"But Tony said it was a big problem...."

From the Bridgetown-Greenbushes Shire Council website:

Council's Mission Statement:

The Shire (its Council and Employees) will listen to the community, provide ethical and open leadership, responsible and considered judgement...

This Shire Council never ceases to amaze me.  The bald-faced way they go about trashing their stated values and ignoring all common standards of propriety to suit the narrow, small-minded interests of those in the inner-circle beggars belief.

In recent days, all of our elected councillors (except President Tony Pratico, who has a financial interest) voted to endorse a proposal which will harm the financial viability of the Blues at Bridgetown festival to benefit a few local traders, one of whom is Mr Pratico.

The Council's Blues Festival Trading policy has for years allowed the Festival organisers to sell to street traders the rights to sell food and drink, and other merchandise in the town for the three days of the festival.

The councillors have now unanimously approved a plan to prevent these traders from setting up in certain areas where they have always traded, including near Mr Pratico's chicken shop, and to ban them from trading on the Friday and Sunday of the festival.

So what justification has been put forward for this radical, and possibly very damaging change to this important event?

Simply this statement from CEO Tim Clynch"in his report to the councillors:   Councillors had indicated that in recent years they had received communication from local shopkeepers that competing stalls had been allowed to trade in close proximity to their businesses.

And, if you can believe it, he went on to say: Council will have to determine whether it wishes to release the draft policy for community consultation including a formal referral to Blues at Bridgetown. On the basis that Council has clearly enunciated its position on Blues Trading the
recommendation is that Council adopt the policy without community consultation.

Without community consultation!  What happened to listening to the community? What happened to considered judgement?

Who were these shopkeepers who went to the councillors demanding change?  The only one we know about was Mr Pratico who complained to the newspaper after last year's Blues that vendors were too close to his chicken and chips shop.

Public consultation matrix for Council decision to change Blues trading policy

	Local traders (including Shire President)	Outside traders	Blues festival	Patrons	Locals
Likely impact	positive	negative	negative	negative	neutral
Consulted?	some (anecdotal)	no	no	no	no

The mysterious birth of Council Item C.02/0414

Our Council will soon consider a report from CEO Tim Clynch which is likely to recommend that during the Blues weekend no mobile food or drink stalls be allowed in the vicinity of Shire President Tony Pratico's fried chicken joint.

Funny that... I can remember being told by Blues officials during last year's festival that Shire President Tony Pratico had exploded in anger because he thought food and coffee vendors had been allowed to operate too close to his Chooks outlet. He promised to "fix it" for next year, they said.

President Pratico was even quoted in the local newspaper after the event, complaining that coffee vendors had taken business from the coffee machine in his joint.

So here we are in the planning stages for this year's event and suddenly the Council wants to look at changing the way the event is managed, and in the process possibly damaging the ability of the Blues to make the event viable financially.

The CEO and the councillors will tell you there is nothing improper or untoward going on.  "We have only asked for a report," they will say.  "Tony Pratico declared his financial interest and left the room when we discussed the Item," they will say.  But there is more to it, and as always, the devil is in the detail.

 For instance; Q: how is it that I can predict that the CEO's report will recommend no stalls in or around Memorial Park (which is where Mr Pratico's chicken shop is located)? A: Because it is right there at the bottom of the motion passed by Council calling for the report.

 That Council request the CEO to present a report tothe May 2014 meeting of the Standing Committee reviewing its “Trading in Public Places – Blues Festival” Policy addressing but not limited to the following matters:
• The Shire is to have input and final approval for the location of stallholders
and mobile traders within and adjacent to public places.
• The operation of stallholder and mobile trading on private property adjacent to
public places to the Saturday only (being the road closure period) of the
Festival.
• That the placement of stalls within the public portions of Memorial Park (not
venue area) be limited and no mobile traders be permitted in this area.

Q: How did this Motion come to be put before the Council meeting?

A: It came out of an informal discussion, behind closed doors, between the councillors and the CEO prior to the Standing Committee meeting on April 10 and Mr Pratico took part in this discussion.

Q: How did the dot points, particularly the third one come about? Was Mr Pratico involved?

A: Good question! I put it to CEO Tim Clynch and this was his answer...

The issues of stallholders (commercial vs community, location of stalls, etc) was discussed.  I raised the issues initially as I was reporting on issues that I had discussed previously with Caroline from the Blues.  These issues including the operation of the “food court”, whether stalls/traders could operate out of Memorial Park and an idea that Caroline had about reserving the space immediately in front of each shop for that business to extend trading out into the street.

 Mr Clynch’s reply does not make sense and does not answer the question, but that was his response.

 I also asked Mr Pratico's fellow councillors if they thought that, given he declared a financial interest when the issue came to Council, it was improper for Mr Pratico to take part in the informal discussion which led to the creation of the Motion voted on by Council.

 Councillors Julia Boyle and Doreen Mackman chose to completely ignore my email, despite my request that they at least let me know if they did not want to answer my questions.  So much for the "listening and responding to the concerns of residents" rubbish they trot out at election time.

Councillor Steve Hodson chose to take a swipe at me for being so impertinent as to ask questions. 

 "I dont understand why you seem to have an issue with the president but I feel that it does you no justice to continue this line," he retorted.

Crs  Nicholas and Quinby were not at the informal meeting.

Cr Moore said it was just general discussion at the informal meeting, no specifics and Cr Scallan agreed, but added that he recalled Cr Pratico declaring his financial interest at the informal meeting.

The upshot is that we do not know how dot point three about keeping street traders away from Memorial Park came into existence.  The CEO said it came out of the discussion at the informal meeting, but those who attended and responded to my questions did not recall any specifics being identified, only the need for a general policy on the issue.  It is quite possible that it arose from general informal discussions between the CEO and the President, which of course take place on a regular basis.

It is important to understand how dot point three came into existence because if it becomes Council policy, this policy will provide a direct financial benefit to a business owned and operated by the Shire President, which will not on the face of it apply to all other businesses in Bridgetown, and which may harm the viability of the Blues festival.

If Mr Pratico's colleagues on Council want to do this, they had better have a very good reason.