Central Coast Council is still in the middle of reform and is still fragile in terms of governance and finances, according to the Office of Local Government deputy secretary Brett Whitworth.
Mr Whitworth was questioned on Thursday, December 5, at the State Parliament’s Budget Estimates 2024-25 about the Performance Improvement Order imposed on the Coast before the councillors were elected.
Two other NSW councils coming out of administration were issued PIOs too.
Things got testy when Mr Whitworth was asked if he sought legal advice before issuing the PIOs.
Greens MLC Abigail Boyd asked if there were previous examples of councils being given Performance Improvement Orders (PIOs) before they had elected councillors.
Before talking about the PIOs, Mr Whitworth said the administrators of three councils had undertaken a number of pieces of work to bring each council into a ”better performance environment”.
”There was a trajectory of reform that they were undertaking.
”That trajectory of reform included things around governance processes and delegations.
”It included financial accounting and reporting processes.
”It included investment processes and looking at revenue and so on. Those reforms are not yet complete.
”In all three cases, the trajectory of reform is ongoing,” Whitworth said.
He then explained the PIOs.
”The concern was that the incoming councillors may do something that would jeopardise that trajectory of reform and that we would go backwards,” Mr Whitworth said.
”We are talking about three councils that are already fragile, for want of a better word, in terms of their governance and their finance.
”The performance improvement orders were about setting up guardrails to make sure that if the council wanted to make a decision—it doesn’t prevent them from making a decision; it just sets out requirements that if they wanted to terminate their general manager, they need to get my concurrence.
”If they wanted to make a change to the delegation, they need to get my concurrence.
”If they want to fundamentally change their financial or their resource approach, they need to talk to the ARIC.”
Then the question was asked: did Mr Whitworth get legal advice before issuing the PIOs?
The conversation went to and fro without a clear answer.
”Can I ask you this final question in these last few seconds,” Ms Boyd said.
”Under the performance improvement order, are the councillors precluded from taking legal action against OLG to remove this PIO?”
Mr Whitworth said it sounded like Ms Boyd was asking him to provide a legal view on the performance improvement order.
Ms Boyd said no, it was a warning.
A point of order was called by another MP about this being a threat.
Ms Boyd said: ”To the point of order: It was a friendly warning that legal action is probably coming….”
Central Coast Councillors noted the PIO at their first meeting, on the night they were sworn in, and they asked for legal advice about its use to maintain the status quo rather than to address any clearly defined need for improvement.
No date or deadline for that advice was given.
The councillors also asked the Local Government conference to back their calls to get the PIO lifted.
That failed.
See that story here: https://www.cccouncilwatch.com.au/council-fails-to-win…/
Also, a resident took the matter to the Ombudsman, asking for a ruling on its legality: no more news on that front yet.
See that story here: https://www.cccouncilwatchcom.au/ombudsman-is-checking…/
