Carol Altmann – The Terrier

More on the Ombudsman’s incredible report:

If ever there was an example of how loose the goose was running down at 25 Liebig St, it is this one – the “spend local” idea during the Liebig St upgrade.

A large swathe of the spending on credit cards held by managers other than David McMahon – including City Growth Manager Andrew Paton and former Economic Growth Manager Shaun Miller – is explained away by the council through its “spend local” idea.

According to the Ombudsman’s report, the council had set aside a budget of $170,000 a year for “support local” activities during the Liebig St upgrade.

Under this, “council officers were encouraged to hold work-related meetings at local cafés and restaurants, and to use their Council credit cards to pay for food and coffees”.

A noble cause, perhaps, but this is a remarkably generous eat-and-drink plan that I don’t recall ratepayers ever being told about.

More importantly, as the Ombudsman points out: “No guidance was issued by Council to assist Council officers decide what was an acceptable purchase using Council funds and what was not, other than the directives in the Procurement Policy and the Credit Card Policy.”

No guidance and a $170,000 a year budget: that’s a winning formula.

Mr Paton told the Ombudsman he was mindful of community perceptions and told his team that the “rules” were the meeting had to be business related, and involve another council officer or stakeholder.

(Call me naive, but that sounds like a recipe for pretty much anything goes.)

Here is Mr Paton’s response to the Ombudsman: “… it’s easy to look at a spreadsheet and say, ‘You spent $600 on coffees. How do you justify that?’ with no context of why that meeting occurred and why that expenditure occurred. And that’s a hard one to explain sometimes even to the people who are involved in it …

“I can see how that would look. But in terms of the context of the space we were in and the battle we were in, I’ll use that language … it was a bit of a battle to try and keep the wheels spinning because it was a day-today thing.”

I am not sure how this accounts for the after-hours work drinks on a Friday night at places like the Hairy Goat or the Warrnambool Hotel.

I am also curious as to why the “spend local” was confined to pretty much the same places: Fishtales, The Hairy Goat, Seanchai, Whaler’s, Warrnambool Hotel….

Nobody ever opted for Mack’s Snacks.

As the Ombudsman says, while this “shop local” idea may have been well-intentioned, the approach was “fundamentally unwise” and the public perception could rightly be council staff eating and drinking on the public purse, as opposed to doing “business”.

Again, this report not only reveals what was clearly misuse of a credit card by one person, but what was permissible use of a credit card by others who were simply following the “rules”.

Thankfully those rules have now changed.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

More on the Ombudsman’s report: The Myrtle Bar & Kitchen.

Readers will recall the story on The Terrier about the almost $700 dinner held at the Myrtle Bar & Kitchen and attended by City Growth Manager Andrew Paton, David McMahon, Cr Sue Cassidy and the head of the Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism authority.

This dinner was paid for on Mr Paton’s credit card and included five bottles of shiraz.

Here is what Mr Paton has told the Ombudsman by way of explanation:

“When the evening finished and we settled the bill, I looked at the bill and I was shocked by it. My initial thought was to query it, and then split the bill; and I didn’t do that, and, and I regret it.

“So I can see what that looks like, it’s about, oh we’re building a relationship with GORRT (Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism) by wining and dining them, and I get that, totally get that perception.

“But the picture for me and how I rationalised it, was the outcomes that I got from that discussion, that on balance I had good outcomes, but it didn’t meet my personal standards.

“That dinner with Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism delivered some good things, but there are some things that could have been done better that I regret.”

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I wonder what the “outcomes” and “good things” from this dinner were – wouldn’t it be great to see a public report!

The Ombudsman records that Cr Sue Cassidy last October voluntarily repaid $200 toward this bill after she regarded it as “excessive”. I guess that’s something.

On a similar note, the $1476 dinner held at Pippies By the Bay Restaurant in May 2018 – reported as part of this same story – has led to greater restraint on Sister City functions.

In 2018, it was “free reign in ordering”, so of course everyone went for the lobster and abalone.

As the Ombudsman reports: “(this) did not meet community expectations and it (the council) has taken steps to allocate a moderate per head allowance to these meals”.

All of which reminds me of the line I wrote in that original story:

“…this is not about catching people breaking the law…but exposing the steaming pile of inappropriate and unjustifiable spending that gives so little return to the ratepayer.

It’s this unjustifiable spending – via poor governance – that people want independently audited, cleaned up and cleaned out.”

I have to say I am feeling a little emotional as I write all this, knowing that this has now all been exposed after a true team effort, and change has come as a result.

It has been a long road.

More soon.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

More from the Ombudsman’s report: “Room Hire” #2.

Terrier readers will remember this “Room Hire” at the Lady Bay resort was one of two in the same week, in September 2018.

As with the one I just posted, this “room hire” was another cover up for a night of boozing, this time after a Great Ocean Road tourism dinner hosted by the WCC.

The function was legitimate, the booze up afterwards at our expense – $434 worth – was not.

Here is what City Growth Manager Andrew Paton had to say:

“I wasn’t aware of any alcohol to be paid, certainly wasn’t aware of this list, it’s the first time that I’ve seen this list. I’m shocked. So, $434 of alcohol that we don’t know who was consuming.

“It wasn’t for everyone at the conference, because VTIC paid all the costs. Wow. There was no communication to me that that alcohol was going to be funded by Council. I had no visibility of it. ”

“Wow” is an understatement.

