Perth Voice Interactive

HAVING retired from Vincent council two years ago but spending many a Tuesday night in the public gallery ever since, Dudley Maier is making a formal comeback bid, seeking election to south ward.

Mr Maier was on council from 2005 to 2013 and earned a reputation as having an eye for detail with financial matters. He often clashed with former mayor and Labor strongman Nick Catania.

Even after retiring from council he spied problems with the council’s budget, pointing out a massive looming deficit in 2014.

One reason he wants to return is “there is a lot that still needs to be done with finances”.

“Next year’s budget is going to be really difficult.”

He says this year the council relied on selling $2.5 million of land to prop things up but it won’t be there next year.

“We need to go to square one and question each line item on the budget, assigning priorities. It’s something we haven’t been good at. It has to be pretty rigorous and we have to start early.”

The other two main issues are traffic and planning snarls.

Mr Maier says local policies need to be watertight given the power the state government-imposed development assessment panel has over decision-making. He believes the DAP is approving projects that are too bulky and out of step with community expectations.

On traffic he says the council needs to abandon its piecemeal approach of fixing four or five streets a year (which moves problems one street over) and instead introduce an across the board “reclaim the streets” approach to lower speeds and make the streets safer.

He says the council could look at interstate and overseas approaches: eastern states public spaces expert David Engwicht has found cars slow down if you do something as simple as hang a swing in a verge tree or paint hopscotch squares on the road.

There are two spots in south ward and Mr Maier will be up against two candidates backed by mayor John Carey—Jimmy Murphy and Susan Gontaszewski.

Mr Carey says Mr Maier has pointed out useful things from the public gallery and Mr Maier says “we get on quite well, I think the only difference is the speed: I’m a bit slower and analytical.”

by DAVID BELL

VETERAN councillor Barry McKenna is gearing up to challenge Sylvan Albert for Bayswater’s mayoral chains — assuming Cr Albert wins his ward.

A councillor for 24 years, deputy mayor under Terry Kenyon and a freeman of the city, Cr McKenna says “I’ll see if I have the numbers to run” once the dust settles from next month’s elections. “I am interested, but I need to see if I have the support first.”

In Bayswater the mayor is a councillor, chosen by councillors, every two years.

Cr McKenna, 53, says he’s not letting two heart attacks—the most recent in 2012—slow him down, and maintains he’s now in good health.

He concedes that if he wins, his career as a history teacher at Trinity College will be all but over.

“Being mayor is a full-time job, so it is something that I would have to give serious consideration to,” he says.

In 2013 the mayoral allowance was upped to $136,000, making it a viable full-time role.

Meanwhile, following the closing of nominations last week it’s been confirmed that Catherine Ehrhardt will challenge Cr Albert for south ward.

In north ward, eight-year incumbent Mike Anderton faces a battle against both Brent Fleeton and Jacquie Kelly.

Central ward sees incumbents Chris Cornish and Mike Sabatino up against Jonathan Jones, Hadi Assanteh and Sally Palmer, while in west ward incumbent Martin Toldo faces off against Paul Shanahan and Dan Bull.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

GIOVANNI ITALIANO says if he is re-elected to Stirling’s Osborne ward at the October elections he will seek a second term as mayor.

In Stirling the mayor is a councillor, chosen by councillors every two years. At this stage no-one is set to seriously challenge him for the job.

“We had the lowest rates rise across Perth at 1.9 per cent and introduced the three-bin system under my watch,” Cr Italiano says. “The city is thriving and we are investing in several major infrastructure projects, including the revitalisation of Scarborough.”

Businesswoman Teresa Olow has challenged Cr Italiano in Osborne ward but is not considered a serious threat.

In Lawley ward, Cr Joe Ferrante has been elected unopposed. He says his focus for the next four years will be getting underground power for Mt Lawley, Yokine and Nollamara, improving parks and increasing “green space”.  “The highlights of my first term have been getting underground power for Coolbinia, helping to introduce a three-bin system, keeping rates low and protecting heritage,” he says.

Council veteran Terry Tyzack was disappointed in the lack of interest.

“I believe it is because of the financial scrutiny that a candidate must put themselves through,” he says. “A lot of professionals are not comfortable about being up front and transparent with all their finances and assets.”

In Inglewood ward, Cr David Lagan is up against Amrik Pala and Shao Fang Wang. Mr Pala, an 81-year-old retired engineer, says he’ll focus on getting better representation and conditions for seniors.

Ms Wang, a scientist and business owner, is a member of several community associations.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

AN 81-year-old candidate for Stirling council has described as “a disgrace” the removal of an off-peak discount for seniors and students to the Terry Tyzack Aquatic Centre.

Amrik Pala, who is contesting Inglewood ward, says “we should be encouraging seniors to exercise so they are healthy and reduce the burden on the health system”.

The 15 per cent discount for students and seniors on off-peak memberships recently disappeared with little warning. Peak-hour and long-term discounts remained.

