Hepburn Shire’s elected councillors are back in office after being stood down during the private prosecution of councillors, with the Mayor saying the experience has strengthened relationships within the council and provided an opportunity for a fresh start.
The councillors were unable to perform their duties while the legal proceedings were before the courts, creating an extended period of uncertainty for the council and the community.
Speaking to The Wombat Post after the recent special meeting of council the Mayor, Cr Tony Clark, said the private prosecutions had been “an extremely stressful experience for the councillors involved.”
The Mayor said he felt the prosecutions were a very personal attack but also an attack on democracy. He said the Director of Public Prosecutions had told the court there was insufficient evidence to support the charges involved in the private prosecution and described the charges as baseless.
A hearing concerning costs is expected later this month, with individuals and organisations pursuing costs through the courts. However, with the matter still before the courts, the Mayor declined to comment further. He noted that the costs were not simply financial. “There have been financial impacts, some of which will be covered by insurance, but the additional drain on personnel resources has been significant and is not covered by insurance.”
The legal dispute is only one of a number of significant challenges facing Hepburn Shire Council. The Mayor said the council was dealing with a range of inherited problems, particularly its difficult financial position.
Council has already cut about $4 million from its budget and reduced staffing by approximately 25 per cent. The Mayor noted that while those measures were necessary to address the financial situation, they had also created increased workloads and had impacted staff morale.
The Mayor said the council’s relatively poor community satisfaction results were not surprising given the constraints under which council was operating. He also believed the poor overall satisfaction ratings had been amplified by a small number of highly vocal residents using social media to inflame the community.
The council’s response would include new initiatives around customer service, an area in which community satisfaction has remained relatively high.
The Mayor also said council needed to lobby more effectively for government funding and push back against cost-shifting from state government.
Despite the divisions that have characterised public debate around the council, the Mayor said relations between councillors were good and respectful. He said the experience of the private prosecutions had, if anything, brought councillors closer together. He believes that councillors have confidence in the council officers and in their ability to work as a team.
The reinstated council will also have the benefit of the experience of Acting CEO Janet Dore. The Mayor spoke highly of Ms Dore and said her appointment would continue while the council recruited a permanent CEO, a process that could take six to nine months.
He rejected the idea that Ms Dore should simply be regarded as a caretaker CEO. Rather, he hoped she would use her considerable experience in local government and public administration to help address the issues facing the council. All major decisions, however, remain the responsibility of the elected council.
Council has appointed an executive search consultancy to assist with the recruitment of a permanent CEO. Councillors will first need to agree on the profile, qualities and experience they are seeking before working with the consultants to advertise the position and identify possible candidates. Internal applicants will be considered if they meet the requirements of the position.
The Mayor acknowledged that attracting a strong field of applicants could be difficult. The salary the financially constrained council can offer, combined with the recent history of legal and physical assaults against council and its staff, could limit the pool of potential candidates.
The Mayor acknowledged that the council now faces the challenge of rebuilding confidence among residents. He said this would require council and the community to work together rather than viewing the relationship as one-way.
“There are options,” he said, emphasising the need to work with the community to determine how services and council activities can best be delivered.
The council had, he suggested, spent too much of the recent period “in the bunker”. He now sees the return of the elected council as an opportunity to move forward. “There are exciting times ahead,” he said. “It’s gonna be good.”
The Mayor said the community should have confidence that the council could now govern effectively without further intervention from the State Government.
The coming months will test that confidence, as councillors confront the council’s financial constraints and the task of recruiting a new CEO.
For the Mayor, however, the immediate priority is to put the disruption of recent months behind the council and concentrate on the job of governing Hepburn Shire. “Councillors are in this to serve the community and that’s what we intend to do to the best of our ability,” he said.
