Union says complaints still plaguing City Hall

HE culture, behaviour and morale within the City of Greater Geelong is at a historic low, with a string of key staff on stress leave and others mysteriously exiting, according to the Australian Services Union.

It is also understood multiple complaints have been lodged with the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC).

As the organisation prepares for a return to democracy after 18 months under administration, the ASU has a stark warning for incoming councillors.

“I can only go on what members are saying . . . that things are as bad as they’ve ever been,” ASU organiser Dave Walmsley said.

Mr Walmsley told the Geelong Advertiser complaints were coming from a range of staff who rarely engaged with the union, including a woman with more than 30 years’ experience.

“She said she’s never seen it as bad — morale and the way things are being run — she has not seen it as bad,” he said.

Mr Walmsley has worked with the council’s 660-plus union members for the past four years, through the resignation of mayor Keith Fagg and the roller-coaster reign of Darryn Lyons.

He was there for the dark day in April 2016 when the State Government decided the City of Greater Geelong was unfit to govern.

The drastic action was meant to provide a fresh start for the organisation.

After the 13 councillors were sacked and a trio of administrators installed, the council has conducted a thorough review of its management and structure.

The council’s own figures show there had been a 30 per cent change in senior leadership by June this year, with at least eight new or modified roles.

At the time, the administrators said the structural “realignment” was 90 per cent complete.

But the exits have kept coming.

Joanne Moloney started in the newly created position of finance and strategy director in March.

“Ms Moloney is wellknown for her procedures and people development in order to build high-performing teams,” chief executive Kelvin Spiller said when announcing her appointment.

But little more than five months later, Ms Moloney was out the door.

“She was on the EB (executive board) table, and the next week she wasn’t there,” Mr Walmsley said.

“What’s happened? The answer we got was that she left. It seems strange that she quit a higher-paying job to come work in Geelong and then quit after five months . . . without another job to go to.”

It is understood that the circumstances of Ms Moloney’s departure are among numerous complaints lodged with IBAC.

Multiple sources have confirmed that after she pursued legal action, a settlement was reached with the council this month for a “considerable sum of money”.

The Geelong Advertiser reached out to Ms Moloney through an intermediary but she did not want to comment.

It has been a turbulent period in the fledgling finance and strategy department.

One staff member has spent two months off on full pay, while another is preparing a WorkCover claim.

“I don’t know if they’re being targeted, but it seems strange to me that once Joanne left, there seemed to be a large focus on that area,” Mr Walmsley said, stating the issues had not been isolated to one section of the bureaucracy.

“I know for a fact there are three or four senior management who are off on stress leave and don’t feel comfortable at all.” REVIEW by discrimination expert Susan Halliday lifted the lid on the council’s workplace behaviour issues in 2015.

But it was a subsequent Commission of Inquiry report, which was tabled in Parliament in April last year, that was the catalyst for the council’s dismissal.

Among its critical findings — “bullying is one ugly facet of a wider suite of cultural issues” — the commission pointed out it was a long road back.

“The reform process is likely to take some years to implement, to win the confidence and support of staff and to overcome the deep