Perth Voice Interactive

A PERTH pensioner says she’s being forced out of her home because of a neighbour’s chronic smoking, and authorities seem powerless to help.

Kath* is a former nurse who worked in the cancer wards of St John of God hospitals, a breast cancer survivor and the wife of a motor neurone disease sufferer.

But she says her husband can no longer come home after hospital visits because the neighbour’s non-stop fagging has made it too dangerous. Her daughter, an asthma sufferer, also steers clear.

Kath says the problem has been exacerbated by Perth’s push for density; the block she shares with her neighbour’s house has been chopped so small his backyard deck is hard up against her fence and just metres from her windows.

“I just can’t understand it; his wife has breast cancer,” says Kath.

“I put my head over the fence and asked if the person who is smoking could stop.

“I wrote a very pleasant letter and I knocked on the door, but he didn’t reply.

“When I finally saw him, all he said in reply was ‘well, we all have to die of something’.”

Kath says the smell has pervaded her home to the point that when she decided to put it on the market, her agent chided her for being a smoker and making it harder to sell.

The topic of stinky neighbours is such a fraught one that the Australian Medical Association dropped its usual hardball approach to smoking and said it didn’t know what to say.

Melville council’s acting CEO Marten Tieleman says there are local laws that can be invoked, but it’s a tricky one because health officers need to witness the smoke and be satisfied it’s a nuisance. WA’s laws don’t define what constitutes a nuisance.

“In reality, unless smoking becomes illegal the city cannot formulate policy to control it and certainly not within the private realm.”

Mr Tieleman says there’s an assumption that the Residential Design Codes deliver acceptable residential outcomes for all neighbours.

He says where outdoor living areas are situated in relation to neighbours is ultimately up to architects.

“Again, as long as smoking is a legal activity and the neighbour is acting within the privacy of his own home, there are limited options to the resident.”

• Not her real name

by STEVE GRANT

AT least four Perth city councillors are seeking tens of thousands of dollars to cover legal fees stemming from the local government inquiry into the city.

Under council policy they can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per instance if they have legal costs relating to their position.

The three state government-appointed commissioners currently filling in for the suspended councillors will decide at the next council meeting whether to reimburse them, and they also have the power to raise the $10,000 cap.

A report to the commissioners from CEO Martin Mileham’s office states “four requests by suspended Elected Members have been received, each seeking financial assistance in utilising their preferred legal representative as it relates to the Panel Inquiry”.

The four are unnamed. Any reimbursement would be paid by the city’s legal insurer, Chubb Insurance, with council funds covering the excess.

The insurer would determine the “reasonableness” of the claim.

Meanwhile, deputy lord mayor Jemma Green and Cr James Liminios are seeking undisclosed legal costs at the next council meeting.

Cr Green has asked for reimbursement for legal fees following a secret probe into the CEO dubbed “Project Percy” (after the Council parking mascot Percy the car).

In the aftermath, which sparked an internal inquiry, Cr Green hired law firm Bennet + Co to act for her.

Cr James Limnios is also seeking legal fees as he hired Hale Legal during a Corruption and Crime Commission investigation late last year.

He and councillor Reece Harley had reported each other for misconduct to the CCC, which found that there was no evidence to support either allegation.

Cr Harley did not submit a request for reimbursement.

by DAVID BELL

NINTY police officers will be transferred to the new Perth police district in a bid to curb anti-social behaviour in Northbridge.

Fifty of the new officers will be on the beat.

WA Police Minister Michelle Roberts said the move follows “consistent concerns” over violent incidents within the city and the entertainment precinct.

“People will see a significant increase in the number of operational officers available, particularly those involved in bike patrols, within the city and Northbridge,” he says.

“Bike patrol has proven a very visible way of policing and this presence is very important.

“We want people to feel safe enough that they will choose to come into the city and Northbridge.”

The increase in the number of on-the-ground officers in the city follows Police Commissioner Chris Dawson doubling the number of police districts in the metro area to eight.

Commissioner Dawson says the old model meant the city fell under an “absolutely massive” area which stretched as far as Mundaring.

Ms Roberts said, “There was a sense that no one really owned their patch. It was such a big area that response times had lengthened and police were under a lot of pressure.

“Smaller districts mean officers will get to know their area better and respond more quickly.”

The commissioner’s changes include a specialised family and domestic violence team in each district.

“It means officers on the front line will have specialist back up who can follow up with affected families and monitor repeat offenders,” Ms Roberts says.

