Who will defend the indefensible?

The shoddy, makeshift little edifice which is our current Council has begun to crumble.

As outlined here earlier, the Council has devolved into a group of people who do not much more than routinely follow directions, rubber stamping the decisions of Shire CEO Tim Clynch.

But to paraphrase a famous movie, it may turn out he’s not the messiah, but just a naughty boy!

Concerned citizens have long been alarmed by the arrogant and dismissive conduct of both senior staff and councillors towards those they are supposed to represent.

In the past few weeks, councillor Sue Moscarda has quit and left town for personal reasons. Now President Brian Moore has pulled the pin, for no apparent reason.

I wonder whether it has anything to do with the Department of Local Government’s investigation into the  unusual arrangements concerning the Yornup Hall…?

Followers of Council meetings and this blog will know I have tried long and hard inside and outside of Council to convince my former colleagues it is wrong to hand over public assets like this hall to a select group of private citizens.  A majority of councillors didn’t believe me, because Mr Clynch said I was wrong and there was nothing to worry about.  Now the Department has concluded I was correct -- that the arrangements were not legal and I believe some fairly serious slaps on wrists have been delivered.

At the recent annual meeting of electors, I successfully moved that Council consider the following motion: That in order to restore proper and legal governance over the Yornup Hall, remove the appearance of favouritism and provide accountability for funds raised by the renting of this hall, Council removes the authority for and disbands the Yornup Hall Management Committee, and henceforth manages the Yornup hall the same way it manages every other hall in the Shire.

But Council will soon vote on a “face-saving” alternative recommendation from Mr Clynch that the hall be leased to its current “de-facto”owners, a group which includes Mr Clynch’s in-laws and Deputy President Tony Pratico.

Will any councillors be brave enough to stand up to Messers Clynch and Pratico and say enough is enough?  And what, if any, action will councillors take over the fact that they and every other ratepayer and citizen of the Shire has for 10 years been deliberately misled about the arrangements concerning the hall’s use and denied proper accountability for the money raised from its hiring out?

Maybe the answer to that question was just a bit too hard for Mr Moore, since in this case he couldn’t simply handball the question to the CEO, as he did with almost every other query since becoming President.