On the Roundup today, a serious misconduct finding against a councillor overturned at VCAT; the latest CEO appointments and a mayoral election result; two Victorian councils dealing with rescission motions; the mayor calling for a major shake-up of the local government sector; a sacked CEO has success in court; residents express a loss of confidence in councillors at a WA council; and a European city to actively discourage British tourists.
The Local Government News Roundup is brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association, the national broadcaster on all things local government.
Listen to this episode here, and find the link for your podcast player here for any of the 181 episodes so far. Scroll down for the transcript for episode 181 with story links.
Transcript (with story links):
Hello and welcome to the Local Government News Roundup. This is your update for the 11th December. I’m Chris Eddy.
On the podcast today, a serious misconduct finding against a councillor overturned at VCAT; the latest CEO appointments and a mayoral election result; two Victorian councils dealing with rescission motions; the mayor calling for a major shake-up of the local government sector; a sacked CEO has success in court; and residents express a loss of confidence in councillors at a WA council.
That’s all ahead on the Local Government News Roundup, brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association, the national broadcaster on all things local government.
First up today,
Hume City Councillor Trevor Dance has been successful in having a Cr Conduct Panel finding of serious misconduct overturned by VCAT.
In April this year, the panel found that Cr Dance had engaged in serious misconduct in relation to a previous internal arbitration process, when he did not comply with directions to attend hearings in person for mental health reasons.
In a review of that decision, VCAT President Justice Michelle Quigley found that the CCP had taken an overly legalistic approach to proceedings. She was critical of the insistence on requiring in-person attendance at hearings, and the unwillingness to allow an online forum to receive evidence.
The finding of serious misconduct was set aside, along with the penalty of three months suspension.
Hume CEO Sheena Frost told the Star Weekly that the case highlighted the challenges of managing councillor conduct matters in Victoria. She said the system is time consuming, costly and ineffective, and hoped this outcome would encourage councillors to work together and to resolve disputes informally.
An attempt to rescind a decision of Yarra City Council to reduce the number of formal Council meetings next year has been unsuccessful.
Cr Stephen Jolly brought the rescission motion, which was heard at an extraordinary meeting on Friday and voted down.
While some say the move doesn’t meet public transparency standards, the council says it will still hold more formal meetings than most metropolitan councils.
It has announced the introduction of Community Tuesdays in 2023, a series of informal engagement opportunities, events and information sessions which Mayor Claudia Nguyen says responds to feedback from the community and the Municipal Monitor’s report.
Merri-bek City Council has a rescission motion to deal with after its decision on Wednesday night to stop holding citizenship ceremonies on 26th January, contrary to a federal government mandate.
The decision in support of a recommendation from the council’s First Nations Advisory Committee passed when Mayor Angelica Panopoulos used her casting vote to break a deadlock.
The Age reports that Cr Lambros Tapinos lodged a rescission motion over fears of retaliation from the federal government. Yarra and Darebin councils were stripped of their right to hold citizenship ceremonies after making a similar decision in 2017.
The council has set a special meeting for Tuesday night to consider the notice of rescission.
One of the last mayoral elections of the season has been determined, with Boroondara City Council electing Cr Felicity Sinfield as its new Mayor this week.
Cr Sinfield becomes the 27th mayor of the city, and she will be supported by Cr Lisa Hollingsworth as deputy mayor.
You can find an updated list of mayoral election results on the LG News Roundup website, and we have just two results to come – from Latrobe and Wodonga councils.
The City of Port Phillip’s new CEO has been announced.
Interim CEO Chris Carroll, formerly the council’s General Manager of Customer, Operations and Infrastructure, has been confirmed in the position.
Mr Carroll has been at Yarra since 2014, and previously held senior roles in New Zealand with Auckland Council and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Here are the Victorian briefs:
A countback for a vacancy on Greater Shepparton City Council will be held next month. The VEC has set 16th January for the procedure to replace Kim O’Keeffe, who has been elected to State Parliament in the seat of Shepparton.
Meanwhile, Mornington Peninsula Shire has confirmed the resignation of Paul Mercurio who has been elected to the state seat of Hastings. A by-election will be required to fill that vacancy, and is expected to take place by next March.
Wodonga City Council has appointed seven community members to a Revenue and Rating Plan Reference Group. The group, which includes two councillors, will provide community input into how rates are levied in next year’s budget.
The Mayor of Glen Eira City Council, Jim Magee, has this week called for a major shakeup of the local government sector, claiming it is currently on a path to unsustainability.
Cr Magee told VLGA Connect that a serious conversation needs to happen now….
You can hear the full interview with Cr Magee on a new episode of VLGA Connect coming this week on YouTube and podcast.
Coming Up: More CEO appointment news; a sacked CEO has success in court; residents express a loss of confidence in councillors at a WA council; and a European city to actively discourage British tourists.
The Local Government News Roundup is brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association, the national broadcaster on all things local government.
Join the VLGA for an update from our Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project Partners on Women in Local Government research project.
