And how much is this all costing??

If the Bridgetown-Greenbushes Shire Council was a business, it would be wound up.  The October Council meeting was indicative of an organisation which has virtually ground to a halt.  The 90-minute meeting would have cost us ratepayers in excess of $6000 in councillor fees and staff wages but precious little was achieved.  Some people were appointed to a committee, funding was set aside for a "landcare officer", a couple of streets were re-named. Only one member of the public turned up and no questions were asked.

This sorry group has shown no interest and no capacity to set an agenda or produce any ideas which might take our community forward. They simply wait for the staff to produce items for discussion and even these are now low-level administrative items.

It is no co-incidence that Bridgetown's economic growth is flat-lining, along with property values.  We are going nowhere because the people who have put their hands up to be community leaders give us no vision, no drive and no enthusiasm. They mope around whinging about me!

I beggars belief that people would vote to elect and re-elect people who simply wish to warm a seat at Council meetings and pocket the fees.

Pratico angry; not enough profit for him from the Blues

Speaking of President Pratico not comprehending the principle of conflicts of interest (see Post below), what about his extraordinary outburst attacking the Blues committee for daring to allow food and drink vendors into town for the event where they competed for business with his fried chicken outlet.

Pratico had a run-in with the organisers on the Blues weekend when they refused to agree to his demands that all food and drink vendors be moved away from his shop  (presumably to locations near other shops).  And he promised a square-up.

This came in the form of a spray for the Blues committee on the front page of the Donnybrook-Bridgetown Mail this week. Speaking as the Shire President, Mr Pratico seemed oblivious to the benefits the annual festival brings to the town, instead focusing on the outside competition for sales of food and drink.

"From the Tea House near Kordics to Horti Towers there are a dozen coffee machines, but the Blues insist on getting coffee vendors in from outside...
"I've got one here in my shop and they wanted to put a vendor outside my business.  The Shire is a sponsor for the Blues and we continually get treated badly."

He seems to be improperly suggesting that because the Shire sponsors the event, he as Shire President should be able to direct what vendors come to town and where they set up, and in particular insist there is no impact on his ability to make maximum profits from the event.

What sort of a community leader is this, who is prepared to jeopardise a massive community event in a fit of pique because he wasn't able to dictate terms to them and insist on no competition for his business?

I'll tell you what sort....  The short-sighted, selfish and greedy sort.

I was disgusted by Pratico's comments. How much business would he (and the other traders who complained that their takings were down) have got on the weekend in question if there was no Blues festival held?

If Bridgtown loses the Blues festival, blame should be laid at the feet of this incompetent and intemperate Shire President and those of his ilk.

Pratico found in breach of Local Government rules

Council President Tony Pratico has been found to have twice breached WA's Local Government Rules of Conduct Regulations.The breaches relate to failing to declare an impartiality interest in an item before taking part in debate and voting on the issue.

(It comes as no surprise that Mr Pratico is a bit vague on the issue of conflicts, since he seems to see no problem with owning a coffee vending machine which sits inside the Council's recreation centre!)

In a finding handed down in June -- but only recently released to me, the complainant -- the State Government's Local Government Standards Panel found Mr Pratico failed to declare his impartiality interest twice before voting on issues related to the management of Yornup Hall, while he was a member of the Yornup Hall Committee and the Yornup Hall Management Committee.

Curiously, the Standards Panel decided to issue no sanction, despite Mr Pratico's admission to the Committee that if ordered to attend a training session it would "improve his ability to perform the duites of a local councillor."  This from a man who has been in the role for about a decade and is supposed to lead the others.

Mr Pratico had been voting on matters concerning the Yornup Hall for years without declaring his obvious conflict of interest, but I was only allowed to submit the two most recent cases to the Standards Panel because it will only examine matters going back less than two years.

As the Bob Dylan song says, 'why don't you just come out once and scream it?'

It seems improbable, but the big controversy in this current Council election is that in my election flyer I recommended a vote for some of the other candidates. That's right... recommended a vote for them!

The story is that I did this as part of a cunning (and sexist) plan to defraud people into thinking that these women were supporters of mine, thereby snaring the all-important ''nutter" vote.

