Restore Authority to the Elected Councillors

Dear Reader,

The Problem:

• The Council has a delegations register, with 501 pages of delegations to the CEO and Council Officers, allowing them to make decisions independently of the council.

• You can inspect this delegation register online on the Council's Website.

• It also has financial delegations that give the CEO power to spend any amount of money and make financial decisions on anything in the Council's 100 million dollar plus budget, or even the Council's 10-year Financial Plan. This delegation can be used to negotiate staff wage increases without referencing Councillors. Or even to appoint new staff or consultants.

• The delegations register of 501 pages was presented to Councillors on an Ordinary Meeting agenda with 5 business days’ notice, and adopted. The register refers to sections of legislation, but offers little insight into what the delegations mean, or their purpose. The Councillors were invited to ask questions, and the officers explained there was nothing to be afraid of, they had to be adopted ASAP or business may be impacted; just trust us, we don’t have time to explain them all. Councillors adopted them without understanding the implications.

• So, one implication adopted was that the CEO could determine all planning applications, without reference to Councillors.

• Council therefore did not need a Town Planning Committee.

• Councillors have the ability to set the ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE, i.e. the level of key personnel that is fixed and can't be changed unless the Councillors decide. The present Council has rolled over and agreed to an organisational structure that has just 5 persons. This gives the CEO the power to appoint staff and positions as he sees fit, and to set salaries and benefits, like cars and training, conferences, superannuation etc., without reference to elected Councillors.

• The SRRC has decided to do away with a Council resolution to have several committees, including a Town Planning Committee, and to reduce the number of Council Ordinary Meetings to just one per month. The implications are less transparency, and more decision-making without the watchful eye of the media or ratepayers.

• Councillors continually are threatened with OIA complaints when anything that is said in private, public or in a Council meeting makes offence, especially if a Councillor is calling out poor performance or is critical of a Council decision. The complaints can be politically motivated, are anonymous, often come from the Mayor or CEO, and are used to intimidate and silence dissenting views. It all relates to the existing TOXIC culture set by its leaders.

• Councillors are gagged in Scenic Rim by bureaucrats and the Mayor, by policies on confidentiality of information. Councillors have senselessly agreed to this, possibly due to extreme pressure from bureaucrats, and based on flawed reasoning.


The Solution:

• Review Council policies on the confidentiality of information so that only information that is legislated in the Local Government Act is confidential, allowing Councillors to freely discuss issues with their constituents.

• Examine the delegations register closely and review all delegations.

• Introduce Council Committees open to the public where Councillors make decisions, not the bureaucrats.

• Make the CEO responsible for the organisation's culture and use the level of OIA unfounded and dismissed complaints made by him or by his staff to indicate a poor culture.

• Reduce the executive management team to reflect the organisation's size and make it more responsive and in keeping with management best practices, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

• Discontinue the practice of the CEO and/or Mayor populating Council officers not relevant to the matter at hand at formal and informal meetings to drown out the voice of elected councillors in formal and informal meetings,

• Review the Council standing orders to enable free flow of discussion in Council formal and informal meetings.

• Introduce question time without notice in Council meetings.

• Stream the audio and video of the Council's informal and formal meetings to the public on YouTube.

• Promote more team building and open communication between the public, elected councillors, and members of the public.

• Look at more modern reward and recognition practices within the organisation.

• Ensure that those in leadership positions are qualified, that dealings with staff are fair and reasonable and that they can lead by example, but hold subordinate staff to high performance.

• Introduce training for all staff on respect for elected councillors.

• Introduce Councillor reporting in Council meetings on matters of concern in their division, without notice.

• Introduce General Business into Council Meetings.

• Introduce a policy that provides for all agenda items to show that there has been consultation with Councillors prior to matters being referred to Council meetings for decision-making.

• Take away the power of the CEO to appoint consultants.

• Ensure that budgets relating to all Council functions are made available to the public, and reported on in the operational plan.
The solution takes into account the exception where such a delegation is required under the Local Government Act. May I suggest you ask candidates in the upcoming elections where they stand on this policy.


Get in touch – Send me an email or call me, and let's talk about politics.
contact@tomsharp.com.au
https://www.tomsharp.com.au

Authorised by Tom Sharp – 424 Binna Burra Road, Beechmont 4211