City’s long road back
Council monitors to deal with ongoing concerns
THE State Government remains worried about the scale of the task ahead for the City of Greater Geelong, as it enters a historic new era.
As voting closed in the council elections last night, Bellarine MP Lisa Neville said monitors had been appointed to oversee operations for the next three years because of ongoing concerns.
“We remain concerned that there is more work to do and want to ensure the newly elected councillors take on this task,” the Police Minister said.
The Geelong Advertiser revealed yesterday that union staff within the Geelong council believe morale and culture is at an all-time low, with a number of key staff on stress leave.
“I can only go on what members are saying, and to a person they are saying that things are as bad as they’ve ever been,” ASU organiser Dave Walmsley said.
Ms Neville indicated that the depth of the “entrenched bullying culture” was a key reason in Labor seeking to have administrators remain in control of the organisation until 2020.
It was lobbying from the Coalition and Greens — who held power in the Upper House — that saw elections brought forward to today.
“It was always going to be difficult to turn this around in 18 months, which is why we sought to have the administrators in place for longer.
“Progress has been made but there is now a critical obligation on the new councillors and the senior management ... to take these issues seriously and continue the reforms required to change the culture of the organisation.”
Local Government Minister Marlene Kairouz said the Government was confident that the three administrators had the council “well on its way”.
“We’ve made it clear there are no quick fixes for this situation and we’ve taken appropriate measures to begin embedding best practice in governance and operational procedures.”
In their last published report, in June, the administrators warned that 75 per cent of their ‘transformation’ projects would continue post their reign.
As part of the reforms, the new councillors will have more administrative support than their predecessors, who were sacked in April 2016.
Corio Waste Management owner Ken Dickens is among the leading candidates in the Windermere Ward and has run a campaign to “clean up the mess at City Hall”.
Through his own investigations, he has formed the view that the council’s issues are deep-seated and stem from a lack of proper leadership.
“The bullying hasn’t stopped ... people in there are petrified,” he said.
“I think it will probably take about three years to turn the culture around.”
South Barwon Liberal MP Andrew Katos said the administrators had improved internal governance and staff turnover had helped reshape the organisation.
The former councillor also implored new councillors to put aside political differences and work collectively for the best interests of Geelong.
Geelong Labor MP Christine Couzens said the “severity” of the Commission of Inquiry’s findings had convinced her that long-term reform was needed.
“I strongly believed at the time to achieve the necessary change in 18 months would be impossible.
“However, in saying that I do believe much of the framework has been set by the administrators and I am looking forward to the new council continuing on with this work.”