FAREWELL, MARK DACOMBE, AND THANKS FOR ALL THAT YOU’VE DONE FOR YORK

As most readers will know, Mark Dacombe has completed his term of office as Acting CEO of the Shire of York. 

I understand he will remain in York for another week or so to hand over the reins of office to his successor, Paul Martin, who took up his position yesterday as the Shire's new CEO.  So this farewell is a little premature, though I hope none the worse for that.

Mr. Dacombe is leaving to resume his duties as director of Localise, a consultancy specialising in advising local governments in WA.

I suspect he will have found working for the Shire of York a particularly challenging assignment.  So it’s greatly to his credit that he persisted with it for so long and has achieved so much during his time here.

He and I have met and spoken only on a few occasions.  We are not on familiar terms, but I think it fair to say that the atmosphere of those brief contacts has been one of cordiality and mutual respect. 

Disagreement

Recently, I took issue with his recommendation to Council to suppress the Fraud Squad report.

It is no secret that I have a philosophical commitment to openness at all levels of government.  In my view, the public has a right to know the details of everything done for it or in its name by elected officials and their appointed executives and advisers—except where matters of national security and defence and of international diplomacy are involved, and sometimes, not even then.

Since those excepted matters rarely if ever fall within the purview of local government, I have never quite understood why the Shire of York would choose to suppress reports like those of the Fraud Squad and Mike Fitz Gerald.

Not surprisingly, many believe, wrongly or not, that in the latter case that was done to protect the reputations of individuals who recklessly and sometimes maliciously abused their authority to injure people who opposed them, while doing favours for their supporters.

Mr. Dacombe’s argument in favour of suppressing the Fraud Squad report was based on advice from the Shire’s lawyers.  Lawyers have a natural tendency to counsel caution in making such reports publicly available.  

Forefront in their minds is the possibility that publication might prompt persons aggrieved by disclosure of wrongdoing to seek redress in the courts. 

In my view, the interests of honesty, openness and accountability should generally take precedence over advice from lawyers, however well intentioned (and expensive) that advice may be. 

Sometimes caution is best put aside, and there is always the defence of truth, or of fair comment on matters of public interest, wherever plenty of evidence exists to bolster a vigorous defence. 

The Fitz Gerald report has been available online since mid-2014, but the individuals mentioned adversely in that document have not so far as I know resorted to legal proceedings or otherwise seriously attempted to clear their names.

All we have heard from them on the topic is a resounding silence.

Difference

Mr. Dacombe’s recommendation and associated comments concerning the Fraud Squad report indicates that in at least one important respect his view of the responsibilities of local government differs widely from mine.

Mr. Dacombe is an accomplished administrator with excellent academic credentials in the sphere of public management and a wealth of practical local government experience acquired in his home country, New Zealand, as well as in WA. 

It is therefore with some diffidence that I presume to disagree with him regarding the suppression of the Fraud Squad report, but disagree I must. 

It appears from a remark he made at the last OCM that he believes the Fitz Gerald report should also remain under wraps.  For my part, I am with those who continue to clamour for the Shire to release it officially into the public domain.

The mysterious leaking of that report reminds us that truth has a discomfiting habit of making itself known.  As Hamlet says on learning that his father’s ghost has appeared above the battlements of Elsinore:  ‘Foul deeds will rise, though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes’.

Changes

Despite our disagreement, I have no doubt that in everything Mr. Dacombe has said or done as the Shire’s Acting CEO, he has acted selflessly and tirelessly in what he has considered to be the best interests of the Shire of York and the community its purpose is to serve.

In so doing, he has brought about significant changes for the better in how the Shire operates and interfaces with the community.   He has helped the current council to lay a foundation upon which all of us—whether as councillors, Shire employees or members of the community at large—may cheerfully and confidently build.

My friend Roma Paton recently corresponded with Mr. Dacombe on a matter that had caused her and Liz Christmas considerable embarrassment and distress and about which she had previously but without success sought an apology from the Shire.

Roma has asked me to publish Mr. Dacombe’s response to her request for an apology.  I am very glad to publish it, because it illustrates the humane qualities that have enabled him to steer the Shire of York in a more positive and productive direction than we have been used to for many years. 

His letter shows him to be meticulous in searching out the truth, honest in acknowledging it and compassionate in acting on it.  It is a model of how a local government CEO should respond to a request like Roma’s.

In bidding Mr. Dacombe farewell, I offer him my best wishes and sincere thanks for the changes he has encouraged and helped to bring about in the Shire of York.   We all stand to benefit from those changes.   His achievement has been remarkable.  He has done us proud.

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