City of Melville chief executive Shayne Silcox.
Camera IconCity of Melville chief executive Shayne Silcox. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

City of Melville councillors want to be involved in reponse to a State Government inquiry

Aaron CorlettMelville Gazette

THE majority of City of Melville councillors underlined that they want to be involved in the response to a report from State Government’s inquiry after they revoked delegated authority from chief executive Shayne Silcox.

It was announced in November 2017 that the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries would conduct the inquiry to explore whether there are underlying issues to the nearly 300 complaints against the City made to the Minister and the department since 2014.

At the June 19 council meeting, an amendment to the City’s Delegated Authority Manual was put forward by councillor Nicholas Pazolli to remove the chief executive’s delegated authority to respond to a Departmental inquiry and an Inquiry Panel report.

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Cr Pazolli said during the meeting the idea of the amendment was for councillors to have input into the City’s response to the report.

The amendment was approved eight votes to five.

Dr Silcox said he was planning on bring the report to the council as it was a stakeholder in the inquiry.

“The City’s administration will work with the council to ensure any issues are addressed and that appropriate responses are provided as required,” he said.

“The removal of the delegations confirms the City’s response to the Inquiry report would be brought to the Council for approval.”

Dr Silcox said for a considerable time before the inquiry announcement, the City had been experiencing increasing demands in relation to dealing with a number of issues and it had been seeking the involvement of the Department and other key agencies to assist.

“The inquiry announcement was encouraging therefore, in that State Government indicated they would be seeking to understand the underlying issues,” he said.

“It was what we had been asking for and we have worked closely with the Department throughout the inquiry process to ensure all their requests have been met in the most comprehensive way possible.”

The inquiry is expected to examine matters related to the council’s relationship with the City’s administration, the adequacy of council policies and procedures, acquisition of land and any other matters the investigative team discovers during its inquiry.