Playford Council elected members publicly question leadership of Mayor Glenn Docherty
Playford Mayor Glenn Docherty is under renewed attack, with several elected members publicly questioning his leadership — and why a loyal supporter has a Facebook page that makes him look like a councillor.
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Playford mayor Glenn Docherty has upset his elected members by obtaining legal advice about the implications of a romantic relationship between chief executive officer Sam Green and his deputy, Grace Pelle, without their knowledge.
Members voted on Tuesday night to ban Mr Docherty from using the council’s lawyers, Norman Waterhouse, without first consulting them before considering the legal advice behind closed doors.
Two councillors, David Kerrison and Clint Marsh, publicly criticised Mr Docherty, saying his behaviour in obtaining the legal advice had raised questions about his leadership of the debt-laden council.
Mr Kerrison, who moved the motion, said while Mr Docherty was a capable chairman, he needed to improve his management to avoid repeating mistakes made by the council under its previous administration.
Councillors elected at the November 2018 elections lodged a code of conduct complaint against Mr Docherty for failing for several months to tell elected members about a sexual harassment complaint against former chief executive Mal Hemmerling.
Cr Kerrison said it was because of “the mayor’s actions in the past” that his ability to obtain legal advice without telling councillors needed to be removed.
“We saw the fallout from this conduct when we first came to council in 2018,” he said.
“With respect Mayor Docherty, you are a good leader, well, you are good with meetings but in this particular scenario, I think we need some extended leadership.
“ … I want Mayor Docherty to continue to lead this chamber but let’s improve that leadership and move forward.”
Seconding the motion, Cr Marsh agreed Mr Docherty, a former state Liberal candidate, was good at chairing meetings but needed to change his leadership style.
“I don’t want to get to the point where my faith in your leadership can be questioned,” he said.
“You need to earn our respect. Just because you are in the role doesn’t mean you can just go off and do certain stuff when we are talking about serious topics within the council.”
Cr Marsh told Mr Docherty the decision to stop him getting legal advice without first consulting his elected members “locks you down”.
Mr Docherty told the meeting that he would “abide” by the wishes of council.
“I will do my best, as I always try my best, like any elected member around room to do what council decides,” he said.
The move came a week after the council’s works and services committee heard one of Mr Docherty’s most vocal supporters had sent hundreds of requests for council maintenance work to his office.
Liberal Party member and political aspirant Liam Goodrich posted on his Facebook page that he had organised numerous jobs such as verge cutting, graffiti removal and pothole repairs through his relationship with Mr Docherty.
Cr Marilyn Baker told the committee meeting she and other councillors were concerned
that Mr Goodrich’s Facebook page inaccurately portrayed him as an elected member.
Mrs Baker said Mr Goodrich had posted on his Facebook page that it “has been a privilege to co-ordinate with Mayor Glenn Docherty and his office on many issues within Playford over the past few months”.
“Mr Goodrich then posted a picture of 50 plus correspondence letters from the mayor on issues which he had raised,” she said.
“What is alarming me is there is a perception in the community that this person is an elected member.”
Mrs Baker said it appeared Mr Goodrich was circumventing the system for lodging work requests through Mr Docherty’s office, rather than through the council’s customer service centre.
“Quite a few elected members have had a concern for some time about the use and perceived abuse of this system,” she said.
“It seems certain people seem to have the ear of certain elected members to the exclusion of members of the public or other elected members.”
Cr Gay Smallwood-Smith said the system of elected members asking council staff to undertake maintenance work needed to be tightened.
“This person is using this to say he is going to be wonderful for Playford when a lot of things he is putting in are quite wishy washy,” she said.
Cr Peter Rentoulis said it was not unusual for Mr Goodrich to submit more than 100 requests through Mr Docherty’s office each weeks.
“That is insane,” he said.
“We should not be burdening council staff unnecessarily. He should be going through the correct channels.”
Mr Docherty told The Advertiser he regularly received requests from ratepayers for council work in their areas, with Mr Goodrich among them.
He said he had not given anyone any preferential treatment.
“I take them in writing or on the phone and send them to my PA,” he said.
“I have no other function or role after that apart from sending an acknowledgment letter.
“I can’t control who sends in requests for work to be done by council staff.”
Mr Docherty said no council staff member had told him “that I need to tell residents to use the (booking) system”, which he would now start doing.