Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Look closely, this is the slow ruination of a public reserve by Lyndoch Living through ongoing, illegal parking with impunity.

They are photos of Scoborio Reserve, a public reserve on the north side of Lyndoch and the original site of the Warrnambool botanic gardens.

It is named in honour of a head gardener, Charles Scoborio.

It’s a place where a few remnant scraps of native vegetation cling to what used to be a rich habitat along the banks of the Hopkins River as part of the Peek Whurrong lands.

Yellow-crested black cockatoos, pink-chested galahs and nesting magpies still like to hang out there.

And now, bit by bit, it’s being lost to the expansion of Lyndoch.

Lyndoch is turning the eastern end into an unofficial staff car park because it has failed to ever provide enough staff and visitor parking on its own land.

The reserve is becoming a mud bath.

What was once a handful of cars has grown to 30 or more a day.

That’s because the opening of a mini medical clinic at Lyndoch and demolition work for the $22 million medical clinic has pushed scarce parking on site to breaking point.

Lyndoch has even had the gall to direct staff – in writing – to park on land that it doesn’t own because it couldn’t be bothered to find its own solution.

And what have the WCC officers done about it?

They haven’t, as you might expect, told Lyndoch to stop.

In fact they haven’t moved one inch to protect the reserve from this illegal activity.

No, what they have done is actually far worse than doing nothing: they are looking at ways to let it go on.

The council officers – NOT the elected councillors* – are busily working to solve a problem that is not their problem and are offering up a piece of public land in the process.

In other words, if Lyndoch breaks the law, the council doesn’t fine them, but bends to them.

What a disgrace.

I wish I could say this was a one off.

You may recall the large corporate sign that was installed on the side of Lyndoch last November without a council permit.

Seven months on, the permit application (lodged after The Terrier story) is still being processed.

The illegal sign is still there.

Lyndoch is also, as we speak, committing an offence under the State Planning and Environment Act by ignoring the permit conditions for its mini medical clinic.

Part of the permit issued by council staff (NOT councillors*) included a clear traffic and parking plan.

This plan has been completely ignored by Lyndoch ever since the clinic opened on 4 April.

Has anything happened as a consequence? Was the clinic forced to close immediately?

No, of course not.

And here comes the pub test.

All of these breaches are happening while the WCC chief of planning, Andrew Paton, sits on the Lyndoch board.

He is also a director of the Warrnambool Medical Clinic, a commercial, private company owned by Lyndoch that is driving the $22m project.

Former WCC Acting CEO and community services manager Vikki King is also deputy chair of a board chaired by the Lyndoch CEO and managed by Lyndoch.

How is it okay for senior council managers  – a chief planner and a former Acting CEO no less – to be anywhere near an organisation that requires multiple council approvals* as part of its expansion?

(You might also recall the secret talks between Lyndoch and the WCC about 18 months ago to sell off part of Scoborio for a childcare centre before exposure by The Terrier cut that off at the pass.)

The WCC says Mr Paton has declared a conflict of interest in all planning and applications from Lyndoch* and has not been involved in any decisions.

And Mr Paton, for his part, told me both positions he holds with Lyndoch are, “to date”, voluntary.

I have no doubt Mr Paton has acted with integrity, but that is not the point.

The question is, why would he put himself in that position in the first place and why would the WCC allow it?

If Mr Paton was a board member of a building company that was rolling out $100m worth of housing on Hopkins Rd hill, eyebrows would be up.

Why is it not the case here as Lyndoch rolls out a $100m masterplan*?

This is precisely the “wheels within wheels”, “who-you-know” rubbish that the people of Warrnambool are sick of.

We are all tired of doing the right thing – applying for permits, parking within the lines, paying our fines – while others sail past in the express lane of exemption and ruin public property in the process.

Insiders and outsiders.

As I wrote after the Schneider court victory, those days are done and it’s time for the WCC to end it, regardless of who is in charge.

* Not one part of Lyndoch’s $100m masterplan so far has gone to full council for approval by the elected councillors. Each part has been signed off by delegation.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Today’s emphatic victory in the Supreme Court by Warrnambool City Council CEO Peter Schneider did more than give him his job back – it has exposed the poisonous culture that tries to silence our city.

This victory exposes a rotten culture of power and entitlement that was allowed to take root and fester in the council for almost two decades.

Mr Schneider, wide-eyed and pink-cheeked off the plane from WA, walked into a culture that thrived on the cruel concept of  “insiders” and “outsiders” and the snivelling, sycophantic silence of those who quickly learned how the game was played, and who chose not to speak up, but to join in.

By joining in, they thought they might have a tiny slice of power too.

How did that work out?

Mr Schneider walked into a joint that had not had seen a staff review in 12 years.

The WCC had become a place of power plays, backroom deals, favours, payback, revenge, circles of influence, pet projects and political aspirations.

In this culture, one councillor who was on council for 16 years, Michael Neoh, was elected Mayor five times.

Peter Hulin, who was on council for a decade, was not allowed to be Mayor, even once.

Insiders and outsiders.

Mr Schneider was an “insider” for about 23 minutes – having been chosen for the job and relocating his family from across the other side of Australia – only to find he wasn’t an insider at all.

He didn’t fit the plan.

When those who thought they held all the power decided he had to go, they gathered, they plotted, and they ripped his voice out.

As Justice Michael McDonald’s judgment said in no uncertain terms today, Mr Schneider was denied the basic right to defend himself.

He was silenced.

Three other members of council, including the Mayor and a former Mayor, tried to ask questions.

The four councillors who believed they had all the power, stayed mute.

Is there any more brutal example of those who are allowed to speak and those who are not?

We have seen this silencing time and again in Warrnambool: where the cliques have gathered to protect their own and the powerless were ignored.

