Former Burnside Council chief executive Paul Deb speaks publicly for the first time about his sacking
Former Burnside Council chief executive Paul Deb has spoken publicly for the first time about his sacking, revealing how four emails cost him his $241,000-a-year job.
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It was two emails sent to a former soldier that started a chain of events which ultimately led to the sacking of former Burnside Council chief executive Paul Deb.
Speaking publicly for the first time since losing his job in June last year, Mr Deb has admitted regretting asking former councillor Lance Bagster in 2016 if he was “on his meds” and telling him “three strikes you’re out mate, this is not the army”.
The email exchange was one of many between the pair during a tumultuous relationship which eventually led to a lengthy Ombudsman investigation, with the council subsequently taking legal action against Mr Bagster to stop him seeking re-election.
Elected to Burnside Council in 2014, the former army helicopter pilot who served in Afghanistan became a passionate advocate for the suburbs of Stonyfell and Wattle Park — promoting various capital works projects, most of which were unsuccessful.
Their failure to gain the support of senior staff and other councillors became the source of considerable tension, with Mr Bagster frequently criticising decisions during council meetings, in emails and on telephone calls.
Mr Deb, a long-term employee who became chief executive in 2011 in the aftermath of the MacPherson inquiry into the faction-ridden council, said Mr Bagster “completely lost it” when a senior staff member opposed restructuring funding for artists at a community art gallery.
“Bagster didn’t like it at all,” he said.
“He wanted me to discipline her and fire her, which I refused to do.
“I undertook an investigation, which found she did nothing wrong.
“He escalated it to David Parkin (the mayor).
“That’s when things started to really go downhill.”
Mr Deb, 53, said Mr Bagster increasingly began harassing him, corporate and development general manager Martin Cooper and urban and community general manager Barry Cant over a multitude of issues, sending them abusive emails and telephoning them at all hours.
“I went to see Parkin and told him that Bagster was constantly out of line and he had to do something,” he said.
“I didn’t want to lodge a code of conduct against Bagster. It’s not a good look for a CEO.
“But anything I did, Bagster complained about it.
“The whole council was aware of what was going on but nobody wanted to do anything.
“That’s when I had enough.”
Mr Deb said it was “out of sheer frustration” that he sent the “three strikes and you are out” and “are you on your meds now” emails to Mr Bagster during a dispute over the installation of a chicane in a Stonyfell street.
“If you hadn’t worked it out already, I’m not subordinate to you — this ain’t the army, buddy,” he wrote.
“Deal with that fact and one day we might get along. Probs not. Stop bullying and harassing me publically (sic). You are a very rude man who thinks that you can say anything and get away with it. Are you on your meds now? If not, you should be. By the way, you made that little gem known to many. Cheers mate. Paul.”
Mr Bagster, who a court later heard suffers from PTSD, lodged a code of conduct complaint against Mr Deb, which was investigated by a law firm and upheld. Mr Deb was ordered to write a personal letter of apology.
The relationship between the two men continued to deteriorate, eventually leading to a code of conduct complaint being made against Mr Bagster to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), which was referred to State Ombudsman Wayne Lines for investigation.
In a damning report, Mr Lines found Mr Bagster repeatedly had “bullied and harassed” Mr Deb, Mr Cooper, Mr Cant and Mr Parkin over an eight-month period. He described it as “an appalling course of behaviour”.
Delivered just before the 2018 local government elections, Mr Lines told the council it must censure Mr Bagster for “wilful and serious misconduct”. Four elected members, including current mayor Anne Monceaux, would later vote against the motion.
Mr Lines’ findings prompted Mr Cooper to send an email to Mr Parkin on a Sunday night, telling him it was “shameful” the four councillors “chose to aid and abet Bagster in his tirades against the administration”.
“I hope, with the benefit of hindsight, these individuals now regret their actions and I hope they never have to experience what we went through,” he said.
“Perhaps, if they have any sense of decency, they would offer members of the administration an apology.”
Mr Cant copied the councillors and Mr Deb in on his response to Mr Cooper, saying he could “not accept, in any part of my life, those who stand by and defend or do nothing when those in authority try to belittle others”.
Mr Deb said he did not see the emails until the following morning.
“I replied and told them they had set the cat amongst the pigeons and their DCM (don’t come Monday) letters would be sent out later in the week,” he said.
“At 11am on the Monday Monceaux contacted me to complain and to lodge a formal code of conduct complaint against Cooper and Cant.”
Mr Deb obtained legal advice because of his close relationship with Mr Cooper, who attended his 50th birthday dinner, and Mr Cant, who he had regularly socialised with for 15 years.
“I wanted to be hands off and independent so I engaged EMA Legal,” he said.
“They found both had breached the code of conduct but said it did not justify their sacking.”
Mr Deb said EMA Legal did not specify what type of disciplinary action should be taken so he sought further advice from local government lawyer Michael Kelledy, who consulted barrister Rick Manuel.
