Council balance sheets must resemble a lawyer’s picnic
Local government resignations with claims of bullying and harassment behind a veil of secrecy continue to play out like a C-grade soap opera, writes Mike Smithson.
The Adelaide Hills Council is the latest to be riven with problems and a shrinking elected member base.
As ratepayers across Adelaide councils continue to pay more for less, plus hefty legal fees they probably don’t even know about, there appears to be a fundamental problem of process.
As with a favoured old chestnut, namely Burnside Council, its neighbouring hills municipality is spending more time arguing within than promoting harmony and services for those who pay thousands of dollars each year.
It’s like a stuck record, repeating the same tune over and over.
Culture issues and personality clashes are listed as reasons for a mass exodus in the Hills.
Three councillors have resigned in one week.
As with the Burnside fiasco, a recurring theme is the claim of bullying being kept confidential and the catalyst for councillors heading for the exit door.
For differing reasons, Pauline Gill, Louise Pascale and Melanie Selwood have all said “hasta la vista” as they hurriedly packed their bags and started the car, unlikely to ever return.
AHC has an annual operating budget of $64.4 million and a current debt of $3 million.
Its legal bill for the past financial year is thought to be around $400,000.
The mayor Jan Claire-Wisdom is currently on six months paid leave, which seems to indicate an endemic problem within the council’s hallowed halls at Stirling.
Safework SA has been called in to investigate various claims of a “psychological nature”.
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And as you may have guessed, rates will rise, this time by a likely 6.2 per cent.
With such gaping holes emerging in this sleepy hollow, AHC has been described as a dysfunctional mess.
Blood Sport
Traditionally, being elected to your local council was a privileged position to serve the community.
Now it’s described as a blood sport with a stench and hot air emanating from the chamber.
Acting Mayor Nathan Daniell has publicly stated a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and harassment.
Daniell was once linked to the Greens as an aspiring Hills’ candidate and must be wondering what he’s just stepped into.
He’s stated all elected members are held to the same behavioural standards with support and reporting options for any breaches.
That’s part of a growing problem.
As with Burnside Council, those on the receiving end of damaging complaints, whether justified or not, usually have no idea who made the complaint, its exact nature or how they’ll be able to defend it.
Back to the mayor. She’s being confronted with calls to resign over alleged behavioural standards breaches and bullying claims, which she denies.
She was approached for comment.
A side issue to the current turmoil is with the council’s suburbs down the hill and onto the plains.
Moves are afoot to move parts of Rostrevor and Woodforde from AHC into Campbelltown Council.
The plains council is all for it as it would reap greater rates as the old Magill Training Centre is transformed into 440 new housing allotments.
That proposal currently sits with the state’s Boundary Commission.
AHC doesn’t want to concede territory for the same reason, but doesn’t outwardly seem to have the appetite to provide the necessary infrastructure to support such a housing boom.
Former councillor Pascale now supports such a transfer after initially opposing it.
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She clearly sees better value for constituents in jumping ship to Campbelltown.
But “trouble in Paradise” isn’t just limited to Rostrevor and Woodforde – pardon the mixed metaphorical and geographically lame pun.
Hills pain
It reminds me of the old days of reporting for the Messenger Newspapers’ Hills Gazette.
The fearsome Town Clerk of Mitcham, Harvey Hayes, openly disliked anything to do with the Hills’ region of his precious council.
His reasoning was sound, but his delivery was blunt.
Hayes said Hills’ wards were harder to service and more costly to deliver basic services.
The steep terrain made rubbish collection slower and road and infrastructure repairs more complex.
In less-than-subtle terms he described Hills ratepayers as a “pain in the arse who rarely stopped complaining”.
I dutifully reported his on-the-record quote and was summoned to the newspaper proprietor’s office.
He and Hayes played golf together, and I was dispatched to the far-flung Elizabeth News-Review bureau for two years.
It seems the arguments over Hills and plains wards don’t differ too much over time and there’s rarely harmony.
The problems besetting AHC have already drawn the attention of Local Government Minister Joe Szakacs who’s ordered it to resolve all issues swiftly and effectively.
That seems to be a “whipping with a feather duster” approach.
As Hills residents prepare to pay their final rate instalment for this financial year, or brace themselves for next year’s hike, there must be a better way of running all local councils.
At times, their balance sheets must resemble a lawyer’s picnic with so much expenditure invested in trying to resolve personality clashes, resulting in claims, counterclaims and resignations.
I’ve heard repeated stories of those at the frontline being threatened with more legal action if they breach the code of silence.
With such negative publicity, don’t expect a stampede towards the council chambers from aspirants wanting to be elected.
In my long experience, the time, effort and stress are hardly worth it.
Every ratepayer in SA deserves value for their hard-earned dollar.
Some who seek the so-called power and glory of becoming elected are often more concerned about their egos than helping those they serve.
For others who fly through the storm and out the other side, I salute them.
Mike Smithson is weekend presenter and political analyst for 7News.
