SHOALHAVEN INDEPENDENTS – RECKLESS WITH COUNCIL MONEY
Article by and credit to R Miller
On the 24th March watching the ordinary meeting from my computer at I home I witnessed a rushed motion, not listed on the agenda for a rate relief for this coming quarter for people of the Shoalhaven at a cost of $19 million.
On the surface this would seem to be the right thing to do in face of Drought, fire, flood and now Corona Virus.. but the devil is in the fine print of this rushed motion!
At this point Clr. Nina Digiglio asked question to the CEO Stephen Dunshea about the impact this would have on Council resources, staffing and budget? He could not answer this off the cuff but offered to bring a full report about the impact of this motion on council responsibilities. He stated he could prepare a report on this commencing the next working day so Councillors could see the state of play before rushing in passing a motion where $19 million dollars would be ripped from the budget.
On hearing this the Clr. John Levett suggested we amend the motion and ask for the report before making any decisions on the night so councillors could be across the details of the impact of such a decision. This motion was lost and was passed with the numbers of Shoalhaven Independents. The Federal and State Governments have already promised funds for people in hardship plus the Council can be approached to offer rate relief under the hardship policy.
The thing that stands out to me why employ a CEO whose expertise is in finance plus a strong finance team to back him, and you fail to seek his expertise before making such decisions. This in my opinion speaks of arrogance. Some questions I had were will this cost jobs for Council staff? How will council meet their commitments and obligations voted by the people on the Operations Plan to keep this city’s infrastructure updated?
The words of my father ring in my head, he was the CEO of a Clothing company that employed 20,000 people – ” FOOLS RUSH IN WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD!”
https://webcast.shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au/archive/video20-0324.php
See council chambers in operation. Link – Full credit to SCC.
Shoalhaven Greens 