Sane people ask me, in these sort of circumstances, why do I subject myself to this?

The answer is that I've always been a person who stands up for what I believe in.

One of the things I believe strongly is the need for publicly-elected or publicly-paid officials to be accountable to taxpayers, ratepayers and electors.  Although one of the stated ''values" of the Bridgetown-Greenbushes Shire is accountability, most of those involved either don't understand the principle or don't like to adhere to it.

The candidate who objected to me asking people to vote for her didn't call to tell me, but had a friend write to the newspaper to complain about it.

This reminded me of the days when former councillor Stephanie Devaney used to write letters to the newspaper attacking me, under the name of her husband Peter Quinby. 

Election candidate Alan Wilson says in his flyer "council now works as more of a team... there is a more constructive search towards resolution rather than grandstanding on single issues..." and "I have no personal crusades to follow." To what or who is he referring? We can only guess.

Current Shire President Tony Pratico likes to whisper his criticisms and conspiracy theories about me to the local newspaper reporters and anyone else who will listen, but he always asks not to be quoted. He has been doing this for years, spreading stories about how I only went on Council to further my father-in-law's business interests, how I only wanted the gravel road I live on upgraded so I could cash in on the increased property value, how I never turned up for meetings, how I only bought the Freemasons Hotel because I knew the Council was thinking of buying it and wanted to make a quick buck, etc etc etc.  None of it is true, but I never get a chance to defend myself because Mr Pratico is not courageous enough to come out and say these things publicly, or speak to me about them.

Conversely, anyone can read right here exactly what I think of Mr Pratico's performance as a publicly-elected official and Mr Pratico is free to post a response.

I think its time for Bridgetown to get past the old-fashioned country town approach to local politics where the art of back-stabbing is rewarded and cranking up the rumour mill is the most popular game in town.

Lets have a free and fair and open debate about all the issues. Name names and pin your colours to the mast so we all know where we stand. 

Authorised by Michael Southwell, 24 Blackwood Park Road, Bridgetown.

Please vote when you get your ballot in the mail

Citizens of Bridgetown have a chance at the forthcoming local government elections, via the postal ballot which will come in the mail, to break the moribund culture which currently prevails at our Shire Council.

We have a clever and charismatic CEO Tim Clynch, who understandably prefers to work for a compliant and complacent Council, because this essentially allows him to run the show.

But this is not how local government is supposed to work.

The Council should be a diverse bunch of individuals, dedicated to serving and improving their community by contributing to robust debate on the issues facing the community, directing the CEO on the best way forward and providing close scrutiny of the Shire’s finances.

As pointed out several times on these pages, the current Council (with the exceptions of newcomers Cr Nicholas and Cr Mackman) has allowed itself to be lulled into the belief that they should fall into line as a “team” working  in partnership with the CEO and other senior staff.   The partnership works like this; all decisions are made by the CEO and then discussed with councillors behind the scenes during dinners, over coffee, at informal briefing sessions or “workshops”.  Council and committee meetings are usually over in less than an hour, as all the motions put forward by officers are invariably passed unanimously and without debate.  In exchange for this easy ride, the CEO puts out the spin that the councillors, especially the President, are working hard and doing a tremendous job.  But motions put forward by councillors are as rare as hens teeth. Some serving councillors have never put forward a single motion of their own, and there are others like President Tony Pratico who have a 100 per cent strike rate of voting in favour of every single item put forward by Mr Clynch, across years of Council meetings!

The big winners are the Shire staff and because their numbers keep growing, the staff, their friends, family and relatives together make up a large and motivated voting block in a small place like Bridgetown. Those who are happy to follow the above process and don’t rock the boat are assured of good support in any election.

Ex-president Brian Moore backed Mr Clynch to the hilt on every issue. When Mr Moore resigned,  his wife was easily elected to fill his seat.  Another Clynch acolyte was former councillor Stephanie Devany. Her husband Peter Quinby is now standing.  Serving councillor Alan Wilson is standing again. His son is a Shire employee.