This project aims to investigate the chronic under representation of women in Australian politics through a local government lens. It expects to generate new knowledge about barriers to female political representation, their political performance and pathways to higher tiers of elected office
The panel will include Professor Dr Andrea Carson, La Trobe University,
Professor Leah Ruppanner, University of Melbourne, and Kathryn Arndt, CEO, VLGA.
This online event is at 12 noon on Thursday 15th December. You can find out more on the VLGA website – link in the show notes.
Now in today’s National Roundup:
In NSW, the City of Liverpool has appointed a former state MP as its new CEO.
John Ajaka will take up the role this week, and brings a broad range of experience to the position. As well as being a former state minister and parliamentary secretary, he is a former President of the NSW Legislative Council, and served for a time as a councillor at the former Rockdale City Council.
The CEO of Alice Springs is on the move, having been announced as the new CEO of Gympie Council in Queensland this week.
Robert Jennings has led Alice Springs Council since 2019, having spent five years previously at Katherine Town Council.
The NT News reports that Mr Jennings will take up the post at Gympie early in 2023. The position has been vacant since January when previous CEO Shane Grey departed after just 18 months.
(NT News, 10-12-22)
In Adelaide, a court has ruled that a former CEO of Kangaroo Island Council can keep nearly $60,000 in overtime payments.
An ombudsman inquiry had found that Andrew Boardman had committed maladministration for unlawfully accepting the overtime payments, and the council had sought to recover the money through the court.
According to a report in the Adelaide Advertiser, the council claimed that a former mayor who authorised the payments had no authority to do so.
However, the court this week has found the council had no claim to recoup the money, and that Mr Boardman had continued working excessive and beyond reasonable hours on the basis of being offered the payments in lieu of time off.
(Adelaide Advertiser, 11-12-22)
At the city of South Perth, an elector’s meeting has declared a loss of confidence in five councillors over a decision that residents say puts a $20M federal government grant in jeopardy.
According to a report from PerthNow.com, the five councillors voted against a recommendation to appoint an independent project manager for a recreation and aquatic facility – a requirement of the funding agreement.
A motion of loss of confidence was amended at the meeting to note that public confidence in the five councillors had been undermined, and was carried by 97 votes to 59.
In Tasmania, Launceston City Council is set to vote on the transfer of ownership of the University of Tasmania stadium this week.
At its meeting on Thursday, the Council will consider whether to accept a proposal to transfer the stadium’s ownership to a new statutory authority, Stadiums Tasmania.
It’s estimated the move could save the Council more than $3M a year in operating costs.
The decision would include the transfer of all current employees and their full entitlements.
Briefly now:
Another high profile NSW mayor has announced a run at state politics.
Port Macquarie-Hastings Mayor Peta Pinson is the latest to declare an intention to contest a state seat, having been preselected as a Nationals candidate for Port Macquarie.
The ABC reports Cr Pinson has only recently joined the National Party, and is seeking to unseat Liberal member Leslie Williams.
In WA, the City of Swan has welcomed a new councillor and a new CEO in the same week.
Jagdip Singh was sworn-in this week as the new Altone Ward Councillor, as former Cockburn and Canning CEO Stephen Cain commenced work in his new role.
And the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils has won the Climate Change Adaptation award at the LGNSW Excellence in the Environment awards.
The award recognises the work of Western Sydney Health and local councils in delivering the Heat Smart Western Sydney project.
And now in the International Spotlight:
In Amsterdam, city councillors are keen to recast the city’s reputation as a tourist destination, and have launched a ‘discouragement campaign’ to keep nuisance British tourists away.
The council wants the change the city’s image as a place for alcohol, drugs and sex, and is specifically targeting its messaging at Britain.
The Independent reports that the campaign is part of a broader plan to relocate brothel windows, ban cannabis smoking in the city centre, and cap river cruises and bachelor parties at venues.
From the UK, news that a group of Essex council leaders and executives have agreed a plan to form a new combined authority with a directly elected mayor.
The BBC reports that local taxes and business rates would be increased to fund new infrastructure, and that the move will unlock new funding for the region.
May 2025 is the target to have the new devolution deal in place.
And two Staffordshire Councils have agreed to share almost all of their services, in an arrangement they claim will save 1.2M pounds.
According to localgov.co.uk, the first stage of the deal will see the councils share a senior leadership team, with a reduction in management costs of nearly 90K pounds.
Washington DC has become the US’s most populous city to offer free public transit, after a vote by the Council last week to waive bus fares from next year.
From July 1, passengers will be able to ride for free within city limits, and several busy routes will be expanded to 24 hour service.
The Washington Post says the move is part of plans to increase transit usage and remove vehicles from clogged city streets.
The city joins Alexandria in Virginia, and Kansas City, Missouri in offering free bus travel.
That’s the latest from the Local Government News Roundup.
You can find more information at our website – lgnewsroundup.com – including our regularly updated list of Victorian mayoral election results and CEO appointment news.
I hope you can join us again soon for more from the Local Government News Roundup, brought to you by the Victorian Local Governance Association, the national broadcaster on all things local government.
Until then, thanks for listening and bye for now.