Report ‘historical record’ says Dore

AN auditor’s report on major projects and purchasing decisions by the City of Ballarat has been used to make changes to procedures and policies outgoing interim CEO Janet Dore has said.

Known as the Pitcher Partners report – for the audit and accountancy firm that undertook it – the review was commissioned by Ms Dore following May’s State Ombudsman’s findings that in part looked at purchasing by the City.

The Pitcher Partners report looked at issues relating to the Gatekeeper’s Cottage, the Botanical Gardens Fernery, a Flemish Chandelier at town hall and alleged involvement in spending by former mayor Cr Samantha McIntosh.

Ms Dore said the negative findings within the report have been used to improve polices and processes and won’t be referred to other authorities.

“The reports are historical records, they do not reflect how the organisation is today and how we are moving forward towards best practice,” she said.

“The actions of leadership and everybody in the organisation should be upheld to the highest possible standard into the future and I’m confident that that will be the case.”

Detailed in the report were issues with the Gatekeeper’s Cottage project which saw the historical building relocated and refurbished.

The report found that processes, including council approval for the project were unclear, and that it ran $200,000 over budget with “no approved variations to the planned $300k”.

When it came to the Fernery re-development auditors found that council did have a “clear line of site on this project and the general reasoning for it being undertaken.”

However, they also found more than $450,000 extra allocated to the project, on top of the already $1.7 million spent, had been given the okay by a committee and not council itself.

“It is unclear from the way in which the delegations are phrased if the Contracts Approval and Special Committee had the ability to approve the larger variations,” the Pitcher Partners report said.

A Flemish chandelier mentioned in the State Ombudsman report also came in for scrutiny by the auditors, although unlike in May they found no major issue with the purchase.

While the Ombudsman questioned the tasking of the City’s former director of infrastructure and environment Terry Demeo to pick up the light fitting in Melbourne and the subsequent use of his municipal credit card to pay for the purchase, the Pitcher Partners investigation said that while it was “unusual”, it also was “understandable given the circumstance”.

In addition, auditors also reported estimated $17,000 was spent with local florist Kathryn Amor during Cr Samantha McIntosh’s time as mayor.

In response, Cr McIntosh said this figure is incorrect.

“From what is reported it states $810 in flowers and $2017 in plants for the town hall which includes using another florist,” she said.

Unaccounted for in the report is the remaining balance of the $17,000.

“If the $14,000 is correct, it was not for flowers but likely for the town hall refurbishment however this was managed by the [then] director of innovation and organisational development, CEO and director of planning,” she said.

During her time as mayor, Cr McIntosh confirmed that Ms Amor was on a list of a variety of florists she had used for events and to decorate the mayor’s area at the Town Hall.

“I did suggest to mayor support, director and former CEO that [Ms Amor] provides a high quality, value for money product and is worth considering,” she said.

“As per the purchase of all flowers, a choice of supplier is made from those who are approved and permitted to supply the council, Ms Amor was a legitimate supplier under these rules.”

In questioning the authenticity of the Pitcher Partners report, Cr McIntosh said she had not been “asked one question” at any stage throughout the investigation.

“Given this report investigated the period when I was mayor, it is astounding that I would not be interviewed to check or verify the information,” she said.

“There are errors in the report, acknowledged by the CEO in the council chamber, and yet these have still made the final public report.”

Once the Pitcher Partners report was delivered in early September, it was referred on to the Local Government Inspectorate for review.

The Inspectorate decided no further action, aside from implementation of the report’s recommendations was necessary. Ms Dore stands by that move.

“All of the things that I had followed up relating to the Ombudsman’s report basically goes to proper systems of accountability and transparency,” Ms Dore said.

“The revision and tightening of purchasing policies in particular, use of purchasing cards, was my focus from the beginning.

“In that sense, the findings reinforced the actions we already taken to tighten up those procedures.”

When the Pitcher Partners report was publicly tabled at the 27 January council meeting, Cr Amy Johnson questioned why there weren’t any further consequences faced by Cr McIntosh for the approximately $17,000 of spending on Ms Amor.

“If indeed this is behaviour in contravention to the Local Government Act, should this be of interest to the local government inspectorate… and what is our plan following up that behaviour,” she said.

After the meeting Ms Dore said the report will not be sent to any other agency for investigation and the City hopes to move forward.

“The report is just there for the record, there is no need for further action, we can draw a line under it and say that we can manage the risk of inappropriate purchasing into the future,” she said.

“The really important thing is that we move into the future with confidence in our accountability and transparency to the community.

“All councilors whether they’re mayor or not, have duties and responsibilities under the provisions of the Local Government Act which are upheld… risk management systems that are now in place will ensure that everything is done in an appropriate manner when we are using community money.”