WCC staff survey results to remain under wraps

A call by WCC Councillor Mike Neoh for staff survey results to be released was nothing more than a stunt. Image: kruiser

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The votes are in and….drum roll…. Warrnambool City Cr Mike Neoh has won Stunt of the Year, even though it’s only July.

Cr Neoh’s bold, Superman-underpants call for the WCC staff survey results to be released was never going to happen and he knew it.

Former CEO Bruce Anson would not release them. Former CEO Peter Schneider would not release them. And guess what? (Envelope please….)

New CEO Vikki King – anointed to the post this week by Cr Neoh and three other councillors – won’t release them either!

What a stellar performance of bullshite at its best!

So here we are, none the wiser as to what evidence pressed the eject seat under former CEO Schneider on Monday night.

I asked all the councillors today whether they would press Ms King to release the results.

Only Mayor Tony Herbert replied. His reply is worth reading in full and so I am posting it below.

Our council is broken, bleeding and stinks to high heaven. More to come, in coming days.

From Mayor Herbert:

“Thanks for your question.

As stated previously, the staff survey this year as with other years, was conducted with a high level of confidentiality which I believe must be respected. Maybe the next one, if staff were informed that their results in whatever format council decides, are going to be made public and the staff are aware of this, I might support being made public.

The staff already feel they are under the community microscope with the various forms of media ready to publicise anything they do wrong. Everyone makes mistakes, but it’s becoming too public.

Myself, I have doubts about the motives behind the call for staff survey results being made public.

It’s such an operational issue and as I used to be reminded regularly about this in my early days as a new councillor.

The staff, and all their related issues are the sole responsibility of the CEO. Surely staff survey results ,whether it be detail or higher level is for the CEO to decide not individual councillors. Councillors don’t actually have the control to do whatever they wish. They have to first and foremost act within the WCC code of conduct and the Act.

Given the staff sentiment also at the moment, I would prefer the staff to feel our genuine care for them rather than further humiliating them.

There was a staff suicide last year and many of them are still dealing with that event. They need support not more public attention.

Thanks for your query, but it’s a resounding “no support” from me.”

 



No bones about it, WCC pet rego fees are astronomical

Pet registrations in Warrnambool are already the second highest in Australia and continue to climb. Stock image.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Well this is enough to make pet owners barking mad.

Tucked within the pages of the Warrnambool City Council draft budget is a little note that pet registration fees are set to rise – AGAIN.

If this rise goes ahead – as I suspect it will – this time next year a single desexed dog or desexed cat will cost $72 to register, up from $70. It was $54 just a couple of years ago.

The CEO said at last Monday night’s meeting that our rego fees are, “not dissimilar to some other municipalities”.

This is untrue.

We now pay the second highest pet regos fees in Australia, behind only Brighton, in Melbourne.

 

In Ballarat, the fee is $40. In Traralgon, it is $43. In Portland, it is $35. Over in Port Fairy, it is $39…you get the drift.

The reason we are being fleeced, it seems, is that in 2017 the council signed on to a three-year deal with the RSPCA that saw an explosion in its fees for running the council pound – the cost tripled overnight.

Not only that, the cost of running the pound has risen astronomically for EACH year of the three-year deal.

The RSPCA charged the council $328,000 in 2018-19.

Next financial year, which is the last year of its contract, it will charge $425,000: almost half a million dollars!

Holy malooza! It’s enough to make you have kittens.

In response to a question from a ratepayer on Monday night, our CEO explained that the RSPCA is all about saving animals, rehousing them, returning them home etc all of which costs money and is supported by any animal lover, including me.

But here is the rub.

The RSPCA also runs the pound in Portland and they ain’t payin’ anywhere near $70 a dog or cat. Why not? Because, to put it simply, Glenelg Shire negotiated a better deal.

The RSPCA runs very few animal shelters in Victoria now and no doubt those they do run are top notch, but charging $425,000 a year for a city the size of Warrnambool?

I would rather see these funds used to subsidise desexing – of cats, in particular, as happens in South Australia.

As it also happens, the WCC has just advertised a tender to run the pound from 2021-22. Will the RSPCA be, again, the only one to apply?

Or maybe the council, post C19 when people need to be redeployed, could think about using that half a million bucks a year to run the pound again itself?

Unless we want to see pet regos go up and up and up, it could be the best option.

[The WCC draft budget is open for public comment and feedback until 3 June.]