CARTOON.....Torture

POOR RAY (Hitler sketch) by William Yeates 

Click on the link below and enjoy

http://captiongenerator.com/29649/Poor-Ray

Thank you William

Mia Davies

STOP PRESS

PARLIAMENTARY RECLUSE TO VISIT YORK

York is going to celebrate Australia Day 2015 in style.

There will be a traditional breakfast BBQ (sausages, bacon and eggs), live music—the Perth Hills and Wheatbelt Band—awards for sporting prowess and active citizenship, and bouncy castles with water.  All this by the river in Avon Park, commencing 7.30 am.

Even more exciting, York will be graced with a visit from HON. MIA JANE DAVIES, MLA, Bachelor of Marketing and Media (Murdoch), Minister for Water, Forestry, and Sport & Recreation.

Remember Mia?  No?  Well, she’s our local member of parliament.  A fair number of us voted for her in the last state election.

Since then, we haven’t seen or heard much of her.   She’s told us that she’s ‘passionate about the Wheatbelt’, which I suppose is quite encouraging, but her passion must have cooled a bit, because York is part of the Wheatbelt, and is facing a crisis over landfill and a crisis of democracy, and we’ve had lots of crowded meetings in the Town Hall, some of them quite fiery, and believe it or not, unless she came in a burka or in drag, she doesn’t seem to have attended a single one!

So use this occasion, my fellow Australians, to give Mia a chance to show how passionate she is about our little slice of the Wheatbelt.  You can do this by asking her a couple of easy questions.  Bear in mind that you may not see or hear from her again until the next election, and by that time, depending on her answers, you may have decided to vote for an independent.

Q. 1    Hon. Mia, you know your colleague Tony Simpson, Minister for Local Government, has suspended our democratically elected shire council and imposed on us as commissioner a former mayor of toffee-nosed South Perth.

The council refuted every point in Tony’s ‘show cause’ notice, but Tony went ahead anyway and has refused to tell us why.  Do you know why?  If you don’t, will you ask him, then pass on the answer to us so we can stop feeling angry?  

Q. 2    Hon. Mia, water security is one of the most important issues involved in SITA’s landfill application.

As Minister for Water as well as our local member, do you have a position on SITA’s proposal?

 

And apart from the water issue, do you have an opinion as to whether or not a landfill is a suitable development for this most beautiful part of the Wheatbelt that you say you are passionate about?

        A VERY HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY TO YOU ALL!

AN OPEN LETTER TO COMMISSIONER JAMES BEST

Dear James,

On behalf of those who see no good reason for you to be here, except perhaps as a paying guest in one of our fast disappearing hostelries, I wish you luck in your endeavours to bring the unruly inhabitants of York to heel and make the shire safe for Minister Tony Simpson and his probity junkies at the DLGC.

You’re going to need it.

I hear you’ve made an excellent start by approaching persons of consequence in our town and asking them to identify the brain behind this blog.   

You could ask me instead, but I wouldn’t be able to help you any more than they can.  I have no idea who that person is, but if I did know, I would be all set to nominate the lady or gentleman concerned as our next West Australian of the Year.

My informants—they’re everywhere, trust no-one!—say that the blog has made you, the Minister, your friend Mr Jolly, and assorted walking embodiments of Parkinson’s Law angry and upset. 

That’s terrible.  I hope my posts, which are always meant to comfort and enlighten, have in no way contributed to the sum of that distress.

My informants also tell me you have said the blog should be shut down, and alarmingly, that unless it is shut down, there is no prospect of the Minister ever restoring democracy in York by putting our elected councillors back in charge of the shire.

I hope my informants have got that wrong.   I find it hard to believe that a young fellow of your intelligence, experience and education could possibly have said any such thing. 

But just in case you did say it, or something like it, here’s why you shouldn’t have done:

1.                   This blog is your truest friend in York. What you’re reading on the blog is what people really think, not what they think you want to hear. Most of its contributors prefer to remain anonymous, perhaps because after the miseries of the last few years they don’t feel safe out in the open, but what they say, they mean.  There’s nothing so bracing as our old friend Vox Populi, and the less restrained, the better.

2.                   There is no logical connection between the existence of this blog and the restoration of democracy in York.  I’m sure you understand that, but I do rather worry about the Minister.

3.                   There’s this thing called freedom of speech that folk like me go on about from time to time.  I’m sure you’ve heard of it.  Craven politicians of every stripe don’t seem too keen on it. They pretend to like it, but pass laws against it.  It has its problems, but it’s been the guiding light of our civilization for hundreds of years. 

