The chickens come home to roost at Blayney
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- Published: Thursday, 17 November 2011 08:12
Our dispute at Blayney this year had all the negative characteristics of working in local government.
Unacceptable behaviour by a councillor; a failure by the Mayor to control a meeting; a general manager in a coma failing to remind the Mayor of his responsibility; a reluctance by the errant councillors (and the comatose general manager) to acknowledge and apologise for their mistakes; bans and then a strike by members in support of the Director as a fellow member; tampering with the minutes of the meeting to misrepresent what had happened at the meeting; the intervention of the Industrial Relations Commission; the intervention of the Division of Local Government also at our request; a new set of minutes to restore what had really happened rather than the fraudulent cover-up; a walkout by a general manager who had enough of being caught between the staff and the Council etc etc.
Yes please, I want to work at a place like that! Destination 2036 should have looked at Blayney when they were looking to create a viable, efficient industry which is an employer of choice over the next 25 years.
Whether you call it the chickens coming home to roost or the rewarding principle of karma, the vacuous councillors responsible for this debacle are now in a bit of a fix.
Director Paul O'Brien left the Council with a smile on his face after negotiations and a confidential settlement contained within a Deed of Release and now the Manager Health and Building, Greg Prince, our delegate over this period, has left and gone to Lithgow.
Blayney now has no qualified health and building staff.
What does the community (and the Minister for Local Government) think about this fiasco?