2 hours ago
3
The City of South Perth council has voted to spend an extra $900 a day to extend the term of its local government monitor until August 17.
This is the second time this year the city has requested monitor Gail McGowan’s time be extended and comes with a hefty price tag for ratepayers.
A City of South Perth spokesperson confirmed McGowan works two days a week which will incur an approximate fee of $16,200.
This is on top of a $12,600 paycheck ratepayers had to pick up after McGowan’s role was extended earlier in the year.
The City of South Perth was the third dysfunctional local government in Western Australia to be given a monitor following the appointment of local government inspector Tony Brown on January 1.
McGowan was originally appointed to her role at the city on February 25 for a term that was set to conclude on April 29, but the city extended her contract to June 17.
Councillors voted unanimously on Tuesday night to request acting chief executive Anita Amprimo write to Brown and request another extension of McGowan’s tenure.
Mayor Greg Milner said the decision to keep McGowan in her position is to allow for a workplace psychosocial risk assessment to be completed.
“I think it would be very useful for the monitor to be able to have regard to the results of the psychosocial risk assessment that’s currently going on, before preparing an action plan and recommendations to the inspector,” he said.
He said the city was “presently facing some challenges” including a lack of employees across all levels of governance.
“We currently have a number of key personnel on leave, which is compounded by a higher than usual number of employee vacancies across the organisation, and an elevated number of employees currently working in acting or higher duty capacities,” he said.
“That in turn puts pressure on our staff, but where we have key personnel absent also means that some of the usual sources of guidance, supervision, and collegial support are necessarily reduced.
“Speaking for myself, I consider that Ms McGowan’s presence at the city has been a positive and stabilising influence since her appointment, and I do think that the ongoing presence ... as monitor would be helpful in the current circumstances, particularly where the good governance of the city is concerned.”
Despite voting in favour of the motion, Councillor Bronwyn Waugh said she wasn’t fully behind extending McGowan’s tenure as “there has been no substantial change” regarding the ongoing issues at the city.
“I am acutely aware that since the appointment, the organisation has continued to experience significant challenges, including ongoing governance tensions, continued complaints, including elected members, senior staff departures, and extended absences from key leadership positions,” she said.
“As I look around the table, there are a lot of people not sitting in seats that have their names on them, and that is a concern.
“I’m not suggesting these matters are the responsibility of the monitor for a moment, however, it does make it very difficult for me to conclude that the underlying conditions or issues have been materially improved.”
Councillor André Brender-A-Brandis echoed similar sentiments but said that the extension of McGowan’s position was an “investment”.
“I see the additional cost to be incurred with regard to a monitor in place to be value for money given the circumstances, and to be an investment in the leadership and also the council,” he said.
“I don’t see this to be a critical burden to the ratepayers.”
In the report to council, city staff said the psychosocial risk assessment was set to be completed in the next two months.
“The city has commissioned a workplace psychosocial risk assessment, which is currently in progress with the final outcome of this assessment anticipated late July/early August,” the report said.
“The results of this assessment will be made available to the monitor and may be used in informing the final report, where it relates to the scope of the monitoring assignment.”
However, the decision to undertake the assessment has been an ongoing issue for the dysfunctional council.
On March 23, chief executive Liz Ledger sent out an email to councillors announcing her intention to commission a psychosocial risk assessment.
One day later, the mayor put forward an urgent motion of business to block the chief executive from engaging independent experts to undertake the assessment, which was unanimously supported.
But a week after the initial decision to block the assessment, Milner’s motion was revoked with almost all councillors supporting the change in decision.
According to minutes from the March 31 council meeting, McGowan acknowledged there were a number of staff from the city on leave as a result of psychosocial risks.
“On March 25, the monitor informed council that there were various staff on leave who have cited psychosocial risks,” the report said.
“Psychosocial risks concern all members of council, and we are aware in one instance of psychosocial harm being cited in an email to all council members.”
Currently, both Ledger and the city’s director of corporate services are both on personal leave.
The city’s director of infrastructure services Anita Amprimo was appointed as acting chief executive officer on March 25.
An inspector’s report
McGowan’s role as local government monitor at the city includes sitting in on council and committee meetings, inspecting documents and monitoring relationships between council members and staff.
She is required at the end of her tenure to provide a final report to the local government inspector on her observations.
On Tuesday night, the city also voted to extend the final report date to August 17 to align with McGowan’s requested last date.
“It would be appropriate to request an amendment to … the monitoring assignment, to require the monitor’s final report to the local government inspector, to reflect the change in end date of the monitor’s term,” the report to council said.
“This would allow any relevant information from the psychosocial risk assessment to be considered as part of that report.”
