminal, Katrina Nicole Watts, to steal from the shire- funded York Tourist Bureau Inc. Unrecovered funds were in the vicinity of $116,000 including monies owed to the Australian Tax Office.
As the Senior Shire Representative on this board it was Mr. Hooper’s responsibility to protect the Shire of York’s investment of municipal funds. Mr Hooper allegedly abrogated his duty-of-care and fiduciary responsibility when he knew, or reasonable should have known that Ms. Watts had already been jailed for two years for the same offence- stealing as a servant.
Ms. Watts’ criminal record is alleged to include at least 200 charges over a period of ten years, for which she spent two-years and ten months in jail, and a presiding judge has summated that placing her in front of money is like putting a box of matches in front of an arsonist.
Despite this she was hired as the bookkeeper for the York Tourist Bureau Inc. of which her father, Michael Watts, was president and Pat Hooper the senior shire representative. I suggest to you that there is no reasoned, viable, acceptable explanation for her employment to oversee the
use of municipal funds given the obvious risk involved.
In an official Shire of York letter to the presiding judge requesting clemency for Ms, Watts, its Chief-Executive-Officer, Ray Hooper, claimed Ms, Watts was the victim, not the real perpetrator because she may have been enticed to take funds by others. Why he did this is the moot point.
There is no other interpretation than that Mr. Hooper considered the board and management of the York Tourist Bureau Inc. to be so near criminally incompetent as to have caused the theft.
This infers that Mr. Hooper considered Shire President, Pat Hooper, incompetent by assisting in enticing Ms. Watts to taking funds.
It is my opinion that Councillor Pat Hooper’s past and current actions should see him dismissed from office.
There is another issue here. I know Ms. Watts personally and she claimed to be a strong supporter and have a close affiliation with the WA Liberal Party. At the time she was stealing from the York Tourist Bureau Inc. it is alleged that Ms. Watts held a Liberal Party Fund Raising event at the premises where she was employed without the permission of her manager.
At around this time, despite the fact that Ms. Watts had already spent two years in jail, she was photographed standing with Premier Colin Barnett and Mr. Jim Chown, MLC, Member for the Agricultural Region at a Liberal Party gathering, probably at the York Town Hall. The photograph was taken by Mr. Mark Lloyd, Editor of the York Community Matters newspaper.
As further confirmation of her allegedly strong connection to the WA Liberal Party, both the current Minister for Education and Electoral Affairs, Peter Collier MLC, and Mr. Chown heaped high praise on Ms. Watts for her efforts in campaigning for their election to parliament. This affirmation is on public record in Hansard.
It is impossible to believe that the WA Liberal Party was not aware of Ms. Watts’ extremely serious criminal record- bordering on Kleptomania. It is therefore impossible to understand why it would have allowed Ms. Watts to raise funds for the party- or accept these funds.
Based on this it begs the question why high ranking Liberal politicians accepted the support and assistance of Ms. Watts in their election campaigns and in the case of Mr.Chown, organizing a visit to part of his electorate. A particular visit was mentioned by Mr. Chown in his constituent newsletter where he praised the supportive efforts of both Ms. Watts and her father. It is highly likely at the time of this visit, Ms. Watts, had been formally charged with stealing from the York Tourist Bureau Inc. and had already appeared in court.
The period that should be of most concern to the Liberal Party regarding Ms. Watts’ undertakings on behalf of the party is prior to the State Election of 2005, when Mr. Collier was elected. At that time it is alleged Ms. Watts had already served a jail sentence of two-years.
Next is the period prior to the State Election of 2008, when Mr. Chown was elected. It is alleged at this time, Ms. Watts, was already stealing from the York Tourist Bureau Inc.
Finally, there is the period between 2008 and 2013 when Ms. Watts received a very light jail sentence of ten-months. This was the period Ms. Watts was praised in Mr. Chown’s newsletter
for organizing a visit to his electorate.
The reason to raise the Kate Watts issue is with regard to the Liberal Party’s own probity compliance, or lack of it. This includes how your department appears to fail to seek compliance from Local Government Councils on even the basic issues such as ensuring fiduciary duty-of-care with regard to municipal funds, whether used by them or invested by them in local community organizations. Ergo this- that all Local Government Council’s ensure that any person employed to control municipal funds, including Local Government Grants, have a police clearance.
As you will be aware I have forwarded this correspondence to Mr. Brad Jolly, Executive Director of
Governance and Legislation and Deputy Chairman of the WA Local Government Grants Commission.
A copy will be forwarded to Mr. Norman Moore, President of the WA Liberal Party and to the Premier, the Hon. Colin Barnett.
Yours sincerely
York Ratepayer.
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