FOI challenge reveals planning staff comments
Redacted staff comments contained in a Baw Baw Shire planning department review have been released.
Insights provided by staff indicated a lack of councillor and executive support to the planning team and “too much work for too few people.”
The comments reinforced observations in the report that workplace culture had undermined productivity within the planning department, leading to workload stress, loss of staff and inefficient processes.
The report, which was publicly released last year following two Freedom of Information applications, contained several redacted sections to protect the identity of staff who contributed to the Andrew Wegener Consulting review.
The damning report into the shire’s planning department and processes was completed in September 2021.
However, the report was only voluntarily released publicly and to councillors in September 2022, after The Gazette lodged a Freedom of Information application. In a separate application, Warragul resident Don McLean also filed an FOI request.
Unsatisfied with contents of the report being redacted, Mr McLean pursued the matter further in January this year when he filed a request for review with the Office of Victorian Information Commissioner.
“Reflecting on what has been provided and the reasons sections have been redacted, I believe there is information not released that should be in the public domain,” he wrote to OVIC.
Last week, council released four of the previously redacted sections which largely reflected staff feedback. Key insights included:
• Councillor conduct resulted in a significant number of staff leaving the organisation;
• Resource levels - too much work for too few people;
• Team not supported by councillors and executive resulting in low risk appetite; and,
• Unclear how success is defined or measured and how they are enabled by processes.
Shire planning and development director Leanne Hurst said the Wegener review aimed to identify service improvements for the community.
“To allow for frank and fearless input, it was undertaken with the understanding of anonymity and confidentiality for the people consulted.
“The legitimate concern in making a sensitive document like this public is that it could make it more difficult for council to undertake similar reviews in the future.”
She said the small sections originally redacted were done so to protect the privacy of respondents and potential harm to public interest if council was unable to gather similar information in the future because people did not feel safe participating in a review process.
Ms Hurst said council was instructed by OVIC to release further information.
She said council’s decision to release the redacted sections was done in consultation with affected staff and council “undertook appropriate pastoral care.”
“An applicant requested that the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner undertake a review of council’s original FOI decision.”
Ms Hurst said since the report was received, council had taken decisive action based on its recommendations and there had been “measurable improvement.”
She said with a new leadership team, tangible action had been taken to refresh and refocus with an emphasis on improved customer experience, more communication and attention to timeframes.
She said council had significantly invested in additional resources for the statutory, priority development and strategic planning teams.
Ms Hurst said council now had close to a full complement of planners and the backlog of applications in statutory planning had been halved.
She said 74 per cent of current applications were processed within 60 statutory days compared to 54 per cent at the beginning of September 2022.
“We know there is more work to be done, but we are demonstrably on the right track. Lasting improvement will take time, and we are committed to it,” Ms Hurst said.