DON’T RETURN TO BAD HABITS, CITY HALL WARNED

AN independent report into the City of Greater Geelong has warned municipal chiefs about sliding back into bad habits with the return of elected councillors.

The survey from international services firm Ernst & Young called for the new council to avoid taking a “business as usual” approach to governance and maintain its focus on addressing the reasons why the 2012-15 council was sacked.

In unusual timing, City Hall’s public relations office released the report yesterday afternoon — a full month after Ernst & Young’s November 14 publication date.

Other report observations include: INADEQUATE staff resour- ces allocated to ensuring operational change at City Hall following on from the administrative period; CONCERNS related to the municipality’s high staff turnover, exacerbated by more attractive employment opportunities offered by rival public and private employers; DIVISIONS over staff job requirements and the need to avoid “siloed behaviour” whereby workers don’t share information with other departments; ENSURING staff are accountable to implement the council’s new policies and prevent staff “working around” the new guidelines; and HIRING a responsible officer to monitor accountability within City Hall.

The survey from international services firm Ernst & Young called for the new council to avoid taking a “business as usual” approach to governance.

The report has been issued to Local Government Minister Marlene Kairouz, who was appointed to the position following a cabinet reshuffle in September.

Ms Kairouz’s predecessor, Natalie Hutchins, sacked Geelong’s elected mayor Darryn Lyons and fellow councillors in April 2016 following a commission of inquiry which found the 2012-15 council was dysfunctional. The following month, veteran bureaucrats Kathy Alexander, Peter Dorling and Laurinda Gardner were appointed as council administrators until municipal elections in October 2017. Several of the sacked councillors were reelected at the 2017 poll including incumbent mayor Bruce Harwood.

The City of Greater Geelong did not respond to calls last night. In a pre-prepared statement, council chief executive Kelvin Spiller said: “It’s important to note that this work is ongoing and there is still much ahead of us. We are continuing the program of work and will be regularly reporting progress to the mayor and council.”

Cr Harwood was also contacted but did not respond in time for deadline.