This is Why I Go To Council Meetings:...following directly on from the last post specifically about Council, and the front-page news, etc, that the self-appointed group calling itself 'Tourism Mount Gambier' was gunna' save us all...(by doing exactly what's happening anyway?-Ed)...that's the one...(to achieve outcomes already being achieved?-Ed)...spot on...(strewth-Ed)...well here below is how The Border Watch has reported the truly bizarre dysfunction of what went down at MGC Council's Full Meeting on Tuesday evening July 19th 2016...well, Semi-full Meeting, there were 5 absentees...(5?...you sure?...that seems an awful lot-Ed)...indeed, 5 missing from a total of 13 (being Mayor, CEO, Operations Manager, and 10 Councillors), 5 of 13 is just under 40%...Mayor Lee, CEO McShane, and Councillors Perryman, Lynagh, and Morello were all absent, with Deputy-Mayor Richardson presiding and Mr Humphries as Acting CEO...
And that's 2 meetings in a row that Mayor Andrew Lee has failed to attend...(well the first was for his honeymoon apparently-Ed)...whatevs, don't care, unless actually physically unable due to health there's no excuse, and a honeymoon certainly ain't an excuse...the Mayor has a full calendar of Council meetings, etc, and knows exactly when the Full Meetings are...if it's good enough for the Mayor to do things like swan-off to China on the Ratepayers' dollar, and then, without any Public Consultation, sign secret agreements with the Chinese government, which is exactly what this Mayor/Council has done, then that same Mayor, who does receive Ratepayer funded payment and benefits for this honour, then they can organise themselves around their obligations to the Ratepayers of Mt Gambier, the Ratepayers who pay for all this, and front-up for the bloody meetings...whatever the 'excuse', missing 2 meetings in a row is unacceptable...(wasn't he also absent earlier this year?-Ed)...possibly, I'd have to check, but whatevs, that's at least 2 missed of 12 meetings for this calendar year already, and there's still 5 more meetings to come in 2016, we've only had the 7 thus far...that's the Mayor absent 2 of 7 meetings...simply not good enough...
I repeat my call for the rankly corrupt Mt Gambier City Council to make publicly available this 'Agreement' as signed with the Chinese government...what exactly has this Nepotistic Council signed on our behalf without us ever seeing it or knowing exactly what we're being signed-up to/for...and I'll say it again, I view with deep concern the actions of this wholly corrupt Council when they are here in their own Chambers right in the middle of their own community, so gourd only knows what level of corruption they're capable of in closed rooms in foreign lands...(exactly-Ed)...
As the meeting July kicked-off, I swear that I'd have bet every-not-very-much I have on these absenteeisms being driven by our good friend, Plausible Denial...(ahh, you mean that these individuals were absent so that when the rankly corrupt Tourism Mount Gambier funding, now at $480,000 across 3 years, with $350,000 of that to employ a dedicated 'Tourism Officer', etc, when that Nepotistically corrupt funding was approved, Perryman, McShane, and Mayor Lee could squeal 'it's got nothing to with me! I wasn't even there'-Ed)...exactly Ed, that's what I thought, the Plausible Denial of I Wasn't Even There...but it's too late for Stevo mate...(maaate-Ed)...because that ship has already sailed right-off into the Sea of Public Opinion...
Remember dear availees how my mate Stevo...(maaate-Ed)...himself a Board member of the self-appointed TMG, Stevo deliberately, cynically, and clearly unlawfully shat unceremoniously on every aspect of Local Government Association legislation re Conflict Of Interest matters, including the new and very specific 2016 LGA COI provisions/guidelines, as rolled-out earlier this year to local Councils via a series of workshops/trainings...Stevo dumped a steaming heap of contempt right on it when he led the charge in Council's recent-ish 2016/17 Budget Special Meetings, particularly on hacking-back other Council services to free-up what was then $160,000 for the TMG clowns...(ah yes, when Council voted to 'suspend usual procedures', in-and-of-itself perfectly appropriate, particularly for the open discussion/exchange required in sorting-out aspects of a Budget, but during this 'suspension' Stevo called for Council to cut-back on Street Tree and Pavement maintenance, with an accompanying charming jibe about the ridiculousness of Political Correctness and 'disabled people'-Ed)...indeed, he is quite the arse...
(And then when Council went back into Formal mode to vote on this funding, Stevo immediately leapt-up and smugly declared a 'Non-Pecuniary Conflict of Interest'?-Ed)...spot on...(and walked out whilst Council voted to ratify that funding?-Ed)...exactly...(wow-Ed)...I know...(they really are quite extraordinarily corrupt-Ed)...I know...and right there, there's Stevo's unabashed contempt for the Ratepayers of Mt Gambier and the institutions of Local Government, specifically Mt Gambier City Council, and most specifically the office of Mayor...good ol' Stevo...(maaate-Ed)...a definable litany of corruption in the Mayorship, a commitment to corruption that hasn't waned as a Councillor...(and ahead of all of that, his critically complicit role in the St Martins Lutheran School Child Abuse Cover-up (2002), not least of all as Liberal candidate in the 2010 South Australian Election-Ed)...yay for Stevo...
