Carol Altmann – The Terrier

I very rarely do this in writing, but it’s time to drop the f-bomb.

Fraud.

It is not a word to be used lightly, but there is no doubt it is circling over the credit card scandal engulfing the Warrnambool City Council.

This is how the Victoria Police define fraud: “any deceitful or intentionally dishonest conduct, involving acts or omissions or the making of false statements, orally or in writing, with the objective of obtaining money or other benefit from a person/organisation for him/herself or another”.

Hmm, sounds like we might have a match.

The public response to this scandal is clear: ratepayers don’t want another review that goes nowhere, they want to know if there was fraud and, if so, what is being done about it?

In other words, it’s time to bring in the big guns.

This saga goes well beyond tourism chief David McMahon resigning and moving on, despite the council chiefs working hard to try and contain the fallout.

The CEO and councillors have known about this issue for months, but are now apparently gagged from speaking for legal reasons, which is no doubt a huge relief to those councillors who have not said a word.

I get nervous about speaking up too, but when it comes to backing the public, I would rather drown in a sea of truth than cling to a system designed to keep ratepayers in the dark.

We are still being kept in the dark, because none of what we have been told so far makes any sense.

Things got off to a bad start when CEO Peter Schneider, in telling council staff that Mr McMahon had quit, praised Mr McMahon’s many achievements and wished him well, as you do.

He then explained that the credit card repayments Mr McMahon and former CEO Bruce Anson nutted out over a table last November were work related.

Work related?

Why on earth would Mr McMahon be asked to repay more than $4000 from his own pocket – and possibly up to to $6000 according to my sources – if it was all work related?

And why would Mr McMahon agree?

I don’t know of anyone who would willingly hand over more than $4000 to their boss for work-related expenses.

And why, if everything was just a huge misunderstanding, did Mr McMahon give up his $100,000-plus a year job?

One of those expenses repaid was $736.50 for a “room hire” at the Lady Bay Resort just last September for a “conference” that the council, so far, can’t explain.

Did Mr McMahon accidentally hire a conference room at the Lady Bay? I had a look (see above) and unless you are booking a wedding, the Lady Bay Resort doesn’t have room hire that costs $736.50. The most expensive is $300.

It appears Mr McMahon also inadvertently spent several hundred dollars on drinks at the Cape Schanck resort and more on dinner at the Pickled Pig and also at the Warrnambool Hotel, and mistakenly bought a gift voucher for a full car detail, and gift vouchers for massages at the Logan’s Beach spa resort.

Mr Schneider now says all of this was “work related”, but at the same time, Mr McMahon repaid the cost and has since left his job.

Nothing makes sense and it never does when you’re only getting half the story.

 

Mayor Tony Herbert’s contribution so far is to tell the paper he is “very disappointed” and he could “understand” ratepayers’ “views”.

Views!  Ratepayers are bloody furious, and rightly so.

Because Cr Herbert, who promised to cut costs wherever he could, was there, along with Cr Owen, at the Cape Schanck conference when Mr McMahon shouted hundreds of dollars worth of drinks at the bar.

And Cr Herbert and Cr Owen were both there when Mr McMahon paid for every single VEAC breakfast and brunch.

Cr Herbert, you need to be so, so much more than “disappointed”.

And then we have the ratepayers’ money that hasn’t been repaid, but should have been.

There are at least seven occasions where Mr McMahon claimed food bills for VEAC meetings that were not official VEAC meetings, including the $172.50 “smoking gun” dinner at Bojangles on 31 May last year.

City Growth Manager Andrew Paton was Mr McMahon’s boss and a member of VEAC.

Mr Paton was also, ultimately, responsible for authorising Mr McMahon’s credit card spending.

Did Mr Paton not notice the bills for at least seven VEAC meetings that were not actually VEAC meetings? And if not, why not?

And to really hammer home the point, Mr McMahon – at Bojangles on 31 May last year – knowingly used ratepayers’ money to pay $172.50 for food and drinks that had nothing to do with council business.

And he lied on the council records.  And he organised for a receipt to replace the original.

F-word anyone?

We paid for all this.

This is why when it comes to public money, there are mandatory reporting laws and the CEO has to notify at least the anti-corruption bureau (IBAC) of potential wrongdoing.

I would have thought a report to the police would also be mandatory.

Mr Schneider says the council is “fully aware of its reporting obligations”, so I would imagine the council has reported this issue to IBAC and perhaps the police.

We can only hope so, and that a full, independent investigation follows into Mr McMahon’s spending and the spending on all 81 of the council’s corporate credit cards.

 

This whole credit card scandal happened because of, at the very least, a lack of scrutiny and transparency.

How far it goes, how deep it goes, and who else is caught in the net remains to be seen and – again – will only be settled by a full and frank investigation.

As the saying goes, those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear.

Having been ripped off for months before anybody noticed, WCC ratepayers deserve nothing less.

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Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The Warrnambool City Council offices were buzzing yesterday as dozens of staff were seen piling into the Lighthouse Theatre studio for what some passers-by thought might be a mass union meeting.

But no, it was not a union meeting, but a meet-and-greet with new CEO Peter Schneider who still remains a bit of mystery man since starting the new job in February.

According to a somewhat embarrassing movie-style internal flyer that was, I guess, a bit of fun from the council’s public relations team, the sessions were a chance to MEET the CHIEF.

