Carol Altmann – The Terrier

For those who missed my post stream during the final meeting of the Warrnambool City Council, here is the string of revelations regarding the dumping of the CEO:

Good god – this is getting interesting! Cr Kylie Gaston has asked a number of punchy questions to the Mayor about the whole sacking of the CEO saga.

We are now learning:

1. Nine applications during the recruitment of the previous CEO went missing. The recruitment agency had an IT problem. (I hope we got a refund from that recruitment agency).

2. The council and CEO Schneider met on 21 February to discuss issues with the CEO’s performance.

3. Crs Cassidy and Herbert went to Peter Schneider’s private house on a Sunday morning on February 23 to discuss issues that Cr Cassidy had with the CEO. Cr Herbert set up this meeting. Cr Cassidy says she now considers it was unprofessional to have this meeting at Mr Schneider’s house.

4. Cr Gaston says councillors didn’t realise what they signed up for with the CEO’s contract that would allow such a big payout of around $364,000.

5. Another big allegation – that the former CEO signed up long-term contracts of several senior managers knowing that he was leaving. I wonder who these people were? (Ms King – the new acting CEO – was not among them.)

6. Cr Sycopoulis is raising whether the CEO payout is the end of the matter or if extra legal fees may be coming, if there is legal action by Peter Schneider.

7. Cr Gaston says a performance review of the former CEO in May was not favourable and that, in effect, his sacking was not “out of the blue”.

8. It sounds like the WCC didn’t know what it signed up for with the former CEO’s contract. (Good grief). The size of the payout came as a surprise. Not good enough councillors.

9. Bring on the election – there are no winners here.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Tonight I want to pause and reflect on this simple fact: the Warrnambool City Council is now the subject of not one, not two, but three investigations.

One of those investigations is the Ombudsman’s inquiry into the misuse of corporate credit cards.

The second is the council’s own internal inquiry into these credit cards.

The third is a Worksafe investigation into alleged bullying.

And the fourth – revealed here on Friday afternoon – is an investigation by the Local Government Inspectorate into the sacking of the former CEO Peter Schneider by Crs Sue Cassidy, Mike Neoh, Kylie Gaston and David Owen.

What a freaking mess.

And all of it – ALL of it – will come at a cost to ratepayers, which is the bottom line of this latest disgraceful manoeuvring, backroom dealing and secrecy.

We are footing the bill.

We will pay for Mr Schneider’s payout, whatever that is, because we still don’t know.

The Four Horsemen involved in lopping off the CEO’s head were happy to swing the sword, but haven’t had the spine to reveal how much it will cost ratepayers, because that information will undoubtedly upset voters as they head toward the October election.

The councillors don’t want that bitter truth spoiling their campaigns.

Best to distract ratepayers with other shiny things, like bike paths and taverns and new grass at Reid Oval.

And the four councillors involved in the coup brought in all the lawyers they needed to get rid of Mr Schneider, and guess who pays for that?

We do.

How much was spent on these lawyers? We don’t know.

And who decided to get that legal advice?

It sure as heck wasn’t supported by all seven councillors, because three of them – Crs Tony Herbert, Peter Sycopoulis and Robert Anderson – were dead set against the whole idea.

This begs another key question: can four councillors rack up a legal bill without the approval of the other councillors?

I am no expert on the finer details of the Local Government Act but the Inspectorate is, and I hope it will pull this question apart during its investigation, because, as a ratepayer, I have a vested interest.

We all have a vested interest, because the four councillors involved have been spending my money – and yours – and we deserve to know the full story.

Rates notices are going out as we speak and blowing people away: I am getting messages every day from people shocked by how much we pay in Warrnambool compared to other cities.

I am also talking to people worried about what lies ahead as the full economic impact of the C19 virus kicks in.

And yet here are four of our councillors, blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars on lawyers and payouts for reasons which are all secret.

The inspectorate’s investigation will probably take some time, but my hope is that the four councillors who are now part of this investigation will step up themselves and tell the public the full story about this coup and the cost.

They know the truth.

As we inch closer toward the October election, there will be many shiny distractions and photo ops and promises, but the two things that I am hearing voters want the most right now are transparency and integrity.

Transparency and integrity.

Over to you, councillors.