Perth Labor MP John Carey says more officers would help improve safety in the quieter parts of town.

“When police presence is greater, the streets are busier and crime is less likely, driving economic activity,” he says.

by CHARLIE SMITH

BAYSWATER’S bike boulevard looks set to be extended to Morley city centre, but over half the residents living beside the proposed extension are against it.

The million dollar first stage of the boulevard, running for 2.7km along Leake and May Streets, was completed in September.

Stage two will run from Adelphi St to Russell St in the city centre and councillors are set to rubber stamp the extension at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

But 58 per cent of residents living beside the proposed bike route are against it, according to community consultation undertaken by the city.

“Some of the residents on the route verbally indicated that they would support the project if it was on another street,” the council report stated.

Despite the objections, council officers have recommended council give the extension the go ahead.

Consultation also revealed that most residents living further away from the boulevard supported it, with some concerns over reduced street parking on Edward Street and access for larger vehicles.

The boulevard will connect Riverside Gardens with St Columba’s and Bayswater Primary Schools, and Chisholm and John Forrest Colleges.

It will also include a signalised pedestrian crossing at Beaufort and May Street which the report states, “will greatly benefit all residents in the area as an added facility enabling the safe crossing of Beaufort Street.”

The project is funded by the Transport Department as part of their Safe Active Streets program.

by CHARLIE SMITH

WITH marriage equality now the law of the land and couples able to marry regardless of sex, Vincent council has discontinued its relationship declaration register.

Perth MP John Carey proposed the idea when he was a Vincent councillor in 2012, saying that if the federal government wasn’t going to get on with legalising marriage equality then local government would do what it could.

The intention was to give couples an official certificate to formally prove their relationship, and in the first two years 100 couples signed up.

Plebiscite

Mr Carey said this week “my view has always been that council can do rubbish, roads and parks, but it can also work on issues of concern to the community. Our inner-city community was strongly supportive of marriage equality, and until the federal government caught up the relationship register was the way to go.”

It took nearly six years and an expensive plebiscite (during which Vincent flew the rainbow flag outside council chambers in support), but the register has finally been made obsolete when sex marriage became legal in December.

Vincent deputy mayor Susan Gontaszewski said “the City strongly supports marriage equality as expressed through our Vincent Loves Love campaign late last year. We are delighted that the need for our register and supporting policy has been superseded and the Marriage Act changed to recognise same sex relationships”. The existing register will be kept in perpetuity, but if things didn’t work out you can request to have your name removed.

by DAVID BELL

A DAY care centre for the elderly could be turned into townhouses as Bayswater pulls the plug on its Home and Community Care Program.

Since 2004, Olive Tree House in Morley has been providing in-home food services, social activities, and transport and domestic assistance to the elderly.

The facility hosts cooking classes and workshops, and has an outdoor area for social events.

Seniors who use the services at Olive Tree will be transferred to Umbrella Community Care, or will have to find another provider, when the centre closes its doors in June.

Federal funding

The council decided its HACC services were not viable last year, following aged care reforms that meant federal funding was no longer guaranteed.

The house’s zoning means council could lease the facility to a community organisation or it could be used for residential or retail.

City officer’s have recommended granting a short-term lease to a local community group. Another option is to demolish the adjacent Morley Senior Citizen’s Centre and relocate it to Olive Tree House.

The city has other senior citizen centres in Morley and Bayswater, but none offer the HACC services provided by Olive Tree House.

Council will vote on the future of the day care centre at Tuesday night’s full council meeting.

by CHARLIE SMITH

AN aged and disability provider is in pole position to move into the Maylands Autumn Centre.

Bayswater council officers have recommended that ECHO, which provides in-home care and services, be granted a five-year lease.

Up until last year it was used by the Maylands Senior’s Club, but it dissolved after membership dwindled, and the Ninth Avenue site has since been hired out to community groups.

Council received eight expressions of interest for the lease, including Family Support WA, theatre groups, an organisation which supports prisoners’ families, the Maylands ratepayers and residents association, and a karate school, which currently hires the centre.

ECHO said they would consider letting other groups, such as the karate school, hire out the hall on a causal basis.

In December, the Voice reported on the community backlash when council staff recommended “disposal” of the centre and its land.

After the backlash, officers said their “preferred option” of disposal was an error and sought expressions of interest for the site.

by CHARLIE SMITH

THE three state government-appointed commissioners running Perth city council will decide on Tuesday if suspended councillors keep getting paid, but regardless of their decision lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi will continue to receive most of her wages.

