Mr Best, please don't misrepresent the opinions of your critics.
We're not criticising Shire workers in general - but you, Graeme and one or two others have behaved very badly and York residents have every right to say so, in print if they so wish. There is documentary evidence, to which we have access, of serious misconduct, including acts of intimidation, by a few Shire staff over the years.
Rewriting history worked in Orwell's '1984', but it won't work here, thanks to the efforts of certain individuals who have used Freedom of Information to secure documents I'm sure you and your friends in the bureaucracy would rather they didn't have.
Your latest proposal, to borrow money for the purchase of the Old Convent School, is pure folly, I would go so far as to call it fiscal vandalism, and I would say has more to do with vanity and egotism on your part than with the welfare of our community.
I have spent time this morning studying the McDowell Affleck report posted on this blog (mine missed out!). Are you really saying that we, the ratepayers, should borrow $625K to purchase a building with so many flaws? How much will we have to pay to bring it up to standard?
If, as I suspect, one of your P R experts helped you write your open letter, please let them know that the word is 'puerile', not 'purile'. I won't charge them for the information.
If someone called me a 'worker', I'd be very proud, though not happy if they defaced a wall to do it. As the photo above shows, that is not the designation that was applied to you. Alas for you , James, truth is great and will prevail.
If it is the case, as I have just been told, that the Minister intends to send you back to us in an advisory capacity, he must have rocks in his head.
I am not an anonymous coward hiding behind my key board Mr. Best. You have no idea what some people went through here in York, so in my opinion you have absolutely no right to sit on judgement of those who were relentlessly targeted.
I am one of those people targeted and ridiculed by certain loud mouthed councillors (thankfully all but one has resigned) who thought it was funny to destroy peoples lives by spreading false rumours in the Town.
We had two choices - get the truth out there via the blogs for all to read or consider leaving this world permanently.
Thanks James Best for your total disregard for those who suffered!
James Best, I think you meant 'puerile', not 'purile'. It was most puerile, and the word comes from Latin 'puer' meaning 'little boy'. The word did, as you perceived, have an 'impure' (in the context) meaning, however.
Had you approached the people of York with less insensitivity you might not have been a target for such words or graffiti. If you had proved yourself a better man than RH no-one would have bothered.
It was not pretty, and we don't want all to be tarred with the same brush (or spray can in this case) with those who put up puerile comments. But maybe, just maybe, those who did it (singular or plural) had been so frustrated by your lack of understanding of what people are going through in these economic times (e.g. raised fees and charges on everything, roadworks not done, freight (and possibly rubbish) by road not rail, raised rates, and now at the very last minute before you can leave and leave us with the burden putting an expenditure impost on all Ratepayers which they cannot bear. When will YOU understand?
Most if not all of us will continue to work towards a better York; but this does not mean shying away from expecting openness, accountability, fairness and reasonable conduct from those who make decisions on our behalf.
In gratitude of your epic performance as Shire of York commissioner, the community will be holding a leaving party, in your honour, in the phone box near the Post Office, Avon Terrace.
Part 1 James Best Commissioner of YORK Servant of the community produce a propaganda message on ratepayers time and money, How dare you call me and other people that have suffered anonymous cowards indignant resident causing harm to good people. The people that are seriously hurt by the actions of shire staff and for that matter you. You have not delivered all proof of misconduct to the CCC because I have not given you mine, and I know for a fact you don’t have others and I stand with my head held high because I am telling the truth, if there was no misconduct why is the SHIRE forbidding me to have a copy of my file under freedom of information, why when I asked for 1 document wasn't it given me, if it pertains to me I should be able to get it. if you are going to rescind on a resolution you have to have documentation to substantiate that decision you have supplied me with none its been 9 months now forced to go internal review then external review and I have a letter were the FOI has considered not me to make this a complaint against the shire of York What a Shire president and another councillor on facebook stating they will run a woman out of town not misconduct? That’s just one thing …….. what this is less disgraceful than the graffiti on the wall. Oh and there is a lot more than that Mr Best I assure you and if you hadn’t been such a position climber at any cost you would have found out exactly a few home truths but alas my meeting got cancelled. One I had booked more than two weeks ago. If you didn't get the picture from the last meeting I don't envisage a great deal of people turning up to your 625 thousand dollar visioning debt embellishment. To boot you spent 807,824.00 dollars on squashing the fitz gerald report basically and those shire workers that resigned only matter cause they could you think sue for millions because of income and the like better to turn it on the ratepayers who are less of an issue.