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Exclusive

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The Local Government Inspectorate has launched an official investigation into the sacking of former Warrnambool City Council chief executive officer Peter Schneider.

Acting Chief Municipal Inspector Dr John Lynch confirmed the investigation this afternoon in response to questions from The Terrier.

“The Local Government Inspectorate is investigating matters relating to the recent termination of a CEO contract at Warrnambool City Council,” he said.

The LGI is Victoria’s top, independent watchdog over local government and has powers to investigate, audit and prosecute breaches of the Local Government Act.

Dr Lynch said he was unable to provide any detail on the scope of the investigation while it is underway.

“The Inspectorate deals with complaints or requests for investigation in strict confidence and does not provide information that may compromise current investigations.

(It) will be able to provide further comment when the investigation is completed,” he said.

While the depth and breadth of the LGI’s investigation is confidential, there has been mounting speculation and public unrest around the circumstances that led to the sudden dumping of Mr Schneider on 13 July.

Mr Schneider, who had relocated from Perth to take up the position in February 2019, was sacked after just 18 months in the job.

The dismissal happened behind closed doors, with four councillors – Crs Michael Neoh, Kylie Gaston, David Owen and Sue Cassidy – voting as one and using a “no reason” clause in Mr Schneider’s contract to dump him.

The council’s Community Development Manager Vikki King was then immediately appointed acting CEO for up to 12 months. Ms King now holds both positions.

Confirmation of the investigation comes as Cr Sue Cassidy today announced she would run again in the October election.

Former mayors Crs Neoh and Gaston have already declared they will run again.

Cr Owen is yet to make an announcement.

Mayor Tony Herbert, Cr Robert Anderson and Cr Peter Sycopoulis all voted against Mr Schneider’s sacking and have remained vocal in their support for the former CEO.

While it’s still not known why Mr Schneider was sacked, it is known is that rumblings of discontent among the four councillors behind the coup started as early as February.

Despite this, Mr Schneider went on to pass his performance review and received a pay rise as a result.

The discontent reignited in June, with Cr Neoh demanding the release of key findings of the latest WCC staff survey results – something he had never done in his previous 16 years on council – telling the Standard on 28 June he held “grave concerns” about the results.

That same month, on 22 June, the annual community satisfaction survey showed the WCC had hit an all time low.

Mr Schneider was sacked just three weeks later. He is now pursuing his own legal action against the four councillors involved.

The four councillors have refused to disclose how much the coup will cost ratepayers, but it’s expected to run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The LGI investigation is the second major investigation into the council as it limps toward the October election, with the Victorian Ombudsman still to release her report into the misuse of council credit cards.

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Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Well this is intriguing – the release of the non-confidential part of the minutes from the Warrnambool City Council meeting where CEO Peter Schneider lost his head.

The minutes prise open, just a little, the tight clam shell around what happened that night of the long knives on 13 July, including the following facts:

Mr Schneider was sacked using a “no reason” clause in his contract;

The motion to sack the CEO was moved by Cr Kylie Gaston and seconded by Cr Sue Cassidy;

This same motion offered the role to the council’s Community Services director, Vikki King, who would start the very next day, 14 July;

Ms King was given a fresh set of “priority” goals or KPIs (key performance indicators);

The recruitment of a new CEO will start after the next council election in October;

The new Mayor – whoever that will be – will start that recruitment process;

The whole meeting lasted less than 90 minutes;

Mr Schneider was in the meeting for three minutes;

The council’s Director of Corporate Strategies, Peter Utri, and former Moyne CEO Graham Shiells, who is now a local government consultant, took the minutes;

Cr Peter Sycopoulis was the sole councillor to vote against the meeting going into confidence.

So we now know the council sacked the CEO without having to give a reason and did so before the next elected council, or Mayor, could have any say in the matter.

[As an aside, if the council elections are postponed because of Covid 19, the Mayoral election will still go ahead when Cr Tony Herbert’s time expires in November.

Given the 4/3 divide, Cr Herbert will not be Mayor again.

Cr Mike Neoh has already said he wants to run for Mayor a sixth time, and Cr Sue Cassidy is champing at the bit, so if the elections are postponed, the new Mayor will be one of the Four Horsemen who lopped off Schneider’s head.].

So what was the motivation behind this coup?

We still don’t know, but there are suspicions and theories, as there always is when there is secrecy.

