Games tickets, shade sail and pool on agenda
RETURNING Commonwealth Games tickets, freezing employment and asking for “politically motivated queries” to go unanswered are just a few of the things Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate ordered the council’s CEO Dale Dickson and his executive to do.
Cr Tate used his directive power 42 times since the last election in March 2016. The topics included:
Ordering the CEO to return Commonwealth Games tickets earmarked for councillors and public servants;
Demanding a review of the Our Natural City Strategy;
Overseeing the renaming of Kleinschmidt Park, Maudsland, including ordering a council officer attend his office to discuss an undisclosed email trail;
Installation of a shade sail at Aspect Park;
Directing the CEO withdraw a tender for a new Pimpama pool because it contained budget information;
Questions about dealing with illegal camping at The Spit;
Freezing employment in the Economic Development and Major Projects section of council while the department was under review;
Requiring that all communication about disaster events with councillors come from the Mayor;
Asking for further information and action on the mosque on Alkira Way, Mudgeeraba, which was found to be breaching planning conditions;
A complaint the Mayoral seal had not been included in the council’s brand guide.
One of the most telling directives came in October 2016 when the Mayor ordered the CEO not to respond to a letter about the cruise ship terminal.
“I do not wish for officers’ time to be wasted on answering politically motivated queries that are designed to further any external parties’ personal political ambitions or activities regardless of subsequent source of the query,” Cr Tate wrote. “Your team has enough serious and significant projects to be focusing on, not least of which is preparing this city for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in 2018.”
Surfers Paradise councillor and former mayor Gary Baildon said he was surprised by the number of directives issued.
“I would have thought it was something you would use once or twice a year or a couple of times a term.”
He said the Mayor “might have every good reason” to issue so many directives.
Cr Baildon was mayor between 1997 and 2004 and did not have the power to give a directive to the CEO or executive team. The Newman Government changed the rules in 2013.
Former Gold Coast mayor Lex Bell said he constantly spoke to the CEO when in charge. “Only the bigger stuff we put in writing.”
A spokesman for the LGAQ said the number of directives would vary from council to council and could depend on the relationship between the CEO and the Mayor.