Source : Perth Now news
The City of Mandurah council will determine the guilt or innocence of its members who are claimed to have breached its code of conduct.
City staff had recommended complaints be investigated and findings made independent of the council as part of changes to its complaints management policy presented at the October 27 meeting.
Although council members supported complaints being assessed independently, they were divided over who would make the final verdict.
The council voted 7-5 against findings being determined independently, then 8-4 in favour of having it decided by themselves.
The same options were presented at the June meeting but the council was unable to reach a decision.
Its current policy remained in place, subject to an amendment to bring it into line with legislation, while the new one was worked on.
Cr Ryan Burns said he had no issue with an independent complaints assessor but did not want the council to relinquish its responsibility.
“The community elects us to exercise judgment, provide oversight, and take responsibility for decisions that come before us,” he said.
“While not every decision is easy or comfortable, that is precisely why we are elected.
“Where a complaint has been independently investigated and a recommendation prepared, I believe council should remain responsible for making the final determination.
“That is how most matters before council operate. We receive expert advice and each elected member decides how deeply they need to engage before casting their vote.”
He said there was no reason to remove the council from the process because there had been relatively few behavioural complaints over the past five years.
Cr Owen Mulder said there was a growing trend in government to shift accountability from elected members to “unelected bureaucrats”, which he said eroded confidence in elected members.
“We have a system that respects our responsibilities as directed by the code of conduct and that has served us well. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said.
Cr Jacob Cumberworth said it would be “tragic” if the complaints process became fully confidential without coming back to council members.
“Ultimately they are the main subject and target of code of conduct complaints, and for them to receive those without ever witnessing that process I think is unjust,” he said.
“(It is a) great responsibility that the community gives us to act on their behalf and maintain this civilised governance that we are so grateful to have.”
Cr Daniel Wilkins said having an independent person investigate and determine behavioural complaints would give the public confidence in the process and ensure council members were given a fair hearing.
“Having personally experienced this process following the last election, I understand the angst and frustration these complaints can create,” he said.
“If we engage an independent assessor to investigate a complaint, consider the evidence and make a finding, I don’t understand why we need to bring it back into this chamber.
“What does this additional step achieve? More importantly, how can the public have confidence in a truly independent outcome if the final decision rests with elected members where personal relationships and differences can come into play?
“How can any elected member be confident that they will receive a fair hearing from colleagues with whom they have had disagreements with?”
Cr Jenny Green agreed an independent assessor would provide impartiality and prevent bias.
She said her profession as a psychologist had a code of conduct that precluded “dual relationships”.
“Across the board there is a code of professional conduct which says get an independent assessor who can be able to provide an impartial and professional outcome. That will send a message to the community or to whoever is interested that this reduces the judgment of bias,” Cr Green said.
“We don’t really want to get involved in making a judgment, particularly if there is a risk or a complaint from one councillor to another councillor.
“That could make our council very divisive and I really don’t want to see that happen.”
Cr Cumberworth asked how new council members would know how the complaints process worked if the city went with an independent assessor.
CEO Casey Mihovilovich said any new council members would be given an induction which would include the policy and complaints process so they would be “fully aware”.
She said the policy would be reviewed after the next local government election in 12 months.
Director of business services Tahlia Jones said code of conduct complaints were confidential and no information was allowed to be disclosed until a finding had been made publicly available.
