City council chief executive Dawn Baxendale says the council cannot take its foot off the accelerator as it drives towards becoming a more open and transparent organisation.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier published a scathing report on the city council’s practices last year, identifying “serious concerns” about its commitment to openness and transparency, accusing senior leaders of manipulating reports before releasing them.
Mr Boshier’s investigation into the council was conducted from October 2018 to July 2019. Former chief executive Karleen Edwards was chief executive for the majority of the inquiry, departing from the role in June last year.
Mrs Baxendale assumed the role of chief executive in July and vowed to drive a “culture change” from within the council upon the release of Mr Boshier’s report in November.
She told The Star while significant progress has been made in addressing the concerns of Mr Boshier, the council could not afford to show any signs of slowing down.
“We cannot take our foot off the accelerator in striving to ingrain a culture of openness and transparency. Culture change is something that cannot be changed overnight and I agree with the Chief Ombudsman that senior leaders’ actions and behaviours are key in changing that culture,” she said.
In response to Mr Boshier’s report last year, the city council initiated an improvement plan to address the Chief Ombudsman’s concerns. Of the 90 actions within the plan, 35 have been completed and 55 have either been initiated, planned or are ongoing.
However, in last week’s council meeting city councillor Jake McLellan raised concerns over the organisation’s handling of the future of Red Bus.
Last month, former chief executive of the council-owned company, Paul McNoe, resigned the day after a meeting was held behind closed doors by the council about the bus company.
The day of his resignation he sent an email to staff claiming the council had recommended the potential sale of the company. No decision around the sale of the company has been made.
Said Cr McLellan: “Issues like the Red Bus report are a clear example of where we could have done better. This is a report that has been communicated to hundreds of staff members, discussed in the media and yet we have released no details of it.
Well, I don’t think that is good enough.”
City councillor Yani Johanson agreed with Cr McLellan.
“We need to take responsibility at a governance level for being more open and transparent,” he said.
Mayor Lianne Dalziel said she “resented” the comments made over the Red Bus saga.
“It wasn’t our role to have a public discussion about the features of the circumstances that have led to a range of options being made available,” she said.