We have the proof all we have to do is get it into the right hands and best thank you for bringing us all together, with your plan to send this town bankrupt, to enable us as a town to get our power back our democratic right what and how much did this community pay you to do this, I did come to your visioning meetings and I did want to work together with my council to build a better York. How dare you. Other towns work in harmony with their councils because they follow the rules set out for honest and open and accountable actions. A few of you have been put in the role of responsibility and acted irresponsible. When you first came you said think of our descendants,. I have talked to many while many people believe this town needs to move forward you have acted underhanded in buying a building that will remain as vacant as it does now because we will not have the funds to restore it or maintain it, you think you act for the silent majority that were not at the last meeting then let them come tonight and be heard all 3 of them. Because on a quick survey I did today that was your percentage. You have blamed everyone for the way one person or maybe 2 have vented their anger and no you’re not a worker you’re a public servant try to remember that. What there is no misconduct in the shire office James when people state they are going to leave graffiti up for a week to teach us all a lesson? And spend a whole day ginning around wasting ratepayers money when it could have been off in less than an hour, Ray Hooper did it. Shame James you have put one foot after another in your mouth since the day you got here. Do the people want you anywhere near our town after your disgraceful display not allowing members of the community to ask questions at the next meeting and then a having a gag meeting the following Monday. The only dark force is your local government workers but the light is about to shine right in your face and when it does the people will finally have their power back. For all those that fight under our own name because there is nothing more to loose for those anonymous aged, broken, single women, business owners who are fearful of repercussion, James you are appalling. For everyone reading this if you don’t think this affects you your wrong. The more they get away with this bullshit the more you will suffer , financially, health wise, some of us believe that if you let someone do wrong then you are as bad as them, welcome James Best your as bad as those that oppress. If you have a problem with my blog James Best perhaps you should have considered my time and me important in your climb up the rickety ladder.
James Best is a liar. There is no other word that will do. He is a man without a moral compass.
I have sat in a room with others and have heard him acknowledge many of the bad things that happened during the Hooper-Boyle-Hooper ascendancy. Now he and his accomplices in the bureaucracy and the public relations racket are furiously rewriting history, as happened in Orwell's '1984'.
He claims that independent investigators have found all allegations against Shire employees and councillors past and present to be 'without foundation'.
If that is true, he and the Acting CEO will have no objection to publishing online the reports of those investigations. To be credible, such reports will have to detail the issues investigated; the status and professional qualifications of the investigators; the methods of investigation, including how evidence was collected and how interviews, if any, were conducted; who was interviewed, by whom and when; analysis of evidence; and a reasoned statement of findings inferred from the evidence.
Unless an investigation is as rigorous as that, it is not credible. It's London to a brick that no such investigation has taken place at any level into the allegations in question.
For Best now to say that nothing bad ever happened to people in York is not only a lie, it is an insult to the victims of the wrongdoing.
This morning a friend of mine contacted the Local Government Standards Panel to complain about Commissioner Best's misrepresentations. She spoke to a Mr Mackay (or McKie). He told her that the Panel had no authority in relation to the commissioner. She asked him what about the CCC. He replied that if she complains to the CCC, they will simply contact him and he will tell them that nothing's wrong, there's nothing to investigate.
That's what we're up against: a deceitful, self-regarding bureaucracy abusing its power to conceal the truth and be damned to the rest of us.
For such people, there must be a special place in Hell.
Excuse the language that follows but speaking as someone who according to Simpson and Best couldn't possibly have a reason to complain about unreasonable conduct by the Shire. The first time I ever met Best I asked him this question about the actions of Council during the Hooper-Boyle-Hooper ascendancy:
Depends what you mean by different different in change of attitude personality then no different as in loosing his mind that's a different story ,I think those lawyers were gob smacked tonight , James clapping then realising the joke was on him hilarious to tell you the truth when Graeme SImpson starts talking I switch off.