Free speech means among other things that you don’t shut people up just because you don’t like what they say about you or how they say it.  It’s a jolly good thing, and I commend it to you and Minister Simpson.  Ces jours-ci, nous sommes tous Charlie.

Instead of vainly dreaming about getting the blog shut down, wouldn’t it be a lot smarter and more satisfying to remove the reason people use it to say rude, disrespectful and uncharitable things about Minister Simpson, his department and—it grieves me to acknowledge this—even you?

My informants—there I go again—are convinced that your brief includes trying to persuade the people of York to forget the horrible things that happened during the past few years and to follow you joyfully towards the ‘broad, sunlit uplands’ of an idyllic rural future.

If that’s true, I hope the Minister provided you with the Pied Piper’s flute along with your sealed orders.  

The follies, crimes, and misdemeanours chronicled in the Fitz Gerald Report can’t simply be brushed aside as though nothing bad ever happened.  People want explanations.  Where it’s deserved, they want retribution.  They don’t care about preserving the careers and reputations of politicians and bureaucrats who let them down or maybe even connived at stuffing up their lives and the shire.  Why should they? They want individuals who allegedly ripped them off to be properly investigated and if the evidence stands up, to face trial in the criminal courts.

You could begin the process of healing by getting Minister Simpson to tell us exactly why he sacked our council and appointed you.  Then encourage him to set up an inquiry into matters raised in the Fitz Gerald Report.  I’m pretty sure that once all that got going, and people felt confident that justice was being done, and saw it being done, they would stop writing to this blog, or better still, would use it to write nice things about the Minister, his department—and you.

‘The governor asked, “What can I do to keep the common folk in line?”  Confucius replied: “Set good people over bad people, and the common folk will do what you want of them.  Set bad people over good people, and the common folk will give you bloody hell”.

Now, there’s something Confucius really did say!  (More or less.)

Sincerely,

Your admiring namesake,

James

THE DAILY NEWS CEO JUNKET

   DEAR YORK BLOGGERS

To all you Bloggophiles out there, both contributors and avid readers. One of the more interesting future conundrums is whether the much maligned Shire Of York President, Matthew Reid, decides to totally reject his character assassination in the Shire of York Show Cause Notice and come out legally swinging with an affidavit upper-cut and a attestation left-hook or two- or not.

Please remember Minister Simpleton has ‘Might’ on his side- your tax money. Mr Reid may have ‘Right’ on his side, but he has to use his own money to prove it.

I am not being facetious when I say it has been a pleasure to read the thoughts of the real people of York. Whether part of the massive Anonymous Family or a Nome De Plume.

There are plenty more of those to be used including Dan Gerous, Tom Orrow,  Con Flicted, Des Perado, Stu Pendous, plus one for the ladies-Dee Bacle. And a host of others, only limited by one’s imagination. Or you can just use your real name. It won’t hurt a bit.

One issue I have a personal problem with is why anyone should be afraid of Tony Boyle or Pat and Ray Hooper.

Tony Boyle is a farmer, (I cannot recall a sheep named either Hannibal or Einstein) an unsuccessful Halal abattoir entrepreneur and a once, habitual board of director’s member. I am led to believe, because of the recent adverse publicity he has received, his board of directorship sitting is no longer a major feature of his lifestyle.

Pat Hooper was an innocuous schoolteacher in Kalgoorlie at around the same time as Ray Hooper was causing trouble as a Local Government Official in the same town. Mr Hooper, or Sir as he was once called, rose to become a Principle of a small Junior High School. Despite enquiries, it appears he was never offered a top echelon position in any Senior High School, whether rural, regional, remote or metropolitan. (But he probably still loves being called Sir.)

Ray Hooper rose from being a grader driver (an honourable, hardworking position) to become the destroyer of several towns’ economies and their community spirit. A real doyen of the dystopian,
who turned the Shire of York Offices into his own Qantas Club Departure Lounge. But he is hardly frightening!

These three men should not be judged with fear and trepidation, but righteous indignation.

In combination they have overseen a decade long debacle in York, both commercial and social. Hotels and restaurants have gone, tourism events and tourists have left for healthier climes, while local rates have skyrocketed. If you think you have had enough and try and sell your home to leave- you will be lucky to get any real Real-Estate interest, let alone an offer near a bank valuation or even replacement value. But if you hurry, you may get a $50,000 pensioner discount at Balladong Retirement Village

So- when you see Tony, Pat or, heaven forbid, Ray in Avon Terrace say “Gooday” and “Thanks for nothing”! Otherwise you can probably catch Ray at Paddy Malone’s in Alexander Heights. Hopefully using his own personal credit card, paid for by him.

