In the first months of 2022, the wheels had fallen off part of council’s $20.5m Digital Modernisation Project funded in late 2018.

Managers responsible for millions of dollars were in the dark.

They couldn’t track spending against year-to-date allocations in real time.

Spending reports, that took weeks to collate, didn’t contain enough information to help managers find solutions to issues like wage spikes.

Suppliers had put council accounts on hold because bills weren’t paid.

A long-term council manager said they were unable to perform simple reconciliations on cost blow outs while overseeing a multi-million-dollar budget.

“It was complete mess. We were told to go to the finance team but they were completely swamped and were only able to provide macro-level data at monthly intervals.

“We couldn’t drill down into the root causes of budget changes or cost blow outs.

“You couldn’t track where the money was going. It made doing my job so difficult.”

Another source said: “Many, many companies were putting council on a stop work.”

Put simply, a whiz-bang finance system, meant to replace paper-based records had conked. It was a millstone around the neck of council.

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KEEPING check of the Digital Modernisation Project (DMP), due to jolt back to life in coming months, is one item expected to be on Ms Wastie’s to do list when she gets her feet under the desk at City Hall.

The unenviable task of finding $7m of savings in 2023-24 from its finances is another.

Moves to cut staff are being considered, and the ongoing staff restructure is hurting morale.

Geelong community leaders say upheaval at City Hall is hurting its reputation.

Ms Wastie may want to be more forthright with reasons why the roll out of the $20.5m DMP stalled. At the moment the reasons are being kept under wraps.

Council was sent more than 11 detailed questions to explain where the DMP had gone wrong and what would be done to fix it.

Acting chief executive Kaarina Phyland responded in a seven-sentence statement that’s left many questions unanswered.

It is unclear how much the bungled roll out of the system has cost council, and if consultants were engaged to determine a way forward. Council did not say how it would rectify issues with the finance system.

Ms Phyland said council was preparing to resume the DMP.

“In May 2022, councillors chose to pause the program and commission a detailed review into the management and deployment of the program by responsible officers at that time,” Ms Phyland said.

“That review now complete, we are preparing to resume the program. It will be overseen by our enterprise program management office, a new centralised program governance office which specialises in overseeing all major programs and projects across the organisation.

“It will be supported by increased capability in the digital information and technology office and is expected to involve all directorates of the organisation to ensure success in its delivery.

“Parts of the program, including the Oracle finance system, have already been implemented and will remain in place.”

THE Digital Modernisation Project (DMP) started with the best of intentions; to revolutionise council’s inward and outward facing digital offering.

More council services available online to the public; better ways to issue and pay bills; council departments efficiently sharing data in real time; and better serving the community were the aims.

Design and implementation of the DMP would cost $15m. Another $5m was needed for licencing costs.

The reach of the revolutionised digital system would stretch to finance, payroll, procurement and customer management.

As of this week 145 council services could be accessed on its website.

But in May last year, the proverbial hit the fan with the finance system. What’s ensued in the past year is a closely guarded secret.

Sources with direct knowledge of the bungled finance system roll out said issues emerged in early 2021.

One questioned if the bungled roll out had contributed to the city’s difficult financial position.

One senior council source said parts of the DMP “failed miserably”.

“It broke down to a point to where they couldn’t deliver what the tender process was designed to do,” the source said.

“Council were in a difficult position whereby they had to decide if they persevered with a lemon or cut ties with that particular tenderer.

“We cut ties as did a lot of other councils who engaged with the tenderer; they lost a lot more than we did.”

The Addy has discovered council decided in April to spend up to $3m to right the wrongs of the disastrous finance tender that didn’t deliver what was promised.

It’s now changed track to ensure it has other software to meet its needs.

Council’s budget reveals it will spend $6m in 2023-24 for digital innovation to implement “new technology systems, platforms and software solutions” to lift digital capability. Beyond 2023-24, $2.4m per year for three years is due to be spent on digital innovation.

COUNCIL say its ongoing restructure is needed to keep the organisation financially viable so it can deliver services for the community.

At present council provides more than 130 services for the community across areas including building, waste collection, road work and parks and gardens.

Recently 19 roles were made redundant. There’s fears more could be on the horizon.

City of Greater Geelong mayor Trent Sullivan said: “The challenging decisions made by both the council and the organisation’s leadership in recent times have set a platform that will help stabilise our finances and serve the community effectively into the future.”

Acting Geelong council chief executive David Greaves, in the chair while Kaarina Phyland is on leave, said: “We will prioritise savings that allow us to operate more efficiently without directly impacting the community, and will seek to protect front line jobs as a priority.”

Speak to those within City Hall and some feel the writing is on the wall.

A current staffer said: “Junior people having to act up in multiple roles brings things to a grinding halt because often those junior staff don’t have the same level of expertise as the people that have come before them and decision making becomes problematic.”

Mr Greaves said “we have amazing employees right across the organisation who are proud to serve our local community”.

“We have a large workforce of people who are passionate about what they do and the community they serve, and continue to put huge effort into their work every day.

“Change is difficult and any organisation going through a period of change will have some staff who are uncertain.

“We understand this and we are continuing to support employees through the changes.”

One former staffer with decades of experience, who left council in recent months, sums it up like this: “For decades it was a really great place to work; management were supportive of staff and empathetic but that seems to be all gone now. There is a culture of fear and unfortunately it’s a really unhealthy environment.”

Others say they’re looking forward to a fresh start during Ms Wastie’s tenure.

AFTER an 11-month search to fill the $400,000 per year top job at council, Ms Wastie was appointed last week. She’s due to start on August 28.

The spectre of state government appointed monitors, who are at a basic level childcarers for council, and a local government inspectorate investigation looms.

With Ms Wastie appointment comes hope for, in the words of Deputy Mayor Anthony Aitken, “a new direction” and a “new style of leadership”.

Prima facie Ms Wastie has the nous to deal with these issues; she’ll draw on about 20 years of experience in the public sector, and a Masters in Diplomacy.

Mr Sullivan said changes and difficult decisions made under acting chief executive Kaarina Phlyand had to be made.

He said council and its finances were “in an improved position” because of Ms Phyland’s decisions.

“While tough budget measures are difficult and have opened us up for criticism in the short-term, strong leadership is about doing the right thing all the time, with a focus on the long-term.

“In this regard Kaarina Phyland has done an outstanding job as our acting CEO.

“It is easy to lead an organisation through calm waters but Kaarina has had to negotiate a storm driven by rapidly rising costs, and has had the courage to see it through in the face of intense scrutiny.”

A source with knowledge of Ms Wastie said: “The incoming chief executive needs to create a good rapport with the councillor group and the mayor. There’s a lot of healing that needs to go on within the organisation. People are very unhappy; morale is low; people are going off on stress leave regularly.”

Mr Sullivan said: “Our reputation is built on our actions and we’re confident the decisions being made now will result in noticeable improvements to the way we serve the community over time.”