Adelaide City Council moves to tackle its toxic culture by taking action against elected members

In a move to fix Adelaide City Council’s toxic culture, elected members will be told to stop speaking directly to staff.

Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor has backed moves to stamp out bad behaviour at Adelaide City Council.

It follows a confidential investigation by Adelaide law firm EMA Legal which raised concerns about bullying, intimidation and harassment of staff.

The council’s acting chief executive, Clare Mockler, has developed an action plan aimed at ensuring the council is providing a safe workplace for its employees.

Ms Mockler tonight will seek approval from elected members to reinforce existing procedures requiring councillors to only deal with her office when seeking information or submitting items for inclusion on council agendas.

The EMA legal investigation also examined regular conflict between councillors at meetings, which often were marred by arguments and clashes with senior management.

Ms Verschoor, pictured, said councillors were required by law to maintain “respectful relations” with other councillors and staff. “The majority of council mem­bers do the right thing and treat other council members and staff with the greatest respect, courtesy and appreciation,” she said.

“Unfortunately, at times, some council members have put forward their opinions or had exchanges in a way that has not been reasonable or respectful to others.

“As elected members, we need to be modelling the behaviour that we expect in the community – no type of bullying or harassment is ever OK.”

In a report, Ms Mockler said she wanted elected members to adhere to established procedures when dealing with staff, particularly when seeking information and speaking to them during meetings.

Legal advice about the implications of the report by EMA Legal was discussed behind closed doors last month, with Ms Mockler presenting a confidential briefing about proposed solutions.

Elected members voted to make her preliminary recommendations public, with a report saying they had been proposed “to ensure the work-health safety and wellbeing of City of Adelaide employees”.

“These initial actions aim to achieve an immediate improvement to workplace culture through improved interactions between employees and council members,” said Ms Mockler in her report.

They include a requirement for councillors to use an “elected member request system” where all communications go through the chief executive officer, not directly to staff.

“Council members shall not copy council staff, other than the chief executive officer, into communications, unless otherwise advised or authorised by the chief executive officer in the context of reasonable council business needs.”

Standing orders also will be changed to make elected members “always uphold the behavioural code as outlined in the code of conduct” at meetings and in email exchanges.

Elected members will be told to “direct questions in a respectful manner through the Lord Mayor/Chair/CEO at council meetings”

Ms Mockler’s report said the council had a legal “obligation to ensure that it provides a workplace free from risk”. It is working with the State Government and Local Government Association on legislative reforms aimed at improving council behaviour.

The LGA last month sought feedback from councils on how to implement the changes when they become law.

The council repeated earlier calls for a “three strikes and you’re out” policy for bad behaviour, such as bullying, harassing staff and failing to be respectful.

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