If you elect Mr Wilson, Mr Quinby and current councillor Steve Hodson the ruling faction will remain intact, nothing will change and there will be at least two more years of smooth sailing for Mr Clynch.

So I would urge you to vote to make a difference…  don’t let the Shire clique continue to call all the shots and shun those who dare to object.  Put some new faces and new voices in there so we at least get some fresh ideas and debate on the issues.

Vote for Southwell, then Ms Boyle, Ms Davy and Ms Sandberg  

ps: I don’t have any more than a passing acquaintance with any of these ladies, have not ever discussed Council issues or the election with any of them and did not know they were standing until yesterday. But thank goodness they are.

Authorised by Michael Southwell, 24 Blackwood Park Road, Bridgetown WA 6255

It's better to be thought a fool...

The lamentable state of our Shire Council is reflected by a situation where someone like Tony Pratico could be Shire President.

Suffice to say he is not cut out for the job, and every time he opens his mouth it is proven.

In today’s Manjimup-Bridgetown Times he attempts to  justify another big rate increase of 5.9 per cent, way above the rate of inflation.  He starts by linking it to cuts in Royalties for Regions, which is a furphy. Those grants have nothing to do with recurrent expenditure and normal Council projects.

Mr Pratico then proves that he does not understand the basic concept of sustainability.  He says: “Councils which have unsustainable rate rises – and I mean very low – get into all sorts of bother and then have to have rate increases of 25 per cent.”

Yoo-Hoo! Mr Pratico?  Something which is sustainable is something which theoretically can go on forever. Rate increases above the rate of inflation are obviously unsustainable.  I’ll explain why…  If you keep charging people more and more every year (in real terms) eventually an ever-increasing proportion of people will be unable to pay. They would be forced to leave and live elsewhere. Think about it.

On the other hand, a rate increase equal or below the rate of inflation is sustainable. To achieve this simply means that ways must be found to spend less. Councillors and staff would have to roll up their sleeves and undertake the task of “living within their means”, by finding ways to do things more efficiently, cutting waste and if necessary cutting back on staff and services which can no longer be considered essential.

But this is too hard. Our lazy Council takes the easy way out every year and simply grabs more money from ratepayers and keeps hiring staff.  The same article in today’s paper says the Shire has hired a new engineering technical officer, another customer-services officer and a community landcare officer (but grants will “help” to pay for this one). And see below how Mr Pratico and the other councillors recently voted in favour of giving themselves big increases on the generous allowances they receive for going to meetings.

What is really unsustainable is to keep doing the same things the same way every year.

What is really unbearable is to have Mr Pratico trotting out pathetic, patronising excuses using big words he doesn't understand.

Spending our money on themselves

The post below and others like it have little impact on our councillors and staff.

The July Council meeting lasted one hour. Each of the councillors was paid $465 for this. Afterwards they adjourned for a ratepayer-funded meal and alcoholic drinks. Every councillor voted in favour of every suggestion by the Council officers. No ideas were put forward by any councillor. Most of the meeting was spent discussing who would go to this year's Local Government Association Annual Meeting in Perth. Six councillors and the CEO will go, at a cost to us ratepayers of $14,000 in meeting fees, accommodation, travel and meals.

More pay for just turning up

It has been pointed out here that our elected councillors don’t do much these days.  They meet twice a month, and often the meetings are concluded in less than an hour.  This is because the councillors themselves seldom put forward any proposals – some never do – but simply rubber-stamp the decisions of Council staff.

Nevertheless they have shamelessly decided to grant themselves a pay rise.

Last month, they voted unanimously that councillor pay should go up a hefty 17.8 per cent to $8,250 a year, with another $2000 to cover the cost of having a computer at home.  That works out to around $465 for each of these meetings where most of them rarely utter a word (just raise their hand up to vote yes to every officer recommendation).

The President Tony Pratico voted in favour of giving himself a whopping 29.6 per cent pay rise to $18,150 a year, plus the $2000 allowance. That works out to $915 per meeting. He also votes yes to every officer recommendation, but has to chair the meetings and read things.

