Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Warrnambool has spoken and oh boy, it is being heard.

Like you, I went to bed last night in one Warrnambool and woke up to another one.

In what is an unprecedented election result, we saw one candidate, Vicki Jellie, finish with an astronomical 6526 first preference votes: almost one third of the total counted.

We saw a Sudanese man, a former refugee who has made Warrnambool his home, Otha Akoch, elected with 2771 first preference votes.

We saw a record number of women elected in Vicki, Angie Paspaliaris and Debbie Arnott.

And we saw a record turnout of 86 per cent of voters who, between them, voted in seven new faces for seven vacancies.

I doubt there has been any 2020 council election result across Victoria like this one, where not one sitting councillor was re-elected.

Warrnambool has done it: it has found its voice and turned the page on what has been more than a decade of division within the council and councillors, a toxic culture that enabled entitlement, and a growing disconnect from the community.

For all of the good work done by our elected councillors these past four years, so much had gone wrong.

The community, quite simply, had had enough.

It had had enough of being cut out of the conversation, of being told lies and fed spin, of being treated like a cash cow, of being left wondering why another year would pass and the same problems were still not solved, while fresh problems lined up behind them.

This time around, Warrnambool has really thought about its vote and taken a risk on not the same names – backed by the same power brokers –  but a completely fresh start.

It is scary, but my word, Warrnambool is ready to take the chance, because we are exhausted from the battle of just trying to keep on top of the latest scandal which was not of our making.

No more.

There are fears that a new council would not support the environment in the same way as the old one.

I am not sure how this computes when you had a 6/1 majority of the past councillors vote to destroy Levy’s Beach by handing it over to Darren Weir and his racehorse training.

And has done nothing to lobby Wannon Water on its sewerage plant upgrade.

And ignored the disgraceful environmental damage by hoons at Levy’s Beach.

And took years longer than our neighbouring councils to introduce a green waste bin and then applauded itself for being ground breaking.

It is a patchy track record, at best, and one that can only improve and must.

With this election, ethics and integrity are making a comeback and they are making a comeback not just in words, but in actions.

But it is not about passing the burden of change to a new council, walking away and watching on comfortably from the sidelines.

We need to stay involved, and take the energy from this election and turn it into a driving force for the next four years.

This is the message from this election and it is the message behind the enormous vote for Vicki Jellie.

Because 6526 votes was far more than a vote for Vicki the person: it was a statement of what our community can achieve when we all work together.

We want that feeling back.

Vicki’s work with Peter’s Project started from a place of personal grief and grew into a movement that saw Warrnambool achieve what many thought would be impossible: a first-class cancer treatment centre, run by Epworth Hospital, in a regional city miles from Melbourne.

Warrnambool wants more of this.

It wants THAT relationship with its councillors and council – the one where we unite, with empathy, respect, honesty and determination, to do the best for our city.

If we work in this way, we can get things done: we can improve the harbour, we can recreate Flagstaff Hill, we can care for our stunning environment, we can find ways to keep rates down under the cap, we can help traders get back on their feet from Covid-19, we can resolve the endless argument about CBD parking, we can get a grip on the 2040 plan, and, through it all, we can bring integrity back to the council process.

This is our chance for true change – Warrnambool has voted for it – and it starts today.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

I have been crunching the numbers from the VEC on the clean sweep at the Warrnambool City Council today and here is how the full 24 candidates landed in order after preferences.

A candidate needed to reach 2677 to win.

1. Vicki Jellie.
2. Otha Akoch.
3. Angie Paspaliaris
4. Debbie Arnott
5. Ben Blain
6. Max Taylor
7. Richard Ziegeler
—-
8. Peter Sycopoulis (2403 – 337 votes short of a spot)
9. Lynn Hudson (1791)
10. Michael Neoh (1535)
11. Jim Burke (1320)
12. Tracey Togni (1140)
13. Matt Walsh (970)
14. Bruce Campbell (887)
15. Sue Cassidy (808)
16. Kylie Gaston (636)
17. Michael McCluskey (542)
18. David Owen (492)
19. Thomas Campbell (378)
20. Steve Moore (369)
21. Anthony Earnshaw (336)
22. Cassandra Prigg (263)
23. Andrew Squires (185)
24. Jacinta Anderson (182)

I will be back later this afternoon with a piece once I digest this unprecedented result.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

A warning. If you were around in the 80s, you are about to suffer a serious ear worm because we are now entering THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!

After what seems like weeks for a methodical count, we will know by mid-morning who has been elected to the new Warrnambool City Council.

No matter what happens tomorrow, we have already witnessed history. Warrnambool has never seen an election quite like this one.

Never have we seen a single candidate – in Vicki Jellie – attract more than 6000 first preference votes.

Most candidates are thrilled to get 1500 and brand new candidates who have never run before are rapt to get 1000.

Almost one in three people who voted in this election put Vicki at number one. Unbelievable.

Candidates need around 2700* votes to win one of the seven spots, but Vicki – according to the local paper – has more than double that amount.

Otha Akoch is also in a comfortable position and he will also take a seat at the table without having to rely on preferences.

So we have TWO candidates who have both won seats without needing to worry about preferences. This, from my delving back into the history books, has not happened in Warrnambool in a very, very, very long time.

On top of this, it looks like none of the four councillors elected in 2016 will be re-elected. Only one – Michael Neoh – has a slim chance of making it across the line. He is sitting around eighth, but will need a truck load of preferences.