“He (Mr Manuel) said not to dismiss them but to give them a final warning and tell them to write a formal letter of apology to all of the councillors, which I did,” he said.
“I spoke to Martin Cooper about it and he didn’t like it.”
Mr Deb said he received a letter several weeks later from Mr Cooper, asking for him to withdraw the written final warning from his file.
“I went back to the QC and said I had worked with the guy for a long time,” he said.
“He said not to change my position and just be casual in my response, which I was.”
Mr Deb said he heard nothing more about the matter until the following month, when he was hosting a briefing for the recently elected council about affiliated organisations such as East Waste and the Eastern Health Authority.
“It was a Saturday and at lunchtime (councillors) Henry Davis and Grant Piggott approached me and said they wanted to call a special council meeting for later that afternoon,” he said.
“I asked them what it was about and they said they couldn’t tell me but it was about me.
“I told them that, under the (Local Government) Act, three councillors must sign a letter asking for a special council meeting with at least four hours’ notice.
“They handed a letter to me. The other councillor who had signed it was Jane Davey.
“I was in shock that they were holding a special council meeting about me with a few hours notice on a Saturday.”
Mr Deb said he became responsible for organising the meeting’s agenda, publishing it on the council’s website and distributing it to councillors.
“I said I couldn’t run the meeting if it was about me and asked them who was going to do it.
“They said the IT manager was going to run it and they already had spoken to him and he was available.”
Mr Deb said the council then held another special meeting behind closed doors the following Wednesday, which authorised an investigation into the complaint.
“I had no idea what the complaint was about or who had lodged it,” he said.
It was not until the following month that Mr Deb learnt that two complaints had been lodged by Mr Cooper. One dealt with the failure to remove the final warning while the other made a series of allegations against Mr Deb. The latter was sent the same day Mr Deb told Mr Cooper he would not remove the final warning from his file.
Elected members subsequently voted to remove the letters from the files of Mr Cooper and Mr Cant, effectively overturning the sanctions Mr Deb had been advised by lawyers to impose.
Mr Deb said this was inappropriate as under the legislation, only chief executives can deal with staff members, and elected members cannot interfere.
“The exception is the chief executive, who reports to the mayor and the elected body.”
Mr Cooper’s complaint about Mr Deb made 12 allegations that he had been absent from the workplace, took leave without authorisation, was removed by staff from a meeting because he was intoxicated, had smelt of alcohol on other occasions and made disparaging remarks about councillors in emails and during meetings with senior staff.
“Of those 12 allegations, the law firm used by the council decided only to investigate five of them, the ones involving the emails and the comments about councillors,” he said.
“The other seven allegations were abandoned by the council. During an interview with the law firm I disputed all of the allegations and I continue to dispute them.”
Mr Deb said he was waiting for the outcome of the investigation when he met with Cr Piggott for a monthly coffee at a cafe at Burnside Village.
“It was last April and we were having our regular catch-up at Cibo when he handed me an envelope,” he said.
“I asked him what was in it and he said it was a letter.
“I opened it and read it.
“It was about my time as chief executive and what a good job I had done.
“However, it then said my time at the council was ‘finite’.
“I asked him what he meant by ‘finite’ and he wouldn’t give me a straight answer.”
Mr Deb said he pressed Cr Piggott on whether it meant his contract was not going to be renewed.
“He told me I had a great reputation at Burnside, not to stuff it up by fighting and to walk away gracefully,” he said.
“I told him I had done nothing wrong and wouldn’t be going anywhere.”
Two months later, Mr Deb was at home when a letter from the deputy chairwoman of the council’s chief executive review panel, Helga Lemon, was put in his mailbox telling him his employment had been terminated.
“I still haven’t seen the report the council received,” he said.
“That is why I am suing them, not only to have the stain removed from my reputation but also because I am entitled to compensation.
“They did not follow the correct process and my future was decided well before they sent me the letter, as will be proven in court.
“In hindsight, I could have handled some things better but I was a good chief executive and they have ruined my career.”
A mediation hearing this week failed to resolve the dispute. The matter will now be listed for trial in the Supreme Court.
Burnside Council, Mr Cooper and Mrs Monceaux declined to comment on legal advice.
HOW IT ALL UNFOLDED
2003: Paul Deb joins Burnside Council as development and policy manager
2010: Deb appointed acting CEO in wake of departure of Neil Jacobs over McPherson inquiry
2011: Deb appointed CEO
2014: Lance Bagster elected to Burnside Council
2016: Bagster lodges code of conduct complaint against Deb
2017: Code of conduct complaint lodged against Bagster with ICAC, which is referred to the State Ombudsman
2018. Ombudsman delivers report. Two senior managers send emails criticising elected members. Mayor Anne Monceaux lodges code of complaint against them. Reprimanded by Deb. Councillors later vote to overturn sanctions
2019: One of the managers lodges two code of conduct complaints against Deb. Councillor tells Deb his time at council “is finite”. Deb is sacked without seeing report into complaint
2020: Deb launches proceedings for unfair dismissal in Supreme Court