David Taylor- York Ratepayer.

The relationship between the Freedom of Information (FOI) request for CEO Ray Hooper's Corporate Credit Card Records and the suppressed 'Fitz Gerald Report'

CHRONOLOGY

25 February 2014 A ratepayer contacted the Shire of York to request copies of the CEO's (Ray Hooper) Corporate Credit Card Statements without having to use the FOI process or alternatively, to advise if a formal application would be required.

26 February 2014 The CEO, Ray Hooper wrote to the FOI Commissioner advising of the likelihood of an FOI application. In brief, the CEO stated to the Commissioner that the intended information request was based on a malicious and vindictive campaign of character assassination against him and.......  advice is requested on whether a person can be considered vexatious in relation to Freedom of Information matters.

28 February 2014 A Freedom of Information application (FOI) was submitted to the Shire of York   requesting copies of the CEO's (Ray Hooper) Corporate Credit Card statements from 2004 - 2014 (subsequently the scope was reduced to the years 2007-2014).

4 March 2014, CEO (Ray Hooper) wrote to Ms Jennifer Matthews , The Director General, DLGC  with a heading 'Vexatious Unreasonable Demands'  asking for urgent advice from the Department, to include.....

.... is there any scope or opportunity under current legislation for Council to declare a person vexatious or unreasonable and to direct staff to cease dealings with the person so declared?

The letter goes on to decry the FOI applicant and other members of the community and clearly identifies 'the person' as being the FOI applicant.

5 March 2014 All Councillors were informed that an FOI application for copies of CEO's Corporate Credit card statements had been lodged with the Shire Council.

7 March 2014 CEO (Ray Hooper) sent a follow up letter to the Freedom of Information Commissioner.

7 March 2014 - CEO Ray Hooper sent a Memorandum to  All Councillors, Tyhscha, Gordon, Jacky, Graham and Gail  (aka DCEO, Manager of Health and Building, Manager of Planning Services, Works Manager & FOI Officer)

In brief the content describes...... a malicious and vindictive campaign against himself and others by the FOI applicant. He asks for Councillors to check the Credit Card statements and calls for necessary support or justification for the expenditure. Then they must issue a public statement that all transactions have been checked and declare that there is no misuse of corporate credit cards by Shire staff.

.........he then continues with reasons to discredit the applicant and the FOI request.

7 March 2014 An email sent from a Councillor (copied to: all Councillors, DCEO, Manager of Health and Building, Manager of Planning Services and Works Manager) and contains the following:

Cr Tony Boyle refers to the FOI applicant as  'this idiot' ...he must be stopped and ........action that I have already taken with the Department of Local Government will see him declared 'vexatious' in the very near future.

8 March 2014 Cr Pat Hooper in response to the email (copied to the same recipients: all Councillors, DCEO, Manager of Health and Building, Manager of Planning Services and Works Manager)

"Yes Tony, You are right".

What then followed was an unnecessary and irrelevant ranting commentary describing alleged actions by (and again decrying) the FOI applicant and several other members of the community.  

(It should be noted that facts (in the form of documents) exists to support that several of Cr Hooper's statements contained therein are false and misleading).

10 March 2014 Shire President Reid responded to all recipients of the Memorandum of 7 March 2014 from CEO Hooper (with the inclusion of Jenni Law with whom he had spoken).  

He recommended that the FOI applicant's request must be carried out to provide transparency and build community trust. It was also suggested that, following his conversation with Ms Law, the regular publication of statements and clarification of expenditure items in the public arena is commonplace.

14 March 2014 CEO (Ray Hooper) received a reply from the FOI Commissioners Office dated 13 March in response to his letter of 26 February 2014. Part of the lengthy response includes the following:

For your information the credit card records for the Office of the Information Commissioner are published on our website in the miscellaneous section under purchasing and as such are available for inspection.

You are of the view that the applicant is "vexatious". Section 67 of the FOI Act allows the Commissioner to decide not to deal with a complaint if it is frivolous, vexatious, misconceived or lacking in substance. It is a matter for the Commissioner to make such a decision with respect to a complaint.  The decision relates to a complaint before the Commissioner and not the applicant.

