Councillor Don Chapman mounts pressure on Onkaparinga Council CEO Mark Dowd to resign

PRESSURE is mounting on the chief executive of a southern Adelaide council to resign “as a matter of urgency” after a councillor accused him of misleading elected members to overturn a controversial inquiry into credit card spending.

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AN ONKAPARINGA councillor is calling for chief executive Mark Dowd to resign “as a matter of urgency”, accusing him of misleading elected members to overturn a controversial inquiry into credit card spending.

Councillor Don Chapman said Mr Dowd had misled the chamber at its meeting this week to believe the Auditor-General’s Department had completed and cleared the council of an investigation into its corporate credit card expenditure. In an exchange with Councillor Martin Bray, Mr Dowd said the council received a response from the department about information it had provided on its credit card usage.

“The responses from the Auditor-General were in confidence between the administration and council and I would need to seek some kind of permission to release,” Mr Dowd told the meeting.

“Currently, there is no further investigation taking place.”

Onkaparinga CEO Mark Dowd

However, in an email to The Advertiser , the Auditor-General’s Department said it had “not conducted an investigation or examination of council’s credit card activity”. Mr Chapman said in light of the Auditor-General’s response, he would push for the decision to cancel the credit card inquiry to be overturned at the next meeting.

“Before Tuesday’s meeting my confidence in the CEO was sinking and, after last Tuesday, it has fallen well below the waterline,” Mr Chapman said.

“I think his position is untenable … and (resignation) is a matter of urgency now.”

At the same meeting, a question from Councillor Sandra Brown included in the agenda referred to a statement made at a previous meeting “that the Auditor-General has completed his investigation and that council was cleared”. Mr Chapman said if this statement was wrong, Mr Dowd should have informed the chamber.

“All those councillors who debated to approve the rescission motion all used what was on the agenda … that is what carried the debate,” he said. The council voted 10-5 to overturn its own credit card inquiry. The email from the Auditor-General’s Department said it noted an agenda for an Onkaparinga meeting held on May 15 referred to a “completed credit card investigation and outcome from the Auditor-General”.

Councillor Don Chapman

“We have advised the council we have not conducted an investigation or examination of council’s credit card activity and to correct any record making such a reference,” the email said. “We have not notified the Onkaparinga Council about conducting more detailed testing or provided further details of the examination.”

Mr Dowd told the meeting: “The auditor general did make inquires on council purchase cards and processes, policies etc, etc, and based on our information provided to him, he has deemed there is no requirement for further investigation.”

However, when pressed after the meeting about his comments, Mr Dowd said other than acknowledgment of the council’s initial response from the Auditor-General’s office, there had been “no further requests from them”. He denied misleading councillors at the meeting.