Playford Council orders independent review into senior staff appointments under chief executive Sam Green
A council chief executive involved in a relationship with one of his most senior managers has ordered an independent review into staff appointments - including the promotion of his partner.
North & North East
Don't miss out on the headlines from North & North East. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Playford Council chief executive reveals relationship
- How to make the most out of your Advertiser subscription
Playford Council has engaged a leading Adelaide law firm to conduct an independent review of senior staff appointments under its recently appointed chief executive.
Former Prospect Council town planner Sam Green ordered the review by Norman Waterhouse after he announced he was romantically involved with corporate and strategy general manager Grace Pelle.
Mr Green promoted Mrs Pelle to the $225,094-a-year position last December – three months after he became chief executive following the sacking of former chief executive Mal Hemmerling.
Mr Green sent an email to staff late last month saying Mrs Pelle had tendered her resignation because of their personal relationship, saying they did not wish to “make a professional relationship and workplace dynamic more difficult”.
In a statement to The Advertiser, Mr Green, who is on an annual $300,000-salary package, confirmed the review by Norman Waterhouse into senior staff appointments had started.
As with all councils, Mr Green has sole responsibility for the appointment of managers and contract negotiations. Elected members are only responsible for the appointment of chief executives.
“Last month I initiated an independent review of the process by which council general managers, including Mrs Grace Pelle, were last year selected and appointed,” Mr Green said.
“I was part of the panel that assessed applications, conducted interviews and selected the successful candidates.
“The reason for the review is to ensure complete transparency to council and honesty with the community.”
Mr Green said the review was “consistent with council’s good governance and decision making at all levels”.
The council’s financial operations were scrutinised last year by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) while the Auditor-General investigated the use of corporate credit cards.
Both produced highly critical reports, with ICAC identifying numerous problems with record keeping and procurement procedures while the Auditor-General found lax controls over credit cards.
In his report, ICAC deputy commissioner Michael Riches said the organisation had received more than 50 complaints and reports about Playford Council relating to allegations of bullying and harassment, failures to declare conflicts of interest, improper recruitment and procurement practices and poor records management practices.
Mr Riches said that while his evaluation of the council’s policies, practices and procedures found that it was performing well in some areas under Mr Green, it had “a number of weaknesses that leave it susceptible to corruption, misconduct or maladministration”.
Playford particularly needed to improve its record keeping, he said. The council had not reviewed its records management policy for 13 years.
Elected members last week were told the council had engaged a consultancy, Bee Squared, to develop a strategy to implement a total of 36 official recommendations made in the two reports.
In a written briefing, Mrs Pelle – who is remaining in her position until the end of June to oversee the implementation of its annual business plan – said Bee Squared had identified 275 tasks which needed to be undertaken.
MORE NEWS:
ICAC probing Adelaide University boss
Midwife linked to baby deaths applies to be a lawyer
Woman caught on film appearing to steal from RSL memorial
It was estimated the work would take the equivalent of seven full-time positions at least seven months to complete at a cost of $660,000.
Mrs Pelle said the recommendations by ICAC and the Auditor-General “talked directly to the need to improve all policies with a review of all 120 policies within a policy governance framework”.
“Implementation of recommendations from both reports seek to mitigate council’s risk for fraud, maladministration and corruption, as well as to improve the efficiency and effective use of credit cards,” she said.
“This has a direct impact on service delivery to our ratepayers by increasing transparency and efficiency and build trust with our community.”
Work on implementing the ICAC and Auditor General recommendations was expected to be completed within 18 months while the Norman Waterhouse review was due to be finished later this month.