Councillors Keeping Quiet Over Governance Issues
Mayor Tim Shadbolt has spoken up and wants the whistle blowers regarding council’s ongoing issues to come forward.
But nobody is saying boo, and when he suggested last week ‘in-committee’ that independent members of the audit and risk committee urgently interview staff and councillors to find out who it was, the motion didn’t get any support.
“It is my view that the best and most prudent way to address these extremely serious allegations is to hear exactly from the persons who made these complaints….and so we can fully understand and address the issues raised.”
The Department of Internal Affairs wrote to His Worship and chief executive Clare Hadley two weeks ago asking for assurance that the council was taking steps to restore trust and confidence in the way the it operates.
In letters released to the media on Monday, Hadley responded to the DIA that the council was committed to “addressing the issues swiftly.”
Her correspondence to Sir Tim was that “we needn’t respond with anymore than a simple direct plan,” but Sir Tim’s response to the issue was slightly different.
“From my many years of experience, I do not agree that this will satisfy the Department, the Minister nor myself.”
He said the mostly likely source of the leaks and communications was from within council itself, and therefore they needed to find out where they were coming from.
But his motion at the meeting was not moved, seconded or voted on, so it then lapsed.
Sir Tim said, when contacted, he was hoping someone might confess, “because the problem is it sows the seed of doubt, and you are always looking over your shoulder. It brings suspicion on everyone.”
His Worship said he was a “born-again optimist” but also admitted that council being so water tight – there was not much hope of anybody owning up.
Meanwhile, the council has agreed to seek appropriate high quality independent advice to achieve the outcomes from the DIA, using governance expert Bruce Robertson.
Councillors have been asked to provide feedback to him on the issues they see as impacting the council’s performance, for inclusion within the overall ‘plan’ for the DIA.
An extraordinary meeting has been moved to Friday at 9am where the framework for the Department of Internal Affairs ‘Plan’ will be confirmed.