Perth councillors get an allowance every quarter, totalling just over $30,000 a year, and they’re still getting this while suspended.

Corporate

But the commission has the option to pay them a per-meeting attendance fee instead, which critics say would disadvantage grass-roots councillors who are not backed by the corporate end of town.

The lord mayor would miss out on $47,000 in attendance fees, but she would still get her yearly allowance of about $136,000.

Council CEO Martin Mileham’s report to the commissioners states: “The purposes of elected member attendance fees and allowances is to remunerate individuals for the performance of their role. Given the suspension of elected members they are incapable of fulfilling their role as a representative of council.”

The report points out that past inquiries have taken up to two years.

While suspended councillors still have to abide by legal responsibilities found in the local government act and other City of Perth policies, including one that forbids them from criticising council decisions.

Anna Vanderbom is president of the City of Perth Western Residents Association, representing the Nedlands/Subiaco area that got swallowed by Perth during local government mergers.

She does not want councillors stripped of their pay. When the suspension was announced she told the Voice that if councillors weren’t paid, then come election time the wealthier ones—who she believes represent the big end of town—could easily afford to run again.

The councillors who generally represent the residents would have less of a war chest and could be deterred from renominating, she argued.

The commissioners–Eric Lumsden (retiring chair of the WA Planning Commission), Gaye McMath (executive director of Perth Education City) and Andrew Hammond (former City of Rockingham CEO)–will rule on councillors pay at the next council meeting on April 24.

Councillors Steve Hasluck and Lily Chen both said in March they did not want to be paid while suspended, saying that if they are still given an allowance they’ll donate it to charity.

by DAVID BELL

VINCENT council CEO Len Kosova has announced he will resign in September after three and a half years in the job.

His contract runs until 2021, but Mr Kosova said he wants to spend more time with his kids and do more consultancy work in the local government sector.

It was a far shorter innings than his predecessor John Giorgi, who stayed for 20 years until councillors voted to bin him in 2014.

Mr Kosovo was a planning director at Wannaroo council when he applied for the Vincent CEO gig and saw off 52 other candidates.

He had a lot of work ahead of him when he first stepped in to the role, finding the previous regime’s paperwork idiosyncratic.

Detail orientated

The first challenge was turning around an inherited budget that was headed for disaster because a staffer accidentally recorded $3.2million of deficit as surplus.

He brought in stricter spending measures, saying at the time “we’ve had to introduce a great deal more financial control and rigour than the organisation has previously experienced.”

It wasn’t the only leftover oddity he had to deal with, also uncovering a decade-old error that the previous city administration wrongly held on to $780,000 of cash that should have gone to the Leederville Gardens retirement village reserve fund.

His predecessor John Georgi was popular with staff, with more than 80 per cent of them signing a petition imploring the council to keep their boss.

Staff morale

When the Voice asked if his detailed-orientated approach might put staff noses out of joint, Mr Kosova said: “I’ll be blunt: We’re here to run a business on behalf of our community. It’s not a popularity contest, and we need to make sure we’re extracting the best value for public money.

“For some staff that might be something that’s different and maybe a little uncomfortable, but other staff are embracing it and appreciate the extra accountability and responsibilities.”

Councillors were chuffed with their new man, even increasing his salary by 8 per cent in the December 2015 review.

Not every staffer loved the new leadership style though.

In August 2017, former councillor Dudley Maier said several city employees had told him staff morale was low. That claim came shortly after the city went through a round of redundancies.

Mr Kosova said the redundancies weren’t forced (staff have the option of taking up a different role), and said they only affected 14 positions and would improve efficiency and customer service.

In the press release announcing the resignation Vincent mayor Emma Cole said “When Len joined the City of Vincent in August 2014, the Council had committed to a journey of significant reform in the way Vincent serves our community. Len joined us with great passion, good humour and smarts, and he has given the role of CEO 110 per cent. We’ve enjoyed almost four years of Len at the helm of our administration, and councillors and I greatly value the cohesive and collegiate relationship we have built as Team Vincent.

“During this time together we have achieved real and meaningful change. Len has driven cultural change and strong performance within our organisation, and this has made the world of difference in delivering some great outcomes for our community.”

Mr Kosova has given five months notice to allow the city to recruit a new CEO, finalise the 2018–19 budget and finalise some long-term strategic plans.

by DAVID BELL