Such a rout is unprecedented.

The last time that sort of clean out happened, if at all, was when horses were tied to hitching posts down Liebig St.

Vicki will win. Otha will win. Based on the numbers so far, Angie Paspaliaris will win. Ben Blain will most likely win, but – from there – who will take the final three spots?\

Honestly, I have no idea.

Those rounding out the top 10 at the moment – although a long way behind the top four – are Peter Sycopoulis, Richard Ziegeler, Lynn Hudson, Jim Burke, Mike Neoh and Max Taylor, with Debbie Arnott sitting a little further back at 11. Only a couple of hundred votes separates sixth spot from 10th spot.

It now all comes down to preferences and, in particular, Vicki Jellie’s preferences.

If we take away the 2700 or so votes Vicki needed to win, she has another 3000 or so votes that will now be distributed as preferences thanks to a handy little VEC computer program that will work this all out tomorrow with the press of a button.

If someone voted for Vicki first, who they put second now matters – a lot.

If people followed Vicki’s how to vote card, Debbie Arnott and Richard Ziegler will shoot across the line. If they didn’t follow Vicki’s card, well who knows what might happen?

One thing to keep in mind is that preference votes don’t get counted as one full vote.

In other words, if 400 of Vicki’s preferences go to Richard, he won’t see his count go up by 400, but by a percentage which is far too complicated to explain here.

The bottom line, however, is that there are a hell of a lot of preference votes now swashing around in this big democratic washing machine and we shall have to wait until tomorrow to see where they land.

See you then.

* 2700 is the ‘quota’ which is worked out by taking all the votes cast, removing all of the invalid ones, and dividing that total by the number of vacant seats (7) plus one (so, 8). Simple, huh?

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

As the count goes on to decide who will sit alongside frontrunner Vicki Jellie on the new Warrnambool City Council, we must remember that there is important, unfinished business from the last go round.

The first is whether the WCC has referred a crime to the police – the abuse and misuse of a council corporate credit card.

It is now almost four weeks since the Ombudsman recommended it consider doing so: we still don’t know if it has.

The latest statement from Acting CEO Vikki King is “at this stage there is no update in relation to the referral of the credit card findings to the Warrnambool Police”.

A former senior council manager lied and covered up his spending on a council credit card and yet, four weeks on from this confirmation, the council is apparently no further forward on pursuing any criminal charges.

For a council that allegedly couldn’t wait to throw a CEO out the door for pressing pause on a fishing pontoon, this is disturbing.

And for our local paper to argue that the stolen money was “paid back”…if only such justice was served to the poor bastards thrown into court for pinching a packet of chops.

Just as disturbing is the second item of unfinished business: the leaking of highly sensitive, highly personal documents from within council to at least two councillors, in the mail.

Three sworn affidavits from Tony Herbert, Sue Cassidy and Kylie Gaston all revealed that psychometric test results for those who applied for the position of CEO were leaked.

Senior council staff have known about this leak since at least April this year, when Robert Anderson asked for an investigation.

Has it been investigated? Did it turn the joint upside down? Did it run a full IT audit to see who had access to these highly personal documents? (I would guess, not many people.)

Has it contacted the Inspectorate or the anti-corruption body IBAC?

We don’t know, because the Acting CEO – as of today – has declined to comment.

“It would be inappropriate to comment on matters currently before the Supreme Court,” is the statement.

But this leak is not being challenged in the Supreme Court. It happened. And nothing, it seems, has been done to track down the person/s responsible.

As it happens, IBAC just today issued a newsletter on this very topic of misuse of private and personal information held by councils.

IBAC warns that such misuse “may constitute corrupt conduct”.

There is that c word again.

I am as invigorated as you are by the wave of change that is poised to roll through our council and the above just underscores – yet again – why such a change can’t come soon enough.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

A final post on the Ombudsman’s report: the story does not end here.

One of the things picked up by the Ombudsman’s investigation was a strong sense of disunity and discord within the W’bool city Council, both among councillors and council officers.

A number of “concerns” about senior management’s handling of misconduct were raised with the Ombudsman during the investigation into the credit cards, but some were unfounded, some lacked substance and some were beyond the scope of this particular investigation.

These concerns may, however, still point to a broader problem that was most recently played out by the sacking of Peter Schneider (which rates a mention).

The Ombudsman, Deborah Glass, writes:

“While we did not find evidence of systemic abuse by Council officers or systemic failings by senior management…we did not deal with every allegation aired publicly or privately, and which continued during the investigation.

“Their prevalence and persistence suggest a disunity within Council which this investigation does not purport to deal with, but for the sake of ratepayers and the community must be addressed.

“Communities rely on their council to practice unified and strong civic leadership.”

No truer words have been spoken and none more timely.

Thankyou for hanging in here: this is a report with a lot to digest and it is worth a full read.

I am now off to have a lie down, but before I do, I just want to say this:

Thankyou to all of the brave souls who have helped to bring the truth to the surface today, despite the denials, excuses and dismissals that go on from enablers, even as we speak.

I remember the day these brave souls came to me about the busted culture at the WCC, because they had nowhere else to go. They had tried the “internal systems” and they got nowhere. They had approached councillors for help, and they got nowhere.

Nobody would listen. But they are listening now.

It has been a long, slow and exhausting road but here we are. Change has come and change is coming.

On. We. Go.