I think the Lawyers present went home shaking their heads. I don't think they could believe what they were hearing. James B. and G. Simpson were both fools in full flight!
I suspect if the name James Best pops up requesting an appointment with them, they will politely say they are full.
The criminal damage to the council office definitely says wanker and not worker. For example, no one in their right mind would ever call the DLGC workers!
Peter, what's even more suspect in Best's Open letter to Residents is the second part of the subject heading ....keen to work with community building York Now does he really mean 'work' with the community or was this a call for a final group session?
The minority of staff within the Shire Administration are complaining about being intimidated by members of the community and claim they have an unsafe work environment - hence the new rule for dealing with Unreasonable conduct.
Well well well, what about the intimidation, threats and lies members of the community put up with for over the decade prior to RH resignation. A number of residents lived in fear of their lives for years and no one cared. Not even an apology was forthcoming. To cover his arse, Simpson grabs the microphone and tells us because Ray Hooper resigned the Shire of York cannot be held responsible for what he did.
Members of the gallery let him know they were delighted he actually admitted Ray resigned…but…quick as lightening he added, of course there are variations of the meaning of the word resignation. Even the legal eagles present looked taken a-back at this revelation.
No, Mr. Simpson, all the 'public service speak' won't change the fact Ray Hooper resigned and all the variations in the dictionary mean the same thing.
Dictionary: resignation |ˌrezigˈnā sh ən| noun 1 an act of retiring or giving up a position : he announced his resignation. • Chess an act of ending a game by conceding defeat without being checkmated.
Thesaurus: resignation noun 1 his resignation from his post: departure, leaving, standing down, stepping down; informal quitting. 2 she handed in her resignation: notice, notice to quit, letter of resignation.
It became very apparent at the special Council meeting yesterday, that James Best is an unfettered liar. The special council meeting called by commissioner Best to adopt a draconian policy to refuse to deal with complaints from members of the public, clearly had the sole objective to allow the CEO to be judge and jury. Information from the administration office (and it does filter through) is that Acting Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Ms Maziuk has been rallying the troops and threatening a mass walk- out. Commissioner Best confirmed that Shire of York staff had stopped work to discuss the matter last week and yesterday morning. Yesterday morning, the Shire office was in total lockdown for approximately one and a half hours while the matter was discussed. We now have an unworkable situation whereby if any member of staff, for any reason, decides they do not wish to deal with a matter or a particular person they can simply feign that a threat exists. Graeme Simpson's style of management has become a handicap for the incumbent Councillors, Simpson is allowing his staff to effectively hold the ratepayers of York to ransom, the very same ratepayers whose interests the staff are charged with protecting.
If a Shire of York staff member (senior staff, the juniors are a pleasure to deal with) treat a member of the public in a way which the person finds unacceptable and then, god forbid, that person lodges a complaint against the member of staff, average Graeme will simply cite unreasonable conduct, not against the member of staff, but against the complainant.
The moment the A/CEO (or any other of your SOY of staff) chooses to try and avoid their obligations to the public they are employed to serve, the "complainant"s should then ask to see the SOY "PID officer" and lodge a complaint under the "Public Interest Disclosure" Act (not to be confused with "conflict of interest"), 2003. If they still refuse to assist and instead choose to be in breach of their obligations in relation to the PID Act then take it to the State Ombudsman.
In short, whatever the A/CEO and/or the "caretaker" (or whoever) has tried to trick the rest of your SOY staff into believing, the Act(s) are the real measure of things.
Quote from those Acts, especially in your letter writing. :-)
Now there's PROBITY and there's the York concept of .....PRO BIT Y
PRO (in favour of) BIT (a bit of information) Y (because that's all we want to give)
The principals of probity apply to any decision and should ensure that a fair and robust process is undertaken in order to minimise potential liability if the process outcome is challenged. The process should always be open and transparent by establishing, publicising and monitoring compliance with all guidelines with respect to probity issues including conflicts of interest, confidentiality and fair dealing.
It is so important to disclose information to the public regarding the process which led to a recommendation as it is vital to minimise potential liability that might otherwise arise out of the conduct of the process.
