Onkaparinga Council spent $22,000 to keep CEO’s $6800 golf membership payment a secret
ONKAPARINGA council spent $22,000 in legal fees to keep its $6800 payment for the CEO’s golf club’s membership secret — and then overwhelmingly voted to not ask him to pay it back.
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ONKAPARINGA council spent $22,000 in legal fees to keep its payment of $6800 for the CEO’s Kooyonga Golf Club’s membership secret — and then overwhelmingly voted not to have the money reimbursed or have the council apologise.
Of the 20 councillors who voted on Wednesday night, 17 rejected a call by Cr Don Chapman to have Mark Dowd repay the fees, with one branding the issue a “witch-hunt”.
Instead council voted only to release the minutes of the secret meeting in which the $6800 payment was granted, release the Ombudsman’s report, and issue a statement that he had done nothing wrong.
There will be a training course for councils about when it was acceptable and not to make meetings secret.
The Advertiser revealed earlier this week that the council had paid $6800 for Mr Dowd to join Kooyonga Golf Club and keep the payment secret.
Around 30 residents who waited hours for the debate on Tuesday night on whether to ask Mr Dowd to pay back the money reacted with dismay to the revelation of the legal cost, with one exclaiming “Oh my God”.
Mayor Lorraine Rosenberg defended the fees, which were used to help her argue to the State Ombudsman that the council made the right decision to pay the Kooyonga membership and vote to keep it quiet from ratepayers.
“You have got two choices, you can put the mayor in a corner not being a lawyer or you can give them some support,” she told a full meeting of the council.
“You can smirk all you like but those are the options.”
Cr Gary Hennessy said there had been a “witch-hunt” over the issue and criticised those who called on Mr Dowd to join a local club.
“I’m going to take a multi-millionaire to a less-than-best course when I’m doing billion-dollar deals – I don’t think so,” he said.
During the tense debate a security guard reprimanded one member of the public when she heckled the councillors.
Councillors were voting whether to officially release an Ombudsman’s report critical of the payment, which was leaked to The Advertiser last week.
Cr Heidi Greaves spoke against the vote to ask for the money back and repeated facts reported by The Advertiser that Mr Dowd had not participated in council debates about the payment, that there was no finding of maladministration and no criticism of Mr Dowd.
Cr Peter Schulze defended the Kooyonga payment of $6800 as “quite reasonable” and said it should not be paid back but was critical of how the council handled the reimbursement.
Deputy CEO Alison Hancock, when asked by one councillor, said Mr Dowd had not provided any evidence of business people he had hosted at Kooyonga, which was his stated aim of joining.
The request for repayment is being made by Cr Chapman, who also urged the council to apologise and restore the faith of ratepayers following a backlash over the golf fee scandal.
“We (critics) politely ask that the CEO return the money for the golf membership because we (the council) made a mistake by reimbursing him,’’ he said.
“This is restitution because we are restoring that money to its rightful owners, the ratepayers of Onkaparinga.’’
Mr Dowd, who has an annual salary package of $328,000, has so far refused to comment.
His reason for requesting the reimbursement was: “I am a new member of Kooyonga golf club and I use this membership predominantly on Sundays where in addition to my own relaxation I sometimes take staff out for a round of golf as incentives or as a thank you, government executives and potential investors, including Chinese’’.
The only formal vote the council had prepared in advance of Tuesday night’s meeting was to release the Ombudsman’s report, but Cr Chapman said the matter should go much further.
He is also asking the council makes sure that better checks and balances be put in place by the council when considering the CEO’s salary, that council better considers when it excludes ratepayers from meetings, that the Ombudsman be invited to address the council on secrecy, the council apologises to its community, and that it publishes the apology in newspapers.
The State Ombudsman found there was no “maladministration”, and made no criticism of Mr Dowd or any individual.
But another critic, Cr Martin Bray, who complained to the Ombudsman also questioned the council’s defence of the payment that it was for council business and benefited the city.
“Because the CEO has been unable to answer media questions about any direct connection between playing golf at Kooyonga and benefits to the city of Onkaparinga you would have to question if it is of any value,’’ he said.
“This was a reimbursement of money paid by the CEO for membership of Kooyonga but when we were asked to vote on it the word ‘reimbursement’ was never used, and if it was I would not have voted for it without evidence of how it benefited the city.’’
Former president of the Onkaparinga Residents’ Association John Houlahan, who has campaigned against the payment, told The Advertiser the $6800 should be repaid to ratepayers.
“The councillors were misled about the purpose of the payment and it should be paid back,’’ he said.