However, as I have said, while the Commissioner can refuse to deal with a complaint on the basis that it is frivolous or vexatious, Agencies cannot refuse to deal with applications on either of those grounds.

17 March 2014 The following is an excerpt from Minutes of the Shire meeting in March 2014 - Go into the Shire records and have a full read of the agenda item presented.

MINUTES – ORDINARY COUNCIL MEETING – 17 MARCH 2014

Item 9.2.6 Corporate Credit Cards

Reporting Office: CEO Ray Hooper

Officers Comment:  

Unfortunately past malicious and vindictive use of credit card transaction information has resulted in minimal statutory reporting occurring in financial management reports which can be easily rectified however this will not prevent further personal attacks using the information published.

*20 March 2014 Jennifer Matthews, Director General DLGC, responded to CEO Ray Hooper.

**Ms Matthews letter to the CEO re-iterates that Legislation in WA does not permit a local government (or any public authority) to 'declare' a person vexatious, or as a vexatious complainant.

Any decision by a Council or any other public authority to restrict a person's avenue for complaint should be taken only as a measure of last resort and should not be relied on as a means of avoiding scrutiny. (copy of the Ombudsman's Guidelines attached to the letter)

* It should be noted that a copy of this letter of 20 March 2014 was not directed to or received by Councillors at the time. Although received by the CEO 20-22 March 2014, the letter was not registered or forwarded on.  The document was not registered into the record keeping system until the evening of 14 April 2014 by the Deputy CEO. (this was coincidentally the day of the Shire Council meeting to commission Mr Fitz Gerald).

**Mr Hooper should have been fully aware of this fact. On an occasion 13 November 2012, (during a meeting with Mr David Morris and Ms Jenni Law from the DLGC),  CEO Mr Hooper together with Cr Boyle and Cr Scott were advised that they could not 'declare' a person vexatious, or as a vexatious complainant

Indeed, McLeod's Barristers & Solicitor's provided legal advice to the Shire of York relating to a 'vexatious ratepayer; (ironically also the FOI applicant) on 7 September 2012 - at a cost to the ratepayers of  $1992.10. (as documented and referenced - Shire of York financials October 2012 EFT 10023 Inv 69654, copy McLeod's tax Invoice No. 69655, Shire Purchase Order 19327, email confirmation records from McLeod's and a surreptitious (ratepayer's) recording). Eventually this fact was confirmed in writing in 2014 once Mr Hooper had left the building. (refer to Shire of York Minutes 19 May 2014 - Public Question Time)

By now there had been a trail of email correspondence between the FOI applicant and the FOI Officer (Mrs Maziuk).

1 April 2014 The FOI applicant wrote to Mrs Maziuk questioning the excessive charges and that it was inappropriate to charge for something that she had stated was available ordinarily.

2 April 2014  A terse response was received offering 'viewing access ' to the statements at the Shire office. The FOI applicant acknowledged the offer but stated a preference to continue with the original request to release copies of the documents under the process of FOI.

2 April 2014 Mr Ray Hooper (CEO) wrote an offensive and defamatory letter to the FOI applicant.

(a copy of which was provided to All Councillors, Tyhscha, Gordon, Jacky, Graham and Gail - aka DCEO, Manager of Health and Building, Manager of Planning Services, Works Manager & FOI Officer).

4 April 2014 The FOI applicant made a formal complaint reference the letter of 2 April 2014 from the CEO, Ray Hooper.

5 April 2014 Shire President Matthew Reid wrote a letter of concern to three Councillors regarding the letter from the CEO dated 2 April 2014

6 April 2014 Shire President Matthew Reid responded to an email from the FOI applicant stressing that he had not received a copy of the letter from Mr Hooper prior to it being sent, nor did he endorse the content.

11 April 2014  Shire President Matthew Reid received advise from Ms Jenni Law of DLGC to appoint an independent person to investigate the complaint (4 April 2014 from the FOI applicant) This could be achieved as a late report to the Council Meeting of 14 April 2014. An agenda item would need to be created with a Council resolution to appoint a person and identify a funding source.

11 April 2014  CEO Ray Hooper wrote a Memorandum to the Shire President Matthew Reid. The content was again derogatory towards the FOI applicant.

14 April 2014  At a Shire Council Meeting it was decided that, as a result of the complaint dated  4 April 2014, Fitz Gerald Strategies would be commissioned to investigate.