One theory is the CEO became unpopular while cutting staff to save the council money, because, as our Mayor told us, the council was “unsustainable in its current form”.

The Mayor was quite right.

At least $31 million a year – every single dollar collected in rates – was going toward 730 staff salaries, and the number of people on $100,000-a-year-plus was growing.

In fact figures given by the council to a parliamentary inquiry in 2016 said the council had 21 officers each earning a total salary package of more than $120,000 a year.

That sounds like a top-heavy outfit to me, especially for a city of only 35,000 people. 

Many senior positions remained vacant under Mr Schneider’s rule.

As it happens, Ms King’s own five-year contract was due to expire in early August.

Mr Schneider might have been on to something in terms of removing or blending jobs, because Ms King is now both acting CEO AND head of Community Services.

Wow, talk about multi-tasking.

Another position to keep an eye on is the Governance Officer, a $140,000 a year role created under former CEO Bruce Anson, which has been vacant since December.

The previous person in the job, Anne-Marie Neal, is taking the council to court in a WorkCover claim over a series of events that is also subject to much speculation.

In the meantime, applications to fill that role closed on 24 July.

There is a lot going on, and there is still a lot to uncover – but uncover it, we will.

[For some unexplained reason, the 13 July minutes made available remain “unconfirmed” despite being voted on at the August meeting. I have asked why. The minutes, which must be published under the Local Govt Act, were released after requests from terriers. You can read them here.]

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Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Lawyers for sacked Warrnambool City Council CEO Peter Schneider have issued defamation proceedings against four councillors.

Those four councillors are Cr Mike Neoh, Cr Kylie Gaston, Cr Sue Cassidy and Cr David Owen.

This partly explains the flurry of confidential business happening behind closed doors at the council meeting last night.

The second matter, according to sources, is believed to relate to lawyers for Mr Schneider arguing that he be reinstated as CEO: in other words, he gets his job back.

There is a precedent for such a thing, with a sacked CEO of Logan City Council, in Queensland, being given her job back after challenging the motives of the seven councillors who deposed her.

Wouldn’t that be a turn up for the books!

With the council elections just two months away and a new council to be elected, it may not be as unthinkable as it sounds.

And the third matter, twisted up in all of the above, is understood to be a heated, ding-dong, hair-pulling (except for Cr Sycopoulis, no offence to him), full-blooded barney over who should pay for the legal expenses racked up so far and those yet to come.

Should it be the individual councillors involved in the coup? Should it be ratepayers?

Discuss.

I emailed all seven councillors today to ask for comment on the legal action, whether ratepayers would be footing the bill, and how much had been spent so far on council lawyers.

Only three replied by deadline and no prizes for guessing who.

Here are their statements in full:

Mayor Tony Herbert:
“Thanks for your email.

As you are aware I am unfortunately unable to confirm most of your queries although some of the info might be able to be sought through channels of FOI. We lost the resolution on the night of the 13th July regarding confidentiality.

It is a very unfortunate situation the council has decided to thrust itself into especially in light of the further and greater impacts of the pandemic on council, staff, council budgets and our community ongoing.

I certainly would have preferred when such significant costs have been incurred, to have spent funds in a more productive and positive way…as a stimulus for our community post COVID for example.

I also implored councillors on a number of occasions to take alternative actions to manage our CEO  through discussion and negotiations rather than this drastic and expensive action as our only management tool!

As far as legal costs questions, I’m unable to comment at this time.

Hopefully things will become clearer.

One thing I will add further, is that personally,  I feel the community has a right to know what happened in the lead up to the sudden termination, reasons for  the termination and also the costs.”

Cr Robert Anderson: 

“Thank you for your email Carol, unfortunately because of the confidentiality on the above subject I am unable to make any comment.”

Cr Peter Sycopoulis:

“Thank you for your enquiry. Due to confidentiality requirements, I am not at liberty to provide an answer to your questions. What I can confirm however, is that I personally have not received correspondence from any law firm in relation to this matter.”

So the council is about to enter a legal shitestorm, to be frank, and – so far – we are officially being told nothing.

Please keep this in mind when we all vote in October.

Think about integrity, transparency, openness, honesty, accountability and the-right-to-know: these, to me, are now the key themes of election 2020.

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