We see it in the ribbons fluttering on the Loud Fence outside St Joseph’s church in Lava St.

We saw it during the March4Justice rally on 15 March when sexual abuse survivors spoke for the first time.

We saw it in the battle to save Levy’s Beach from the might of the racing industry, where the words of the indigenous elders were lost in the tailwind of Darren Weir’s blazing comet.

We are seeing the same silencing take root in Lyndoch Living right now, in real time, where becoming a member or board member is no longer an opportunity open to everyone, but to a select few.

As a result, we have a situation where more than 1000 people have now signed a petition asking Lyndoch simple questions that it refuses to answer.

Insiders and outsiders: that’s how Warrnambool used to roll.

Mr Schneider’s victory today should send a message to all those who believe the voiceless will stay silent that those days are over.

The days of stepping on heads for personal power – those days are done.

But the cultural clean-out at the council is still not over.

There is an ongoing Local Government Inspectorate investigation that we all hope will provide answers to exactly what happened in the lead up to Mr Schneider’s illegal sacking and afterward.

This includes the “free” legal advice provided to then Cr Neoh, and the appointment of Vikki King as Acting CEO who, before the ink was dry on that deal, was also reappointed for another five years as manager of Community Services.

None of Ms King’s managerial colleagues signed off on that deal, so it was passed to a subordinate – a casual.

I have always believed that the truth rises and it will, and when it does, it comes with a roar.

Find the full judgment here:

Schneider v Warrnambool City Council [2021] VSC 337

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

JUST IN: A couple of weeks ago I called Powercor to see whether plans were still going ahead to briefly turn off power lines along central Timor St which would allow long overdue painting works on some of the most magnificent shop tops in Warrnambool.

The good news is that – YES! – it is still going ahead and a series of brief power shut downs will start as of tomorrow, 31 March, and extend on and off over the next 90 days.

This means property owners along the stretch between Kepler and Liebig St can finally get painters up there safely, without them risking a tight perm or far worse, and paint around the power connection points to each building.

With the help of the Warrnambool City Council, property owners can apply for $ for $ funding up to $3000 to help cover the cost of the works which – in my humble view – will transform the street.

It’s been a feat of logistics to get this all organised since it was announced by former Mayor Tony Herbert mid last year, but Powercor, the WCC and property owners have now come up with a workable solution.

Let’s hope all of the property owners grab this golden opportunity.

In a statement today, Powercor Major Client Manager Richard Scholten said Powercor knew “how important this restoration work is for shop owners in Timor Street, so we are pleased that we have been able to support this facelift to be completed safely.

“The final solution is one that not only achieves the desired restoration of each building, but does so in a way that keeps power on for these businesses and the surrounding community.”

Mayor Vicki Jellie said the plan resolved what was a major obstacle for shop owners:

“We know that many have been wanting to carry out maintenance on their buildings and this collaboration with Powercor removes the obstacle that prevented this from happening,” Cr Jellie said.

“Importantly, pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained while the work is carried out.”

You can read the full Powercor media statement here: https://www.powercor.com.au/news/media-release-power-works-help-restore-warrnambool-shop-facades/

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

After a three-day hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court, the fate of sacked Warrnambool City Council CEO Peter Schneider now comes down to three options:

First, he loses his case.

Second, he wins his case and accepts an untold amount of damages that are yet to be decided.

Third, Mr Schneider wins his case, his termination is quashed, and the new WCC councillors are left to decide whether they would like to keep him or replace him.

Any move by the new council to sack Mr Schneider would require a fresh motion and – no doubt – the opportunity for him to defend his record: an opportunity which his lawyers say he was denied on 13 July last year when the axe fell by way of a 4/3 vote. (Mr Schneider’s contract was due to expire in Feb 2023.)

The presiding judge Justice Michael McDonald says he hopes to hand down his judgment by 28 June and my word, it can’t come soon enough.

Because regardless of the outcome, this bruising court battle has done our city no favours.

By the time this is settled, our city will have been left sitting in grid lock for almost a year, unable to move ahead with a permanent leader.

Just as bruising is the spotlight on the tribalism within the old council.

By way of the written affidavits and evidence lodged with the court, the factionalism, infighting and petty nastiness within the previous council has been put on display outside of the Liebig St bubble.

We might have become used to it as part of our Stockholm Syndrome (since cured), but those exposed to it for the first time must have been astonished.

It’s perhaps not surprising that Justice McDonald dismissed most of the “he-said, she-said” evidence with one swipe on day one of the hearing on Tuesday, saying he wasn’t interested – “for heaven’s sake” – in the inner workings of the WCC.

He was attuned, however, to the implications of allowing a senior public official to be “caught in the cross-fire of factional warfare between councillors”.

As Justice McDonald said with punch yesterday, any CEO caught in this crossfire could be “figuratively get taken out the back and shot”.

He repeated this theme today, saying there were specific laws to protect a public official, like a council CEO, from “the capricious and whimsical actions” of others.

“Because of the close contact between a CEO and a council, this is the very example of (an officer) needing that protection.”

As I wrote last night, the case hinges on whether Mr Schneider’s individual contract and its “no reason” clause holds more sway than section 94 (c) of the Local Government Act, which, by law, says all council workers must be treated fairly.

As Justice McDonald outlined yesterday, it is a case with potential implications for every council CEO across Victoria.

In fact we learned in the final day of the hearing today that this is the first time in 28 years that the Local Government Act (1993) has been challenged in this way.

No other council in Victoria – in recent history at least – has had a legal battle between a sacked CEO and a council make its way to the Supreme Court.

So Warrnambool will make history and Schneider v Warrnambool City Council will probably find its way into the text books of the next generation of civil lawyers.

But no doubt ratepayers, who one way or the other are paying for this battle and the fallout, would prefer this chapter had never been written.