Perth Voice Interactive

A PAY packet worth between $250,000 and $325,000 a year is on offer as Bayswater council starts its search for a new CEO.

Councillors get to choose the new CEO, and Cr Brent Fleeton says he’s not interested in hiring anyone steeped in local government.

In sharing the job ad online he added some commentary: “In my opinion (as just one councillor voting on this) if your only previous senior management experience has been in protecting the status quo of local government I don’t want to hear from you,” he said, adding that “a truly obscene salary package (which is paid for by our ratepayers) is on offer”.

He told the Voice: “I don’t want someone who’s moving over from the Shire of Manjimup or the City of Vincent  … I do not believe that it would be a good decision to appoint someone to the CEO position who has already been a CEO of a local government”.

The city’s ad says “local government experience whilst well regarded is not essential”.

Cr Fleeton says; “I want someone innovative, I want them to be able to go into the organisation and change it to match what the community and the council expects.”

He says his personal preference is someone who can get more staff on front line services and fewer paper-shufflers.

“I’m sure we could be doing thins more efficiently … if we get a new CEO in who has a proven track record of going into organisations to improve their efficiency and output that can only be a good thing.”

The role’s being filled by acting CEO Carissa Bywater after the council decided not to renew former CEO Francesca Lefante’s contract.

by DAVID BELL

THE rollout of nature playgrounds continues down Bayswater way with a $70,000 Lotterywest grant going into upgrades at Bert Wright Park. Bayswater council threw in $100,000 for stage one and the $70,000 will help build a water play creek for kids to paddle around in and a climbing net, along with a barbie, picnic area and paths through the park. Nature play’s taken off in the past few years, replacing sterile steel, plastic and rubber-matted playgrounds, with some solid science showing it encourages kids’ imaginations, helps them understand minor risk taking, builds resilience, and playing around in the dirt a bit can even help their immune systems.

IF the kids are going hog wild after a few weeks on holidays the Northbridge Piazza is showing free films every Saturday at 5.30pm. This Saturday January 21 they’re showing Free Birds, a story about two turkeys who travel back in time to try to change the course of history and get turkey off the holiday food menu. http://www.visitperthcity.com has the full list of free movies coming up through April.

A PERTH council garbo working early Monday morning was hit by a speeding ute, badly injuring his leg. The ute had peeled out of Metros night club, sped down Roe Street, hit the worker who was standing beside his truck, then careened into another car. Council media man Michael Holland says the man was “seriously injured” in the crash. “The City’s main priority is the welfare of our colleague, and to support him and his immediate family”. Police closed off the street Monday to investigate and the driver and passenger have been “assisting” police with enquiries.

MOUNT HAWTHORN’S Anzac Cottage is now officially an antique, celebrating 101 years since the community build the house in one day for a returning Great War veteran. It’s open for a free guided tour at 1.30pm and 2.45pm on its birthday, February 12 at 38 Kalgoorlie Street.

 

FERAL species are still on the loose in Hyde Park with at least three whopper koi swimming free in the eastern lake.

Exotic fish often end up in local lakes courtesy of irresponsible pet owners, but koi (or ornamental carp) can cause a lot of damage to local environments and animals. One fish can lay 1.5 million eggs.

They make the water cruddier by uprooting vegetation and stirring up sediments with their vacuum-cleaner mouths, and that means native animals that rely on sight to feed can’t find a meal, and it can clog up other fish’s gills.

In high numbers they can lead to algal blooms and erosion  (since they eat all the plants near the shore).

After being alerted to the foot-long feral fish on Facebook mayor John Carey said he’d get the parks team down there to catch them.

Hyde Park’s lakes previously had trouble with the deadly red-eared slider turtle.

It was deemed so deadly (they feast on eggs and force out native turtles) the council put up a bunch of wanted signs asking people to report sightings so rangers could come down and fish them out immediately.

by DAVID BELL

CHINESE New Year Festivities are about to kick off through the city.

There’s a free 10-day celebration down at Elizabeth Quay with dance, music, tai chi, “push hands” classes (a meditative martial art), traditional Chinese folk arts and crafts for the kids, and of course lion dancing across January 27 to February 5.

There’s more celebrations up in Northbridge with the Chung Way Association holding their festivities, and parts of James and Lake Street will be closed of for the celebrations across January 28 to 30.

MAYORAL
MALCOLM BOYD is back for another crack at becoming Vincent mayor. A small business owner with an engineering degree and an MBA, Mr Boyd ran against incumbent John Carey. “I support free enterprise, initiative, and believe that government should be small, efficient, support local business and our way of life,” says Mr Boyd. He’s concerned the council is raising rates faster than inflation and wants to rein that in. He’s also got his eye on a review of “expensive, poorly-engineered traffic management and cycle paths”. He’s running for both the mayor’s job and for the vacant south ward council seat.