A perpetual state of status quo

I’ve finally figured out why we are stuck in a rut with this moribund, uninspired and uninspiring Council.  It has become a self-perpetuating machine.

Here’s how it works:

Our charismatic CEO hires lots of staff and treats them well. He also looks after the councillors, providing them with resolutions to vote on and projects to approve which they can then call achievements. He puts on nice food and alcoholic drinks after every meeting and regularly takes them and their spouses out to dinner with his senior staff and their spouses (all on the ratepayers purse). Everyone is happy.

Comes the time for an election or by-election. Friends, relatives and associates of the councillors and the Council staff are encouraged to run. When it comes to voting, most of the community are apathetic because they have been told in the Council newsletter and the compliant local media that everything is hunky-dory. But there is one group of highly-motivated voters --  council staff, councillors and their friends and relatives, who are naturally keen to maintain the status quo.  Because the CEO has hired so many staff, these insiders and their circles of friends and family make up a big enough section of the population in this small community to ensure, because they will always vote, that one of their own is elected.

In the recent election, we saw the outgoing councillor Brian Moore replaced by his wife Joanne. How cosy!  Another candidate was the husband of a former councillor. One of the current councillors is the father of a Shire staff member.

CEO Tim Clynch has just been given another pay rise, but he continues to hire staff to help carry out the duties he is supposed to perform. The Shire now has more than 50 staff members, so many that Mr Clynch has recently decided he needed to hire a part-time Human Resources Officer. So until the growth of the population here outstrips the growth in Shire staff numbers, or until we amalgamate with another Shire, it seems nothing will change.

By-election race explained

What passes for news media in this part of the world has done a predictably mediocre job of covering the Council by-election, failing to identify a single issue and falling back on standard “candidate profiles”.

So let me deconstruct some of the tired platitudes served up by the candidates in last week’s Manjimup-Bridgetown Times.

Joanne Moore.  Shamelessly standing to take over her husband Brian’s seat, despite the fact that if elected will have the same financial conflict of interest which he cited as his reason for resigning. (See post titled ‘From one conflict to another’ below)

“Clearly the time has come for maintenance of what we have in roads, rather than the sealing of existing roads.”   Meaning: The road to my house is sealed, so bugger everyone else – especially Southwell!

“I’m a down-to-earth person who is not afraid to speak my mind.”  Meaning: Although I’ve been to several community meetings and never uttered a word, I did poke my tongue out at someone once, which I thought spoke volumes.

Peter Quinby.  Used to put his name to poisonous letters to the paper penned by his councillor wife. They’ve heard councillor pay is going up and they miss the free dinners, so its his turn to warm a seat.’

“It is unrealistic to expect rates to increase in relation to the CPI. Equally, unless the Shire delivers a constant package of works and services, rates are likely to increase as new services are supplied. I would pay particular attention to the budget to ensure the Shire gives value for money.”  Meaning: no-one knows.

“I believe local government should support development in the community largely by getting out of the way.”   Meaning:  Let’s continue to do nothing, and just enjoy the free drinks and meals.

Marta Sandberg.  Famous for having her deceased husband cryogenically frozen.

“Services are a lot like infrastructure. We have to balance what we want with what we are willing to pay.  All in all, I think Bridgetown has found a pretty good compromise.”   Meaning:  I have no new ideas on the way forward, but I’m bored and getting on Council might be interesting.

John Nicholas.  This is his third try at getting on Council. If he misses out this time will go down as the Nathan Buckley of Bridgetown politics – the best candidate never to win a seat.  (Buckley best AFL player who never played in Premiership).

“ I am open to the notion of alternative management of shire services to permit shire funds to be focused on essential  services.”   Meaning:  Money can be saved by contracting out the work of the Council works crew and reducing the number of  full time employees.

Gerry Georgatos & Jenny Kaeshagan.  Not sure of the wisdom of partners running together.  They are both great candidates, but standing together may cost them votes.  They have each put forward strong and interesting cases for a fresh approach to managing Council affairs and community issues.

Along with John Nicholas, they are the stand-out candidates, offering the best chance for much-needed reform of this moribund Council.