Here is what Mr McMahon, who put the bill on his credit card, had to say:

” …what each LGA would do is pay for after the function drinks basically. So, the receipt for VTIC was for effectively the bar tab.

“It was drinks after they finished … We were in a room. And then we moved out of that room to the bar. And then I paid for that …

“It was what I was asked to do, the expectation of us hosting it.”

Two very different versions of the same event.

I am so grateful to the Victorian Ombudsman and her incredible team for ensuring the truth is now out there.

Their hard work has exposed the answers that we were denied.

As I wrote at the time, we were not expected to find out any of this, but fortunately through the work of The Terrier, whistleblowers, Freedom of Information and all of those who spoke to the Ombudsman’s investigation team, the truth is now surfacing.

More to come.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

More from Ombudsman’s report: ROOM HIRE #1:

At last we know the truth behind the first of two “room hires” at Lady Bay Hotel, this one on 6 Sept 2018.

The ‘room hire’ was not room hire at all, but in fact an unofficial thankyou party for a council staff member, organised by former tourism head David McMahon and paid for on his credit card.

The invoice was a foil to hide a drinks bill of $538.50 that included three bottles of red wine for a total cost of $325. (Food made up the total bill of $736.50).

According to the Ombudsman’s report, City Growth Manager Andrew Paton and Director Corporate Strategies Peter Utri both attended this function and offered to pay their share as they did not consider it work related.

Mr McMahon had a different view: ” I can’t speak for them, but I went there under the full knowledge that this was a work ‘thank you’ function. I don’t remember anyone having a discussion …”

Mr McMahon’s lawyer had a similar view and told the Ombudsman’s investigation:

“[David McMahon] was asked to arrange a thank you dinner by his employer for a staff member. There was never any discussion about payment. His employer attended the dinner. There was no offer to pay or contribute to the bill.”

The second “room hire”, as it turns out, was also a euphemism for a huge drinks bill.

I will post that in a moment.  (My head is swooning at the lies.)

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

JUST IN: The Victorian Ombudsman’s long-awaited report into credit card use and misuse at Warrnambool City Council has just hit the decks.

You can download the whole report here and I will run updates as I pick through it. This is the first instalment.

The bottom line to this 10-month Ombudsman’s investigation is that Warrnambool ratepayers can now take much greater comfort in knowing that every cent spent on a WCC credit card will come under much greater internal scrutiny.

As we know, this whole scandal revolved around not only blatant and unauthorised largesse by one individual in former tourism manager David McMahon, but the spending by several others that was permissible under the council’s then policies and rules.

This is part of the Ombudsman Deborah Glass’s eloquent summary:

“The conclusion of this investigation is that while there is evidence of lax practices by staff and poor judgment by some in senior management, credit card misuse was not widespread.

“Serious misuse was limited to one individual, although the level of abuse was greater than had been exposed or admitted to, in some instances also suggested a deliberate intention to deceive.

“The people of Warrnambool do not expect their hard-earned payment of rates to be funding espresso martinis, travel to Melbourne coinciding with football games, spa resort massages for family members, or hundreds of dollars in alcoholic beverages, described on the invoice as ‘Room Hire’.

‘But while the individual no longer works for the Council and has repaid the money, the damage has been done.

‘Senior management could and should have done more at the time the misuse was first exposed in 2018.

‘Although this inaction was neither dishonest nor systemic, it gave raise to the impression of a cover-up.

‘The then CEO told us he ‘would have dealt with it differently had the full picture been known at the time – an important, indeed painful lesson that integrity rules exist for a reason.

‘The impression of large numbers of snouts in the public trough was also exacerbated by overly generous hospitality policies.

‘It was understandable that Council should wish to support local traders affected by the city centre construction works. But to an observer, the holding of meetings by Council officers in local cafes and restaurants was no different from the staff going out for lunches and coffees on the public purse.

‘Combined with lax adherence to processes and insufficient oversight by some, it is not surprising these public displays of eating and drinking gave rise to the impression they apparently did.

‘Policies and guidance have since been tightened, external audits and reviews are being implemented and fewer credit cards are now in use’.”

The report goes on to make three recommendations:

the council consider referring Mr McMahon’s actions to the police;

the council reconsider the number of credit cards in use and the rationale of the issuing of the cards. (There were up to 93 cards in use in 2018-19, it’s now down to around 70.) and;

Implement the recommendations of the two audit reports and report back to the Ombudsman within six months.

There are a number of interesting revelations that start to answer some long-standing questions, including:

Mr McMahon repaid $5666.84 on Nov 5 and was given a first and final warning from then CEO Bruce Anson.

Mr McMahon also handed in his credit card. On 20 December, however, City Growth Manager (and Mr McMahon’s boss) approved Mr McMahon’s request to have his credit card back.

After a series of exclusive stories published by The Terrier last July, Mr McMahon met with the new CEO Peter Schneider and admitted further unauthorised transactions. He repaid another $3071.73 and handed in his resignation. Mr Schneider referred the matter to IBAC;

The curious receipt for “room hire” at the Lady Bay hotel on 10 October 2018 that cost ratepayers $736.50 – was an unofficial thankyou dinner for a colleague attended by Andrew Paton, Peter Utri, David McMahon and others.

Drinks at the infamous Cape Schanck tourism conference in July 2018 – the knees-up that started this whole investigation – included 34 espresso martinis at $18 each and a single shot of Sullivan’s Cove American cask whiskey for $38.

No wonder this whole saga has left ratepayers – and the council – with a massive headache.

More to come.