And as put to me though I cannot prove it though I trust my sources, Stevos' incredibly corrupt manipulation of the COI legislation re this TMG corruption, Stevos' conduct has been discussed at other Councils' recent COI trainings/workshops as being exactly what a Councillor shouldn't do re this COI stuff...Stevo mate...(maaate-Ed)...you are quite literally the talk of the town in quantifying/personifying corrupt behaviour in Local Government...and Stevo mate...(maaate-Ed)...have a wild guess as to where that info was originally sourced...(well it sure as heck wasn't in The Border Watch or any other media-Ed)...think Ed, in this exciting new era of Citizen Journalists and blogs and shizzle...(ummm, nooo, I, ummm, oh, oh, us, I mean this 'ere blog, TMGI, it was TMGI-Ed)...exactly cobber, TMGI, 'Gettin' Right Amongst It Since January 2013'...(hurrah!-Ed)...how's about that Stevo mate, you're literally a textbook study in Council Corruption, as being discussed in other Councils, and all courtesy of this 'ere blog, The Mount Gambier Independent...(get in my son-Ed)...absolutely...
Anyhoos, somehow this funding went from this $160,000 for 1 year to $480,000 over 3, and the wage for this 'Tourism Officer' from $90,000 for that year out to $350,000 for the 3...and that's $350k for a role/position that already exists inside Regional Development Australia (RDA), as currently occupied by RDA Tourism Development Officer Biddie Shearing (nee Tietz), herself a former Mt Gambier City Councillor and as such personally involved in a series of rankly corrupt Tenders/grants/whatevs as is MGC Councils' usual modus operandi...anyhoos, so's $480,000 over 3 years is what came up for the vote on July 19th...but we nearly didn't get as far as a vote...(how come?-Ed)...because that particular Council Committee, the Corporate and Community Services Committee, couldn't do any business at their dedicated meeting earlier in the month because they didn't have a quorum...(whaaa?!-Ed)...oh yeah, even Acting-Mayor Richardson commented that it would be nice if absentee Councillors let the others know so's that they, the Others, didn't go to the bother of showing-up for a pointless non-meeting...(wow-Ed)...
Despite this minor setback, Council plowed ahead at the Full Meeting with discussing and voting on issues re the CCSC...(how?-Ed)...what?...(how? how could Council continue with discussing the issues from the CCSC if there wasn't a CCSC meeting?-Ed)...look, I know, or rather, I don't know, but that's what they did, and it included the Motion/vote re the $480,000 for TMG...(wow-Ed)...indeed, only, when this Motion was tabled, nobody would 'Second' the Motion...(sorry what?!-Ed)...yeah, stony silence, nobody 'Seconded' the Motion...Acting-Mayor Richardson stated that if there was no-one to 'Second' it then it would lapse, there was a continued silence, and A-M Richardson declared the Motion 'Lapsed', and they went onto the next point/issue...(I, wow, I don't know what to say-Ed)...mate, I was there and I don't believe it either...just bizarre...
No quorum for the CCSC, but then discuss/Motion/vote on various issues from that non-meeting, including this rankly corrupt funding for the equally corrupt Tourism Mount Gambier, itself a Motion that collapses in silence due to a lack of support so absolute it didn't even get a 'Seconder'...and how does the mighty The Border Watch present this unfettered Debasco (debacle/fiasco)?...they do it as attached below there...buried on page 7 (Thursday July 21st 2016), after 5 other stories sourced from that July 19th meeting...(what a joke! page 7?-Ed)...yep, as attached...from TBW front page 'A Must-Have Salvation For All' to page 7 'Whatevs'...and even that farcical article, that 'Farticle' if you will...(I certainly will, that 'Farticle', excellent-Ed)...that 'Farticle' is riddled with inaccuracies and lies...(good ol' TBW, go' bless, go' bless-Ed)...indeed...and the other 'Farticle' is from the next days' TBW...
Tomorrow: Just More Of This, There's So Much More To Cover
Follow Me Now!:...I mean, you know, if you want to, no pressure...The Mount Gambier Independent is now to be found on Twitter under my personal descriptor '@LargeAngryHippy' titled 'Nick Fletcher'...probably just going to to be links/notifications re posts on this 'ere blog, but there you go, we'll see what happens...(huzzah!-Ed)...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
No comments:
Post a Comment