Shoalhaven City Council will cooperate with the Office of Local Government and its Performance Improvement Order. Photo: Google Maps.
Shoalhaven Council has accepted a draft Performance Improvement Order issued to it by the NSW Government.
At an extraordinary meeting on Friday, 13 February, councillors voted 11 to two to accept the order, cooperate fully with the NSW Office of Local Government, engage an independent qualified professional to collate and review council material relevant to the concerns raised in the order and write to the Local Government Minister requesting he visit to meet with councillors and executive staff.
Not all councillors were on the same page, however.
The elephant in the room was the appointment of CEO Andrew Constance, who alongside the Mayor Patricia White, ran the meeting.
The draft Performance Improvement Order (PIO) singled out the appointment of former Liberal Party minister Mr Constance as a cause for concern.
It said questions were raised about transparency, impartiality and integrity in light of Mr Constance’s appointment.
Local government rules prevent discussion of individual staff matters in open council.
Veteran councillor Bob Proudfoot expressed his intense frustration with the limitation.
“I think this is futile,” he said.
“[The PIO] is a very serious outcome for our local government … I was on the interview panel for the CEO and you’re saying we can’t talk about that?
“Madam Chair, you’ve gagged me again.”
Cr White said the discussion must stick to the council’s response to the draft order.
She was backed up by Mr Constance.
He said he was keen to work collaboratively with the Office of Local Government.
“The recruitment processes I have seen since I have been here as CEO are robust and I want to make clear I have not seen any evidence of systemic problems with recruitment,” Mr Constance told the meeting.
“As a former politician I remind you that nobody in this room has privilege and it’s very serious what is before this council.
“I would like our council to work very collaboratively with the Office and the Minister.
“I have been very concerned about the impact of this on the professional women and men we have in our staff.
“Meeting with them would give us councillors the opportunity to discuss those matters and showcase what we’re doing”
Councillor Jemma Tribe said she felt communication about the PIO was mishandled by the council’s leadership team and improvements must be made.
She said she first heard council had been issued with the order on radio on a Friday and was not told about it through official council channels until the following Tuesday.
“I felt very distressed to learn about this the way we did,” she said.
“I understand it was [issued] late Friday and there was the weekend, but to hear about it second-hand via a clip on a radio program, then hearing speculation all day was very distressing.
“I imagine it would have been for other people too.
“Transparency is an action, not a word and we need to do better going forward.”
Cr White said the information was sent out late as she was unable to obtain further information from the Office of Local Government and was concerned about rumours spreading through the organisation.
Assistant Deputy Mayor Selena Clancy said it was time to deal with the order, not discuss it.
“This matter is no longer speculation, not commentary, not debate, it’s a process we are going through right now,” she said.
“I want us to show the community that when there are questions we will allow an independent regulator to examine them properly.
“If the process shows we need to improve in some way, let that occur. Let’s get on with it.”
Cr Proudfoot and Councillor Peter Wilkins voted against the motion to accept the draft order.
