Coorong District Council mayor Paul Simmons admits his elected membership is dysfunctional
An SA council is staggering towards collapse, it’s been warned, and its “ambushed” mayor says he’s at his wit’s end with members waging a bitter war among themselves.
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A country mayor admits he is at “wit’s end” trying to control warring councillors who have cost ratepayers tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Coorong District Council mayor Paul Simmons felt he was “ambushed” at a recent council meeting, where his opponents successfully passed a vote of no confidence in him.
Mr Simmons said the vote was the culmination of a long-running feud between two factions which had continued to escalate, despite councillors being ordered to undergo mediation.
The council has spent an estimated $200,000 over the past four years on 15 code of conduct complaints, professional mediation and responding to an official review of its credit cards by the Auditor-General’s Department.
Mr Simmons said rather than settling down following mediation, councillors were fighting among themselves at unprecedented levels.
“I am at wit’s end about how to stop it,” he said.
“What do you do when people want to constantly snipe at each other?
“How do you bring people together who don’t want to work together?
“I am starting to think the only way this will end is at the elections in November.”
Mr Simmons, who is on council for the third time, was part of a five-strong group known as TEAM which formed before the last elections in 2018.
The well-known farmer successfully was nominated as mayor by the other members of the group – first-term councillors Jeff Arthur, Brenton Qualmann, Lisa Rowntree and Glynis Taylor.
They since have been locked in battle with four other councillors – Neville Jaensch, Vern Leng, Tracy Hill and Sharon Bland.
Various disputes have led to multiple code of conduct complaints being lodged, with council chief executive Bridget Mather referring them to the Local Government Association’s governance panel for investigation.
The most comprehensive inquiry was undertaken two years ago by highly-respected workplace relations expert, former Industrial Relations Commission president Matthew O’Callaghan.
Mr O’Callaghan found Mr Leng had accelerated his 4WD towards Ms Taylor while she was walking at Karoonda sportsground. Mr Leng denied he had accelerated towards her, threatened her or swerved in front of her car.
Mr Leng also was accused of slamming a laptop shut on Ms Taylor’s hand during a council workshop, resulting in assault charges being laid by police and later withdrawn. Mr Leng said he “flicked” the top of the laptop but denied it slammed shut.
In a report based on Mr O’Callaghan’s findings, the LGA’s governance panel warned urgent intervention was needed to avoid the council’s elected membership breaking down.
“Some councillors have referred to the divisiveness within the council as a factor leading to substantial distress and mental health issues among multiple councillors,” it said.
“The situation is extreme.
“It is the panel’s view that immediate intervention is required in order to preserve the ability of the council’s elected member group to function for the benefit of the community.”
The panel said Mr O’Callaghan had conducted interviews with councillors, staff and other stakeholders.
“The investigation discloses that there is a substantive lack of respect apparent between some of the councillors elected in 2018 under a common platform and some of the previously elected members,” said its report.
“The investigator has concluded from interviews with a cross-section of council members that the relationship between these two groups is generally disruptive, inhibits reasonable and constructive debate and discredits the council as a whole.”
The report said that the council was at serious risk of collapsing at a political level.
“Unless the overall functioning of the council is addressed as a matter of urgency, we consider a complete breakdown of the elected member group is likely.
“Achieving a resolution in the best interests of the community will require a commitment and goodwill of all parties.”
Mr Simmons said the council had engaged a mediator at the suggestion of the LGA.
“We had a professional mediator come and spend a day with us,” he said.
“It settled down for a little while but in the past six months it has reignited.”
Mr Simmons said the fighting had intensified since Mr Leng lodged code of conduct complaints in January against himself, Ms Taylor and Ms Rowntree.
This was followed last month by Mr Jaensch, a former mayor, moving a vote of no confidence in Mr Simmons while Ms Taylor was undertaking an attempt to paddle the length of the River Murray for charity.
Mr Simmons said the council was seeking legal advice on the vote’s implications.
He said elected members needed to produce evidence to support growing claims of bullying and harassment.
“All things being equal we will be calling a special council meeting pretty soon,” he said.
“I have got some councillors claiming they are being bullied but have nothing in front of me to work with.
“If there is a valid bullying claim, there hasn’t been one lodged yet.”
Mr Simmons said while there was no doubt the council was in serious trouble at an elected level, it was continuing to perform its functions and deliver essential services.
Asked if the councillors should be sacked and replaced by an independent administrator, he said there was no evidence of maladministration, malfeasance or corruption required to meet the legislative requirements for the appointment of administrators.
“Yes, there is a lot of enmity between some councillors but we are still doing our job and getting stuff done, the business is operating fine,” he said.
“We have people who are working to undermine the council. I haven’t come up with a solution on how to stop it.”
Mrs Mather declined to comment.
Shooting talk, open hostility
Among allegations of inappropriate behaviour in Coorong District Council are that councillor Vern Leng said he wanted to shoot other elected members.
The claims surfaced during an inquiry by experienced workplace relations expert Matthew O’Callaghan, which found Mr Leng had accelerated his vehicle towards another councillor and, separately, slammed a laptop shut on her hand.
In his report, Mr O’Callaghan said Mr Leng had allegedly said he had a “desire to ‘shoot’ other councillors while there also had been incidents where members of the public had made shooting gestures with their fingers during meetings”.
“References to ‘guns’ and ‘shooting’ people have been made by persons involved in the opposing factions, even before the last council elections,” he said.
“There is no credible indication that any person has formed any intent to engage in acts of violence against others.
“Nevertheless, hyperbolic or joking use of such language is capable of causing significant stress and fear.”
Mr O’Callaghan said elected members “cannot function effectively in such an environment”.
Various reports in the past four years have detailed code of conduct complaints about poor behaviour within and outside the council chamber, clashes during email exchanges and inappropriate comment on social media channels.
The reports refer to regular hostility between councillors at meetings, including “glaring looks”, “belligerence” and “constant interruptions”.
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