Right from the beginning of any process, there should be clear responsibilities to anyone involved in the conduct of the process including reporting and recording obligations, ensuring the process is fully documented and providing a clear audit trail.
So, when making decisions, these public servants should think about whether they have all the relevant facts, who is likely to be affected by the decision, what the options are, what the likely consequences of those options are, whether relevant persons have been consulted, whether they would be happy if the decision were open to public scrutiny, how they would feel if they were the subject of the decision, and whether the decision is consistent with their values and those of their organisation.
The DLGC had the audacity to carry out a probity audit on a recent council who prima facie were attempting to cleanse Council of its scandalous reputation so I would remind ACEO Simpson of the presumption of bias in the decision making process reference some very recent dubious resolutions and adopted policies.
Then take another a look at Appendix A of the agenda (An unsustainable path, York Shire Council heading for insolvency) where we witness the horrendous staff payouts to 'sacked staff' and pay outs to other staff - it's now open slather at the Shire for a staff payout windfall !
For what reason were these people sacked and why did they receive a payout and benefits? Sacked Staff Payouts $77,090 $29090 Manager Works & Services (Graham Lanske) $25000 Manager Planning - plus car and house for 3 months (Jacky Jurmann) $23000 Building Surveyor (Tim Jurmann)
Why have the Shire continued to pay these staff as Consultants?
We also paid a consultant for 'BRAND YORK' - was the money well spent? For the past six months the Shire has been run as a circus by yet another pair of clowns and we have paid dearly for it. This closing attraction cost $33,000 for the pleasure and too right York has been branded........as a bloody joke.
Mr Best, please don't misrepresent the opinions of your critics.
ReplyDeleteWe're not criticising Shire workers in general - but you, Graeme and one or two others have behaved very badly and York residents have every right to say so, in print if they so wish. There is documentary evidence, to which we have access, of serious misconduct, including acts of intimidation, by a few Shire staff over the years.
Rewriting history worked in Orwell's '1984', but it won't work here, thanks to the efforts of certain individuals who have used Freedom of Information to secure documents I'm sure you and your friends in the bureaucracy would rather they didn't have.
Your latest proposal, to borrow money for the purchase of the Old Convent School, is pure folly, I would go so far as to call it fiscal vandalism, and I would say has more to do with vanity and egotism on your part than with the welfare of our community.
I have spent time this morning studying the McDowell Affleck report posted on this blog (mine missed out!). Are you really saying that we, the ratepayers, should borrow $625K to purchase a building with so many flaws? How much will we have to pay to bring it up to standard?
If, as I suspect, one of your P R experts helped you write your open letter, please let them know that the word is 'puerile', not 'purile'. I won't charge them for the information.
If someone called me a 'worker', I'd be very proud, though not happy if they defaced a wall to do it. As the photo above shows, that is not the designation that was applied to you. Alas for you , James, truth is great and will prevail.
If it is the case, as I have just been told, that the Minister intends to send you back to us in an advisory capacity, he must have rocks in his head.
I am not an anonymous coward hiding behind my key board Mr. Best. You have no idea what some people went through here in York, so in my opinion you have absolutely no right to sit on judgement of those who were relentlessly targeted.
ReplyDeleteI am one of those people targeted and ridiculed by certain loud mouthed councillors (thankfully all but one has resigned) who thought it was funny to destroy peoples lives by spreading false rumours in the Town.
We had two choices - get the truth out there via the blogs for all to read or consider leaving this world permanently.
Thanks James Best for your total disregard for those who suffered!
James Best, I think you meant 'puerile', not 'purile'. It was most puerile, and the word comes from Latin 'puer' meaning 'little boy'. The word did, as you perceived, have an 'impure' (in the context) meaning, however.
ReplyDeleteHad you approached the people of York with less insensitivity you might not have been a target for such words or graffiti. If you had proved yourself a better man than RH no-one would have bothered.
It was not pretty, and we don't want all to be tarred with the same brush (or spray can in this case) with those who put up puerile comments. But maybe, just maybe, those who did it (singular or plural) had been so frustrated by your lack of understanding of what people are going through in these economic times (e.g. raised fees and charges on everything, roadworks not done, freight (and possibly rubbish) by road not rail, raised rates, and now at the very last minute before you can leave and leave us with the burden putting an expenditure impost on all Ratepayers which they cannot bear. When will YOU understand?