EMMA COLE is the other contestant for mayor and has the endorsement of John Carey who’s retiring to run for state Labor for Perth. She got on council in 2013 aiming to improve community consultation and wants to continue Vincent’s transparency reforms, along with improving pedestrian safety and expanding and improving public open space to make neighbourhoods more liveable.

SOUTH WARD
FRANCES HARRISON says she’s “keen to continue the amazing work of the current local council members,” a far cry from Mr Boyd’s picture of the current mob running things over a cliff. Ms Harrison volunteers for Fringe and Perth International Film Festival and in her day job works as a human resources executive director for Main Roads. She says her HR background and financial nous will be come in handy in a councillor’s role.

JONATHAN HALLETT agrees it’s fairly smooth sailing at the current council and he wants to continue the legacy of transparency and accountability. He says the city’s open spaces are good for youngens but wants a second look at ways they could make them more accessible for Vincent’s expanding elderly population (such as dedicated seniors parking bays). A Greens party member, he wants to focus on sustainability measures (like the council using its bulk buy power to purchase solar panels and drive down power costs), more sun-safe playgrounds, and protection for local heritage.

MAI NGUYEN ran a restaurant in Vincent for seven years and wants “a real focus to support local small businesses”. She wants to put “the best parking management in place using sensor technology to police commuter parking” (one of the major problems in south ward is city workers parking all day in Vincent streets, crowding out residents or customers). More green space and food-growing verges are also on her agenda, and the Lake Street local has the backing of outgoing mayor John Carey and former mayor Alannah MacTiernan.

ALMOST 50 years after forming the Citizens Road Safety Association of WA, Frank Ash is ready to hand over the reins.

The Inglewood resident is approaching 90 and says he and his wife’s ill health means their time trying to badger governments into making WA’s roads safer, and cajoling motorists into driving on them more carefully, is at an end.

In fact, the association has been dormant for nigh-on a decade, and it was only after tying up some loose ends recently that Mr Ash discovered it was still incorporated. He’s on the hunt for six people who can help fire it up again.

At its peak, about 2000 people were on the mailing list for CRSAWA’s magazine Action.

Mr Ash came to WA to work for the national statistician on the 1966 Census and was kept on afterwards.

“My job was counting the dead and injured from accidents,” he says. “In 1968 I took it upon myself to start the Citizens Road Safety Association because while I didn’t see the horror of it, a couple of my workmates and people I knew were involved in accidents and I knew what they’d been through.”

Mr Ash’s access to the statistics meant Action was packed full of facts and figures that often irked authorities who preferred they weren’t made public. He was even investigated, but cleared, for releasing official secrets.

“When we got into driver training, we had 100 people come into Perth at a time,” Mr Ash says.

The association’s courses became so popular that Mr Ash and his wife personally invested in 90 hectares of farmland in Chidlow so they could host more people. He says national authorities lauded the courses as the best in the land, but red tape bought them to an end.

The family instead used the land for Mr Ash’s other passion; organic food production. With unusual zeal he links the two issues. The Ash family still owns the land and he’d like to see a crowdfunding appeal so it can be bought out by a recharged CRSAWA.

Anyone interested in joining and running the association can call Mr Ash on 9271 2576.

by STEVE GRANT

A RECOMMENDATION to slash generous IT allowances for Vincent councillors will see the light of day, five months after staff recommended the measure.

Councillors are given $3500 to cover phone and computer expenses; the maximum allowed by the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal. They don’t have to produce receipts or pay back unspent money.

Vincent’s staff crunched the numbers and reckoned just $1500 was needed, and if any councillors went over they could put in a claim for reimbursement with receipts.

A report to council said the cut could save $18,000 a year.

The change was deferred when first floated in October, with Matt Buckels the only councillor to oppose the delay. Two weeks later, councillors were paid their six-monthly allowance at the full rate.

Former councillor Dudley Maier has been pushing for change: “I’ve been raising this for over a year and all I’ve seen is stonewalling and delays. The perception is that they have something to hide and they don’t know how to address it. This wouldn’t pass the pub test.

“It’s pretty disgraceful that only one councillor was prepared to speak in public about this, and then they discussed it a week later in one of their closed council workshops. That doesn’t seem very open and accountable.

“If council members are as open as they claim to be, they should have no problem telling us how much they’ve spent, and how much they’ve pocketed.”

Mayor John Carey agrees the allowance should be reformed, but says Mr Maier is “being a little unfair”.

Frugal

“We are a frugal council and no one can deny that. We put a ban on council travel, the only one in WA to, we have no clothing allowance, no laundry allowances, no allowances for hair or dry cleaning like the City of Perth and some other councils.”

Mr Carey says costs for IT and telecommunications can quickly add up. “My phone bill is quite large, plus I have internet bills, and it includes purchasing new hardware, and repairs, and computers.

He says the cut was deferred over concerns about the administrative burden if there was a tsunami of receipts compared to a lump-sum payment.

by DAVID BELL