NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND

One mystery more or less solved—how much Commissioner Best was paid—and another mystery that remains unsolved—WTF did he do to earn it?

You may recall that the minutes for 6 July 2015 contained an appendix A to item 9.2.1.  Titled ‘An Unsustainable Path – York Shire Council Heading for Insolvency’, it cited the sum of $807,824 as having been incurred by the Shire since March 2014.

Some of us have concluded that the author of that appendix was none other than Commissioner Best, aided by Acting CEO Graeme ‘They’re all exemplary employees’ Simpson.

Even a cursory analysis of the document suggests that most of the sum in question would most probably have been incurred and expended during the latter part of financial year 2014-15—that is, during the calamitous reign of Commissioner Best.

I’m still reeling from the payment of $33,000 to Professional Public Relations (PPR) for ‘Brand reputation management and corporate communication’.  What will the tribe of unscrupulous corporate footpads think of next?

Governance

I published the appendix in this blog on 19 July.  It’s still there for you to read, if you enjoy the sensation of being amused and disgusted at the same time.

My present concern is with the item headed ‘Governance’.  This includes a payment to the Commissioner of $51,000. 

Later—I’m not quite sure when—this amount was increased to $63,000.  I can’t remember what the additional $12,000 was for.  Can anyone enlighten me?

But that’s not the whole story.  At last Monday’s Council meeting, in a rare moment of transparency, the Acting CEO told us that Mr. Best, in the guise of his company BBC Consulting, was paid $39,000 for his ‘visioning’ program in addition to his fee as commissioner.

Pressed for further details, the Acting CEO added that Minister Tony Simpson, when appointing Mr. Best, had authorised him to conduct the program in York at the Shire’s expense.

I don’t know what possessed the Acting CEO to say that.  A reliable source tells me it isn’t true.  Apparently Minister Simpson did nothing of the kind. 

In that case, it would seem that Mr. Best took it upon himself to inflict his ‘visioning program’ on the good folk of York.

If not the Minister, who authorised the contract?

And this is where we dive into the sewer.  You see, somebody acting as Council would have had to authorise the contract between BBC Consulting and the Shire. The only person in a position to do that was—you’ve guessed it—James Best. 

Am I the only one to catch the mephitic odour of an undeclared ‘financial interest’ here? 

Hold on though—perhaps the interest was declared.  Here’s a possible scenario. 

Commissioner James Best decides to contract BBC Consulting, proprietor James Best, to bestow upon the citizens of York the civilising benefits of several sessions of ‘visioning’, maybe with a sprinkling of ‘ideation’ and a ‘wordle’ or two to follow. 

Commissioner Best then recollects that he is in fact one and the same person as James Best, proprietor of BBC Consulting.  So he declares to himself as Commissioner that he has a financial interest in the proceedings, disqualifies himself from discussing and voting on the matter, then, as de jure Council of the day, authorises the transaction and directs the Acting CEO to implement payment.

Ah, but somebody in the Shire administration would have had to sign off on payment of the contract amount to James Best in his capacity as consultant and proprietor of BBC Consulting.

Was that person Acting CEO Simpson?  If not, who was it?

Questions

However this act of financial depredation was accomplished, it raises the following questions:

1.              Was the appointment of BBC Consulting authorised by Minister Simpson, as the Acting CEO has claimed?

2.              If so, precisely on what legislative basis did the Minister act, bearing in mind that he would have been effectively authorising Mr. Best to help himself to the Shire’s, i.e. our, financial resources? 

3.              If so, did the Shire receive written confirmation from the Minister’s office that the appointment had been so authorised?

4.              Further, if so, will the Acting CEO seek the Minister’s permission to table the relevant document?

5.              If Minister Simpson did not authorise the appointment, what steps did the Acting CEO take to ensure that payment to Mr. Best of $39,000 for his ‘visioning’ program was a legitimate use of Shire funds?

6.              Was the transaction a budgeted item?  If not, would it not have had to be approved by a majority of councillors and minuted accordingly?

7.              If the Minister did not authorise the appointment, and the appointment was not budgeted, where in the minutes are Mr. Best’s appointment of his company, i.e. himself, to run the visioning program, and the payment to him of $39,000, recorded?

8.              How many ‘visioning’ sessions were actually held?

9.              How many people attended each one?

10.          How many were cancelled, or postponed but never actually held?

11.          How many such sessions did Commissioner Best arrange but fail to turn up for?

12.          Do Council and/or the Acting CEO consider that the people of York got value for money from BBC Consulting?

13.          If not, what steps can and will Council take to recover the sum expended, or part of it?

At a rough estimate, I would say that Mr. Best’s part-time sojourn in York as Commissioner cost the York community at least $103,000, made up as follows:  $51,000 for being our commissioner; $39,000 for his ‘visioning’ program; and $13,000 for God knows what, unless it was the cost of meals, accommodation and travel expenses, which I suspect was in fact an additional but so far unspecified burden on the Shire.