Most if not all of us will continue to work towards a better York; but this does not mean shying away from expecting openness, accountability, fairness and reasonable conduct from those who make decisions on our behalf.
Dear James
ReplyDeleteIn gratitude of your epic performance as Shire of York commissioner, the community will be holding a leaving party, in your honour, in the phone box near the Post Office, Avon Terrace.
PS... Bring your own food and grog. XXX
Part 1 James Best Commissioner of YORK Servant of the community produce a propaganda message on ratepayers time and money, How dare you call me and other people that have suffered anonymous cowards indignant resident causing harm to good people. The people that are seriously hurt by the actions of shire staff and for that matter you.
ReplyDeleteYou have not delivered all proof of misconduct to the CCC because I have not given you mine, and I know for a fact you don’t have others and I stand with my head held high because I am telling the truth, if there was no misconduct why is the SHIRE forbidding me to have a copy of my file under freedom of information, why when I asked for 1 document wasn't it given me, if it pertains to me I should be able to get it. if you are going to rescind on a resolution you have to have documentation to substantiate that decision you have supplied me with none its been 9 months now forced to go internal review then external review and I have a letter were the FOI has considered not me to make this a complaint against the shire of York
What a Shire president and another councillor on facebook stating they will run a woman out of town not misconduct? That’s just one thing …….. what this is less disgraceful than the graffiti on the wall.
Oh and there is a lot more than that Mr Best I assure you and if you hadn’t been such a position climber at any cost you would have found out exactly a few home truths but alas my meeting got cancelled. One I had booked more than two weeks ago.
If you didn't get the picture from the last meeting I don't envisage a great deal of people turning up to your 625 thousand dollar visioning debt embellishment. To boot you spent 807,824.00 dollars on squashing the fitz gerald report basically and those shire workers that resigned only matter cause they could you think sue for millions because of income and the like better to turn it on the ratepayers who are less of an issue.
We have the proof all we have to do is get it into the right hands and best thank you for bringing us all together, with your plan to send this town bankrupt, to enable us as a town to get our power back our democratic right what and how much did this community pay you to do this, I did come to your visioning meetings and I did want to work together with my council to build a better York.
ReplyDeleteHow dare you.
Other towns work in harmony with their councils because they follow the rules set out for honest and open and accountable actions.
A few of you have been put in the role of responsibility and acted irresponsible.
When you first came you said think of our descendants,.
I have talked to many while many people believe this town needs to move forward you have acted underhanded in buying a building that will remain as vacant as it does now because we will not have the funds to restore it or maintain it, you think you act for the silent majority that were not at the last meeting then let them come tonight and be heard all 3 of them. Because on a quick survey I did today that was your percentage.
You have blamed everyone for the way one person or maybe 2 have vented their anger and no you’re not a worker you’re a public servant try to remember that.
What there is no misconduct in the shire office James when people state they are going to leave graffiti up for a week to teach us all a lesson? And spend a whole day ginning around wasting ratepayers money when it could have been off in less than an hour, Ray Hooper did it.
Shame James you have put one foot after another in your mouth since the day you got here.
Do the people want you anywhere near our town after your disgraceful display not allowing members of the community to ask questions at the next meeting and then a having a gag meeting the following Monday.
The only dark force is your local government workers but the light is about to shine right in your face and when it does the people will finally have their power back.
For all those that fight under our own name because there is nothing more to loose for those anonymous aged, broken, single women, business owners who are fearful of repercussion, James you are appalling.
For everyone reading this if you don’t think this affects you your wrong. The more they get away with this bullshit the more you will suffer , financially, health wise, some of us believe that if you let someone do wrong then you are as bad as them, welcome James Best your as bad as those that oppress.
If you have a problem with my blog James Best perhaps you should have considered my time and me important in your climb up the rickety ladder.
James Best is a liar. There is no other word that will do. He is a man without a moral compass.
ReplyDeleteI have sat in a room with others and have heard him acknowledge many of the bad things that happened during the Hooper-Boyle-Hooper ascendancy. Now he and his accomplices in the bureaucracy and the public relations racket are furiously rewriting history, as happened in Orwell's '1984'.