“He’s a man with a plan and he wants to meet you.”

Heavens.

This blockbuster event was a chance for staff to be introduced to Mr Schneider and “talk about culture, values and the way forward”.

The flyer “reviews” said it was a presentation not to be missed and a real “game-changer”.

This all sounds positive, even if the flyer scares me with its machismo, slightly Trump-esque tone.

Hopefully there are plans for a a public screening of this “blockbuster” so we can all hear about Mr Schneider’s culture, values and the way forward too.

An update on last night’s Facebook post about $985,000 being spent at Aquazone this year to improve water treatment and air quality at the pool.

I wondered out loud where the money was coming from, given the 2018-19 budget set aside $540,000 for the water treatment works and next year’s budget makes no mention of any Aquazone works at all.

The answer came today from council spokesman Nick Higgins who said the rest of the money dates back to the 2017-18 budget, when $420,000 was set aside to fix the roof, but was never spent.

Further investigations, he said, revealed the roof was being ruined by an old air handling system, so it was decided to fix the roof AND the air circulation problem in one.

So this is why, as we speak, the whole she-bang adds up to close to $1 million.

Pools are expensive to maintain and it seems heated, indoor pools are even more expensive: in 2015, the council spent $178,000 re-tiling the changerooms at Aquazone and the pool is not yet 20 years old.

Hold your breath, because I sense the $985,000 this year is just the beginning.

 

 

The Terrier – Carol Altmann

An independent survey of Warrnambool City Council staff has confirmed what, anecdotally, has been leaking out of the council for months: that many of its workers feel stressed, undervalued and frustrated.

About 300 staff – around 50% – responded to the internal survey, which was held in April this year by consultants Insync, and follows up an identical survey held in 2014.

In a big red flag for the council, the 2018 results reveal it has gone backwards on every key measure in the past four years, including leadership, people, customer focus, and strategy and planning.

 

This suggests that either the council has not done enough to address the issues raised in 2014 or what it has tried is not working.

Either way the figures, which have not been released publicly, speak for themselves: the council is not a very happy place and something needs to shift dramatically when the new CEO, Peter Schneider, takes over in February.

Perhaps the most telling indication of the WCC workplace culture is that while 71% of all staff said they felt proud to work at the council, only 51% said they looked forward to coming to work each day. (In one department, only 39% enjoyed coming to work each day).

It appears that being proud of working at the council and the reality of doing so, are poles apart for many of its people.

 

The number of staff who said, overall, they were happy with their job fell by 10% to 64% and less than half of the respondents (49%) said they had a strong sense of “belonging” which was an 11% drop from 2014.

Not surprisingly, given those figures, only 45% said they could imagine a fulfilling future for themselves at the Warrnambool City Council.

Among the main issues highlighted were workplace stress, feeling valued, feeling listened to, building trust, a need for stronger leadership and working more cooperatively across departments, with managing workplace stress at at the top of the list.

These issues are among 12 that have emerged as “significant” areas of dissatisfaction in 2018, compared to only two listed in 2014.

But enough of the dry statistics.

What this survey mirrors for me is the string of anecdotal stories I have been told about employees being shouted at, sworn at, disciplined for minor issues, people being appointed to positions for which they are not qualified, staff left in tears, staff being “frozen out” for making complaints, various departments not communicating with each other…on and on it goes.

 

The frustration when hearing these complaints is that while I believed they were happening – there were too many people, all saying the same things, for there not be a pattern – how could these anecdotes be proven?

Proof is difficult because it involves such a personal risk for the complainant if they are identified.

As is often the case in large workplaces, the “systems” might be in place to handle such issues, but being brave enough to raise them in the first place is the terrifying part, particularly for women in casual/part time work or in jobs that they simply cannot afford to lose.

It is far easier, of course, to say nothing, absorb the hurt and hope that things might change, or leave.

No doubt the staff who raised their concerns in the 2014 council survey hoped that “things might change”. They didn’t.

 

Not only did things not improve, they went backwards, significantly.

This survey of 300 people finally provides the proof of the dissatisfaction behind the council walls, even if it doesn’t describe the detail.

As CEO Bruce Anson prepares for his retirement in January and reflects on his successes, the council must also reflect on this staff culture as a leadership failure.

The survey reveals a problem that extends wider than a couple of disgruntled staff members – you will find those in any large organisation – it is instead a dis-spiriting trend that has been allowed to settle and cement.

Here’s hoping the new CEO Mr Schneider brings his metaphoric sledgehammer to bust that trend wide open and build a better, happier workplace for one of Warrnambool’s largest employers.

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I emailed the council spokesman Nick Higgins yesterday morning for a comment on the survey results, the council’s response to the issues raised, and also asked how many staff have reported bullying or stress in the past two years. Here is the response in full:

“Warrnambool City Council conducts staff surveys – as do other large employers – as part of an effort to improve the working environment for all staff and to provide better service for our customers.

The survey’s broad outcomes are provided confidentially to all staff.

Council is liaising with a staff consultative committee and with all staff generally to implement improvements following the survey.

Council has sound processes in place to address issues or concerns staff have.

Your questions seek detail on internal staffing matters.

Council will not disclose details in relation to internal staffing matters.”

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