And we shouldn’t forget the purchase of Chalkies for $625,000, this time not for his own benefit (and certainly not for ours!) but for that of his friends at Faversham House.

A little bird told me that Mr. Best has been touting for consultancy work in other Wheatbelt towns, telling people there what a wonderful job he did in York. 

Frankly, I despair.

*******

  

  Rating or rorting?  Never mind which, we’re rooted (again)

GAME OF THRONES

                                                                                           From the land where law is king

                                                                                         The rates are the true embodiment

                                                                                         Of everything that’s excellent.

                                                                                         Pay, peasants, or it’s off to court:

                                                                                         We’ll sell you up and sell you short.

                                                                                           
                                                                                                  (Apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan)          

(click to enlarge)

The table above comes from the Sunday Times for 9 August 2015.

In the metropolitan area, people are screaming because annual rates have risen by between 1.95% (Stirling) and 8% (Victoria Park).

In the country, the range is 0.2% (Ashburton) to 7.95% (Waroona).

Hold on—where’s the Shire of York, with its fabulous 13% rise?

The Sunday Times asked every local authority, including York, for information about the rates set for the current financial year.

It appears that the Shire of York ignored the request.  No prizes for guessing why.

Acting CEO Simpson, James Best and their 'exemplary employees' have made York a laughing stock (or as John Elkington might say, have 'diminished' and 'undermined' the Shire).

Colin Barnett and Tony Simpson—over to you (I’m joking, of course).

*******

‘Coup de grass’ (sorry, I couldn’t resist it)

Readers may remember that on 7 June I posted former CEO Ray Hooper’s ringing endorsement of Green Planet Grass, the firm that laid down artificial grass for the bowling greens at the Recreation Centre.

I’ve since been told that the same firm provided the grass for the tennis courts.  The whole job would have cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Imagine my surprise on seeing the photographs below, taken this morning by a friend.  Something appears to have gone badly wrong with the surface of the courts. 

My first thought was that the job would have been carried out under warranty, so the Shire should call on Green Planet Grass to repair the damage.

Well, as it turns out, the Shire did exactly that.

But Green Planet Grass has refused to honour the warranty—and rightly so, because, as the firm points out, the courts haven’t been maintained.

Like real grass, you can’t leave artificial grass to fend for itself.  It has to be looked after, treated with tender loving care, much like the real thing.

So—what went wrong?

It’s obvious that for some reason, the Shire has fallen down on the job.

Though maybe not only the Shire—some of the blame would have to be laid at the door of the Tennis Club, if the club committee failed to give the Shire a nudge to get the job done.

And as Mr. Richard Bliss recently reminded us in a famous letter to YDCM, the buck stops with the boss. 

Come on, Acting CEO Simpson, tell us why you’ve allowed the tennis court surface to deteriorate in this way and what you propose to do about it.

 Perhaps it’s time we put you out to grass.  

Another blog joins the fray…

The York Consortium and I welcome the advent of a new blog set up three weeks ago specifically, as it says, to scrutinise the foolish, evasive, misleading and downright dishonest answers, or failures to answer, issued at Council meetings by Acting CEO Simpson (and occasionally other members of Shire staff) to questions on notice and from the gallery.

Our blog, The REAL Voice, is not connected with the new blog, ‘Shire of York Q & A’.  Nor, I believe, is our friendly rival ‘The official unofficial site’ at http://shireofyork6302.blogspot.com.au/.

This is how the new blog introduces itself and defines its purpose:

"It is becoming increasingly obvious that Shire of York senior employees have little or no aptitude when answering questions from members of the public.

This blog is dedicated to some of those questions and ludicrous answers.

Any member of the public who wishes to air a grievance in regard to this may do so on this blog.

Please send a copy of the question and subsequent response by the Shire.

Any scans or images must be in a JPEG format.

If you wish to remain anonymous, or wish to redact addresses and telephone numbers, please do so prior to forwarding any documents."

The new blog’s address is http://shireofyorkqanda.blogspot.com.au/.  When we first read that address, we assumed that the blog was initiated by the ABC’s chief resident leftie Tony Jones, but he assures us he had nothing to do with it.

We exhort readers to follow the new blog and feed it with relevant material.  The more the merrier, we say.