The Garbage Debacle – And Rats Invade South Melbourne

Question: Whose fault is it?  It appears nobody’s, certainly not the Council’s CEO

Question: Do we face more of the same without real change? Yes

Core Issue – Nobody Is In Charge (nor accountable)

In May of this year, in response to fierce criticism of the Council by two professional independent reviews, the Mayor stated publicly:

“Chris Carroll is an excellent CEO. I have confidence in him and can assure the community should too. Yes, he was involved in the waste contract process which had errors within the team he managed.”

I struggle to understand a logical basis for the Mayor’s words.  This unwavering endorsement is itself an exact repeat of the root causes of the debacle as articulated by two professional independent reviews of the mess, namely a lack of governance, objectivity and rigour

Many other experienced independent minds that are familiar with local government have raised their own serious concerns. At the bottom of this article is access to third party material on the waste debacle that goes into some detail.  

 

The Garbage Debacle Blog Post Image

The Community’s Right To Know

This short article is designed to bring to the attention of the broader community a very serious issue on multiple fronts. Issues the Mayor, the CEO and many Councillors would probably much prefer to ‘move on’ from without further scrutiny. This ‘quickly move on’ approach is a clear pattern I have observed over time. Sweeping the real issues under the proverbial carpet solves nothing

In simple terms, if the big boss gets off so lightly, a mistake of such magnitude, why should a humble front-line worker bother trying?  Seemingly there are no consequences for woeful performance.

Council’s Leadership Is Unclear

Who is the Boss

Of utmost concern is the Mayor’s seemingly unwarranted unconditional support for the CEO.  Laudable on the one hand for its loyalty, but it lowers the performance bar for the rest of the organisation.  We get more of what we tolerate

This raises questions as to the professional relationship that exists between a highly inexperienced Mayor, leader of the Council, and a long-serving civil servant that has worked at the Council for the last 10 years. Who really is the boss?    

We all need a boss to keep us honest.

The Garbage Issue Is Fundamental

To be clear, this was not any old hiccup. The Council’s single largest tender will have to go out to retender in early 2025, just 2 years after the contract was awarded to a new supplier.  In the interim, the Council has had to pay a sizeable break-fee to escape their own long-term contract. A break fee the Council is unwilling to disclose to the general public. Why will the Council not disclose the $ cost?

Attached are several well written articles on this issue that go into some detail and which address the core building blocks that underpin any well-functioning council, namely:

      • Governance

      • Performance

      • Accountability

    The Garbage Debacle Is Representative

    This garbage debacle is a definitive case study in all that is wrong with our local Council today.

        • Conflicts of interest – Flagrant failures in basic good governance – and common sense. A certain employee was on both sides of the fence, both the winning supplier and the judging panel, go figure! Pass the pub test? 

        • Woeful performance – It is why as residents and customers we are witnessing rapidly declining community satisfaction with the Council’s performance

        • Rising Town Hall people costs – To fix the issue the Council has hired yet more people, so called ‘experts’.  Collecting garbage is nothing new for the Council. So why does it need to hire more ‘experts’?

        • Zero accountability – Least of all the CEO who was responsible for managing the tender process that led to the decision to switch to a new garbage collection supplier. A decision that proved an unmitigated disaster and has cost residents I suspect millions.   But hey, its not the Council’s money.

      And yet there are no consequences.  Instead only glowing public praise.  Bizarre!! 

      Which raises even bigger questions as to the Council’s governance and culture. 

      Stop! There’s More

      This garbage debacle is on top of Channel9’s recent City of Port Phillip street cleaning expose late last year – cleaners actively encouraged by bosses not to work (but still get paid).

       

      Anyone there image

       

      The Council’s response? Hollow words.  Indeed, we saw at least one Councillor publicly disparage on social media the workers that had the courage to blow the whistle.  But hey, its not the Council’s money.

      Watch the expose by 9 News here

      With More Debacles To Come

      In summary, there is a clear recurring and growing pattern – woeful performance due to woeful governance.  The problems won’t go away by themselves.

      Degree of professionalism? Food for thought

      Pass the pub test?  You decide 

      Finally, And On A Lighter Note

      I close with a link to a short 2 minute video clip titled ‘Whose fault is it? ’

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ifMJKyIQtk

       

      Attached are independent articles / related links for those wanting to dig deeper:

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        Authorised by Adrian King. PO Box 5308 Middle Park, 3206 VIC