He claims that independent investigators have found all allegations against Shire employees and councillors past and present to be 'without foundation'.
If that is true, he and the Acting CEO will have no objection to publishing online the reports of those investigations. To be credible, such reports will have to detail the issues investigated; the status and professional qualifications of the investigators; the methods of investigation, including how evidence was collected and how interviews, if any, were conducted; who was interviewed, by whom and when; analysis of evidence; and a reasoned statement of findings inferred from the evidence.
Unless an investigation is as rigorous as that, it is not credible. It's London to a brick that no such investigation has taken place at any level into the allegations in question.
For Best now to say that nothing bad ever happened to people in York is not only a lie, it is an insult to the victims of the wrongdoing.
This morning a friend of mine contacted the Local Government Standards Panel to complain about Commissioner Best's misrepresentations. She spoke to a Mr Mackay (or McKie). He told her that the Panel had no authority in relation to the commissioner. She asked him what about the CCC. He replied that if she complains to the CCC, they will simply contact him and he will tell them that nothing's wrong, there's nothing to investigate.
That's what we're up against: a deceitful, self-regarding bureaucracy abusing its power to conceal the truth and be damned to the rest of us.
For such people, there must be a special place in Hell.
Excuse the language that follows but speaking as someone who according to Simpson and Best couldn't possibly have a reason to complain about unreasonable conduct by the Shire. The first time I ever met Best I asked him this question about the actions of Council during the Hooper-Boyle-Hooper ascendancy:
DeleteWhy did they do what they did to us?
His charming response was:
Because they are FUCKWITS!
I think he can join them in the hall of fame!
I've just read tonight's agenda appendices...Jacky Jurmann got sacked, now why was that I wonder.
ReplyDeleteNot because she did the right thing.
Please please tell me I'm not going mad.......is Graeme Simpson a bit different?
ReplyDeleteNo, Anonymous 6th July 05:06 I don't think you are going mad.
DeleteDepends what you mean by different different in change of attitude personality then no different as in loosing his mind that's a different story ,I think those lawyers were gob smacked tonight , James clapping then realising the joke was on him hilarious to tell you the truth when Graeme SImpson starts talking I switch off.
DeleteI think the Lawyers present went home shaking their heads. I don't think they could believe what they were hearing. James B. and G. Simpson were both fools in full flight!
DeleteI suspect if the name James Best pops up requesting an appointment with them, they will politely say they are full.
The criminal damage to the council office definitely says wanker and not worker.
ReplyDeleteFor example, no one in their right mind would ever call the DLGC workers!
Peter, what's even more suspect in Best's Open letter to Residents is the second part of the subject heading ....keen to work with community building York
DeleteNow does he really mean 'work' with the community or was this a call for a final group session?
The minority of staff within the Shire Administration are complaining about being intimidated by members of the community and claim they have an unsafe work environment - hence the new rule for dealing with Unreasonable conduct.
ReplyDeleteWell well well, what about the intimidation, threats and lies members of the community put up with for over the decade prior to RH resignation. A number of residents lived in fear of their lives for years and no one cared. Not even an apology was forthcoming. To cover his arse, Simpson grabs the microphone and tells us because Ray Hooper resigned the Shire of York cannot be held responsible for what he did.
Members of the gallery let him know they were delighted he actually admitted Ray resigned…but…quick as lightening he added, of course there are variations of the meaning of the word resignation. Even the legal eagles present looked taken a-back at this revelation.
No, Mr. Simpson, all the 'public service speak' won't change the fact Ray Hooper resigned and all the variations in the dictionary mean the same thing.
Dictionary: resignation |ˌrezigˈnā sh ən|
noun
1 an act of retiring or giving up a position : he announced his resignation.
• Chess an act of ending a game by conceding defeat without being checkmated.
Thesaurus: resignation
noun
1 his resignation from his post: departure, leaving, standing down, stepping down; informal quitting.
2 she handed in her resignation: notice, notice to quit, letter of resignation.
I rather like the 'conceding defeat' myself.
It became very apparent at the special Council meeting yesterday, that James Best is an unfettered liar.