14 April 2014 Following the Shire Council meeting, at 5.30pm, the documents requested under Freedom of Information in the application dated 28 February 2014 (being the request for copies of the CEO's Corporate Credit Card statements from 2007-2014) were hand delivered to the FOI applicant.

14 April 2014 A letter from Jennifer Matthews, Director General DLGC to the Shire of York CEO Ray Hooper dated 20 March 2014, was formally registered by the DCEO Mrs Tyhscha Cochrane, as correspondence received (refer back to details of the letter *20 March 2014)

15 April 2014 CEO Ray Hooper tendered his resignation blaming everyone but himself as the reason.

April - July 2014   Mr Fitzgerald carried out his investigation and prepared a report for presentation.  independent research into the (mis)use of the Corporate Credit Card commenced and was completed by October 2014 with a report presented.

It is evidenced that ex CEO Mr Ray Hooper made every attempt possible to prevent the release of his credit card statements and subsequent findings, what does that tell you?

And the rest is probably history.............

N.B.   This is not a 'hearsay' report - All information contained in this timeline is factual and supported by documentation

As a footnote:

Referring back to the 17 March 2014 Agenda item 9.2.6 (a very defensive and reactive composition put up by the CEO himself ) reference the Officers Comment, it would be interesting to have asked and received answers to these questions:

1.  Is it not the case (as identified in past Minutes) the 'minimal statutory reporting occurring in financial management reports' actually commenced in November 2008 and was not as a result of any past malicious and vindictive use of credit card transaction information?

2.  How and when did the alleged malicious and vindictive use of Credit Card information get used  if no-one had seen the transaction information due to 'minimal statutory reporting'?

__________________________________

Reference original post above-

The relationship between the (FOI) request and the suppressed 'Fitz Gerald Report'

17 March 2014   Agenda item 9.2.6  CEO Ray Hooper wrote in Officers Comment:

Unfortunately past malicious and vindictive use of credit card transaction information has resulted in minimal statutory reporting occurring in financial management reports.

Refer back to:

24 November 2008 a letter was sent to Minister Castrilli from concerned ratepayers questioning  financial reporting and accountability in the Shire of York.

5 February 2009 A response was received  dated 29 January 2009 from Quentin Harrington, Director Governance and Statutory Support,  DLGRD,  on behalf of Minister John Castrilli, MLA 

This is the content of that letter:

Thank you for your correspondence of 24 November 2008 to Hon John Castrilli MLA, Minister for Local Government, regarding your concerns about missing financial documentation from the Shire of York's Council meeting Minutes. The Minister has asked that I reply directly to you on his behalf and I apologise for the delay n my response, however, it was necessary for the Department to make enquiries with the Shire.

The Shire has advised the Department that the unconfirmed Minutes had been left on the Shire's website and the confirmed Minutes had not been uploaded. The Department has confirmed that the Shire has now placed the confirmed Minutes on the Shire's website and it has implemented a process improvement to ensure the unconfirmed Minutes are replaced with the confirmed Minutes, which reflects the information that was presented to Council.

'The Shire acknowledges that, on some occasions, the information was unintentionally missing from the agenda, however, Councillors did not request copies of the statements either prior to or at the Council Meeting. As such, the statements were not included in the Minutes as they did not form part of the record of the meeting'.

Whilst there is no requirement under the Local Government Act 1995 or the Local Government (Financial Management) Regulations 1996 for copies of bank statements to be included with the monthly financial reports, the Department has been advised that it has been the practice of the Shire to provide copies of the credit card statements as supplementary information to Councillors. The Shire sought advice from the Department and now intends to cease the practice of including copies of credit card statements in the attachment to the financial report, Instead it will now provide a summary of purchases made on credit cards.

In addition, the Department has scheduled a visit to the Shire to assess a range of compliance and other governance issues.

Thank you for bringing these issues to the Minister's attention.

Paragraphs 3 & 4 of the letter dated 29 January 2009 are a contradiction, the letter itself contradicts the Officers Comment from CEO Ray Hooper in the Agenda item 9.2.6 of 17 April 2014.

Proper authorisation for the incurring of Liabilities and making payments

The Shire through Delegation DE1 has set the procedures for the authorisation of purchase orders and the making of payments, the reporting of such payments and Electronic Funds Transfer payments. Regulation 11 & 12 of the Local Government  (Financial Management) Regulations 1996 are observed. However, the delegation does not include the use of the Corporate Credit Card by the Chief Executive Officer or the Deputy Chief Executive Officer.