The advert in The Warrnambool Standard classifieds.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Update:
Well, it’s on.
After the deathly quiet of yesterday, following Monday night’s W’bool City council meeting, this special – and confidential – meeting next Monday is being called for just one reason:
the CEO Peter Schneider’s head is on the chopping block.
Crs Neoh, Gaston, Owen and Cassidy have decided that 18 months is long enough for him to work out the train wreck he inherited after a decade of non-action on bullying, falling staff morale and a string of financial screw ups.
Whatever you think of the new CEO’s performance, he is about to become the fall guy in a big power play. He will take the rap.
When I first wrote about this looming coup in February, I gave the CEO six months.
Bing! Time’s up. Oh my, this is going to be ugly, expensive and a true shit fight.
What a pity it will also happen entirely behind the scenes: some things never change.
Power plays in full force as WCC chief under threat
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Livestream from WCC Meeting: well the meeting appears to be over but they forgot to tell us about it. Tonight is a big night.
If, as suspected, the discussion behind closed doors was about the future of the CEO, then we can expect to hear much more on this very soon.
If, as suspected, 4/7 councillors plan to tell Peter Schneider that he has lost their confidence, then the CEO will pretty much have no choice but to resign.
This, if true, is an act of pure arrogance by four councillors who are just three months out from an election. It is a blatant power grab.
It is not about the competence of the CEO – he has only been there 18 months to clean up a mess that has been years in the making – it’s about keeping control.
How dare they decide who should be the CEO for the next council to work under? If anyone is to be judge and jury, that should be the NEXT set of councillors.
But of course, come the next election, the two power brokers behind this move – Crs Neoh and Gaston – may not have the numbers.
They may not – gasp – even get reelected. Imagine that! (If Cr Neoh wins again, he can notch up 20 years. Nothing like some fresh faces.)
They could scrounge up four because – I have been told – one of the four hopes to be the next Mayor after the next council elections. Side with us, we will give you the crown.
Oh my god, the assumptions! The dirty politics. The game playing.
Bring on October – we need a fresh start with people who care first and foremost about our city, not their personal ambitions.
Good night. Thanks for sticking around.
WCC confidential item raises spectre of CEO demise
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Oohh, there’s nothing like a confidential item on the W’bool City Council meeting agenda to get the terrier nose sniffing the wind.
This juicy little confidential “personnel matter” is right at the end of the thumping agenda for tomorrow night’s meeting which has almost as many pages as “War and Peace“.
Personnel matter? Hmm, who could that person be?
My guess is it’s the CEO.
The worst kept secret in Warrnambool right now is the attempted coup against the CEO earlier this year – aborted just before Covid 19 hit – is being reignited by the two councillor power brokers, Crs Neoh and Gaston.
Cr Neoh has been lighting the fuse on the gelignite via his chest-puffing pieces in the local paper about transparency and accountability – all of which is about 12 years too late.
Both Crs Neoh and Gaston want the CEO out. (He is not Bruce, dammit).
They began working the numbers earlier this year and now, as the election approaches and everyone wants to buddy up, I would not be surprised if they have them.
Our CEO has had 18 months to turn around a legacy of 11 years – a legacy, may I add, that Crs Neoh and Gaston were part of.
Why are they in such a rush to get rid of him? Hmmm.
Politics, even at a local level, can be a dirty game of power and intrigue, and both are on full display at 25 Liebig St right now.
“War and Peace” it is.
[The meeting will be live-streamed on the WCC website from 5.45pm.]
Lyndoch ignores request to meet MP over bullying claims
South-West MP Roma Britnell decided last month to ask Lyndoch directly about allegations of bullying but has so far had no response. Image: Roma Britnell.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
It’s a month since South-West MP Roma Britnell asked to meet with the Lyndoch CEO and board to discuss explosive allegations of bullying and intimidation that emerged through an anonymous staff survey, but the response so far has been crickets.
Roma, Roma, I know how you feel, but I am not the elected representative for South-West Victoria!
Maybe the yellow sticky note – “Call Roma” – fell off the CEO, Doreen Power’s, desk.
Perhaps the board chair, Kerry Nelson, didn’t pop a reminder – “Call Roma” – into her Google diary.
Whatever the case, Roma is still waiting and I find that extraordinary: to ignore a journalist is one thing, but to ignore an elected official of Parliament, wow.
“A request for a meeting was made in mid-March and to date that request has not been responded to,” Roma said in a written response to my questions today.
Roma, however, is prepared to cut the Lyndoch hierarchy some slack because of C-19.
“Given the current situation with COVID-19 and the various restrictions in place, I understand a meeting would be difficult at this time and I will again seek a meeting with the CEO and Board chair when various coronavirus restrictions are lifted,” she wrote.
So, Roma is not giving up: questions will be asked about the allegations and what is being done in response.
This is the message that all those who have contacted Roma about their concerns around Lyndoch need to hear.
She is not giving up, and neither am I, because the descent of C19 doesn’t mean the allegations of bullying and intimidation just disappear, of course they don’t.
In fact it busts my heart to think that the people who were brave enough to raise these allegations in the survey are most likely still there at Lyndoch, working hard, doing their best, sucking in their own stress, while the Lyndoch board is too busy, it seems, to turn their mind to them.
They are too busy, it appears, to set up a Zoom with Roma.
Far too busy dealing with, I can only guess, the future of the Warrnambool Medical Clinic, where fresh contracts were due to be signed by the end of this month.
We have C19 crickets on that too.
Lyndoch, meanwhile, remains in full lockdown, having decided not to go with the Federal Govt recommendation that up to two visitors per day, per resident, can be allowed in under certain conditions.
According to a statement on its website today, Lyndoch says it’s being extra cautious in case of a second spike of C19 after Easter.
We can only assume that the board is content with that situation too, perhaps we could ask them.
Oh, wait…..
Board silent after Lyndoch Living membership decisions
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Hear that? Crickets. Not a word. Nada. Nothing. Zip.
A full 48 hours has passed since the much anticipated monthly board meeting of Lyndoch Living where it was decided which members of the community, if any, would be good enough to become members of Lyndoch, which is owned by the community.
Among those who applied, as we know, is Vicki Jellie AM, who was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the community for her work with Peter’s Project to build a cancer centre in Warrnambool.
Vicki has been calling Lyndoch these past couple of days to find out if she made the cut. She has not had the courtesy of a call back.
A new board member has also been selected. Who is it?
Who knows? We are the blocked out, shut out, cut off community who spent so many years caring for Lyndoch and we still do.