ReplyDeleteThe special council meeting called by commissioner Best to adopt a draconian policy to refuse to deal with complaints from members of the public, clearly had the sole objective to allow the CEO to be judge and jury.
Information from the administration office (and it does filter through) is that Acting Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Ms Maziuk has been rallying the troops and threatening a mass walk- out.
Commissioner Best confirmed that Shire of York staff had stopped work to discuss the matter last week and yesterday morning. Yesterday morning, the Shire office was in total lockdown for approximately one and a half hours while the matter was discussed.
We now have an unworkable situation whereby if any member of staff, for any reason, decides they do not wish to deal with a matter or a particular person they can simply feign that a threat exists.
Graeme Simpson's style of management has become a handicap for the incumbent Councillors, Simpson is allowing his staff to effectively hold the ratepayers of York to ransom, the very same ratepayers whose interests the staff are charged with protecting.
If a Shire of York staff member (senior staff, the juniors are a pleasure to deal with) treat a member of the public in a way which the person finds unacceptable and then, god forbid, that person lodges a complaint against the member of staff, average Graeme will simply cite unreasonable conduct, not against the member of staff, but against the complainant.
DeleteThe moment the A/CEO (or any other of your SOY of staff) chooses to try and avoid their obligations to the public they are employed to serve, the "complainant"s should then ask to see the SOY "PID officer" and lodge a complaint under the "Public Interest Disclosure" Act (not to be confused with "conflict of interest"), 2003. If they still refuse to assist and instead choose to be in breach of their obligations in relation to the PID Act then take it to the State Ombudsman.
DeleteIn short, whatever the A/CEO and/or the "caretaker" (or whoever) has tried to trick the rest of your SOY staff into believing, the Act(s) are the real measure of things.
Quote from those Acts, especially in your letter writing. :-)
Now there's PROBITY and there's the York concept of .....PRO BIT Y
ReplyDeletePRO (in favour of) BIT (a bit of information) Y (because that's all we want to give)
The principals of probity apply to any decision and should ensure that a fair and robust process is undertaken in order to minimise potential liability if the process outcome is challenged. The process should always be open and transparent by establishing, publicising and monitoring compliance with all guidelines with respect to probity issues including conflicts of interest, confidentiality and fair dealing.
It is so important to disclose information to the public regarding the process which led to a recommendation as it is vital to minimise potential liability that might otherwise arise out of the conduct of the process.
Right from the beginning of any process, there should be clear responsibilities to anyone involved in the conduct of the process including reporting and recording obligations, ensuring the process is fully documented and providing a clear audit trail.
So, when making decisions, these public servants should think about whether they have all the relevant facts, who is likely to be affected by the decision, what the options are, what the likely consequences of those options are, whether relevant persons have been consulted, whether they would be happy if the decision were open to public scrutiny, how they would feel if they were the subject of the decision, and whether the decision is consistent with their values and those of their organisation.
The DLGC had the audacity to carry out a probity audit on a recent council who prima facie were attempting to cleanse Council of its scandalous reputation so I would remind ACEO Simpson of the presumption of bias in the decision making process reference some very recent dubious resolutions and adopted policies.
Then take another a look at Appendix A of the agenda (An unsustainable path, York Shire Council heading for insolvency) where we witness the horrendous staff payouts to 'sacked staff' and pay outs to other staff - it's now open slather at the Shire for a staff payout windfall !
For what reason were these people sacked and why did they receive a payout and benefits?
Sacked Staff Payouts $77,090
$29090 Manager Works & Services (Graham Lanske)
$25000 Manager Planning - plus car and house for 3 months (Jacky Jurmann)
$23000 Building Surveyor (Tim Jurmann)
Why have the Shire continued to pay these staff as Consultants?
We also paid a consultant for 'BRAND YORK' - was the money well spent?
For the past six months the Shire has been run as a circus by yet another pair of clowns and we have paid dearly for it. This closing attraction cost $33,000 for the pleasure and too right York has been branded........as a bloody joke.
Dear Mr Blogmaster
ReplyDeleteCould you please post the following link shireofyorkqanda.blogspot.com.au ?
Kind regards
shireofyorkquestionsandanswers@gmail.com