Dianella retiree Peter Healy submitted a 64-signature petition to the council Tuesday night, demanding the off-peak discounts’ return: “We are calling on the council to reinstate this discount,” he told the Voice. “The majority of seniors use the gym during the day. The first we knew about it was when we picked up a flyer at the centre.”

Mr Pala says, “during the day the council gyms are sitting empty”.

The council has also discontinued an early bird membership which entitled gym users to a bonus free month.

“This was only a two-year promotion which has ended,” council director Trevor Holland said. At the council meeting Mr Holland apologised to Mr Pala for forgetting to arrange a meeting with mayor Giovanni Italiano over the issue.

Stirling council staff get to use the centre for half price.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK

PERTH city council’s CEO and his team of media handlers — who are paid by the public to liaise with the media — seem to be blackballing the Perth Voice because they don’t like our coverage of the council, and particularly of lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi.

CEO Gary Stevenson is flat-out refusing to answer any questions about the council’s handling of Ms Scaffidi’s interests in the Grand Central backpackers, unless the Voice apologises for the articles it published last weekend.

Last week the Voice reported — using facts in documents that we obtained under freedom of information laws — that Ms Scaffidi had directed ratepayer-funded staff about how to respond to Sunday Times’ newspaper questions about her private interests in the hostel property.

In a lengthy complaint email, Mr Stevenson took issue with the “accuracy, clarity, fairness and balance” of our articles.

This week the Voice lodged additional questions with Mr Stevenson, but received only this in reply: “City of Perth will not be responding to your queries on this matter until a correction and apology has been published to its satisfaction.”

Meanwhile, senior communications staffer Michael Holland — who personally helped Ms Scaffidi respond to the Sunday Times’ questions — has failed to deal with three enquiries from the Voice, sent August 17, September 1 and September 8, about the hostel.

But it appears the ban now covers everything contentious the Voice asks. On September 8 we asked for access to elected members’ expense reports, which list the expenses elected members can claim for phone bills, clothes, dry cleaning, taxis and haircuts. We received no reply.

Also on September 8 we asked for the policy regarding use of the lord mayor’s car. Again, no answer.

by DAVID BELL

FIRST, it’s important to note we’re not suggesting the lord mayor or the council have broken any laws with their handling of the Grand Central Hotel issue.

We’ve asked questions, but we’ve not made allegations.

That said, we do think the handling of the matter has been sub-par, and we are concerned that the council’s response has been to dig in and erect a wall of silence, rather than demonstrate a commitment to transparency.

The lord mayor co-owns a building that has, for many years, been the subject of numerous complaints relating to cleanliness and safety.

The difficulty for the lord mayor and the council has been in separating her public and private affairs, and ensuring council resources are spent on the former.

When the “semen and cockroaches” complaint lobbed in the email boxes of Ms Scaffidi and council staffer Cecilia Firth, we believe the most appropriate response would have been for Ms Scaffidi to alert both Ms Firth and the complainant to her personal interest in the property, and to explain that due to the conflict of interest she would not be responding as lord mayor.

Ms Scaffidi should then have alerted the then-CEO to the complaint and asked him to respond on behalf of the city and to take whatever further action he saw fit, such as reporting the allegations to council officials for possible investigation.

It would then have been open for Ms Scaffidi to respond to the complainant as the owner of the property in question and express whatever feelings she believed most appropriate.

Similarly, when the Sunday Times asked its questions of Ms Scaffidi’s interests in the property, the council should have made it clear it would respond only to questions relating to its actions and responsibilities and that questions regarding Ms Scaffidi’s interests should be put to her directly or to the company she owns with her husband Joe.

Ms Scaffidi should have had no role in formulating any council response regarding her private affairs: in our mind, her direction to council media staff about how to answer such questions were not appropriate: public resources were used, however inadvertently, to advance Ms Scaffidi’s private interests and that was a mistake.

It seems clear that Ms Scaffidi enjoys a close and constructive relationship with council staff. That’s a positive thing, but it should never be allowed to morph into council staff being used as private assistants.

SO, it turns out lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi wasn’t getting a hairdo when her official limo was spied outside a Queen Street hairdresser just hours before she announced her re-election campaign (Voice, September 12, 2015).

Instead, we’ve been told — via a complaint letter from council CEO Gary Stevenson — that she’d been on official business at an event nearby. Indeed, a reader kindly got in touch Monday to say he’d been at the same event.

We had emailed the lord mayor and the council’s media team before we went to print, seeking info, but none of them saw fit to fill us in at the time.

According to Mr Stevenson, the lord mayor didn’t respond because “the tone and content of Mr Bell’s email regarding the matter was provocative and disrespectful… and did not warrant the courtesy of a response”.

He pointed out the lord mayor’s vehicle is authorised to park in the city under local laws and it doesn’t pay fees since they’d only be going back to the city anyway.

by DAVID BELL