Salim Mehajer presided over NSW’s most complained about council
THE former Auburn Council deputy mayor Salim Mehajer holds the record for being part of NSW’s most complained-about council in a decade.
NSW
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HE’S been convicted for electoral fraud, stalking his former wife and assaulting both a taxi driver and a journalist and now Salim Mehajer holds the record for being part of the most complained-about NSW council
Mehajer was the former deputy mayor of Auburn Council, which was dissolved in February 2016 — but not before receiving 397 official complaints in 2015-16.
This is the highest number of complaints any NSW council has received since at least 2008, according to Office of Local Government figures obtained exclusively by The Sunday Telegraph. Most councils average about 20 complaints per year.
The vast majority of complaints about Auburn were for misconduct, maladministration or council governance.
Many came after the 31-year-old’s lavish wedding in August 2015, which involved helicopter landings, a jet flyover and illegal road closures.
“It is to their discredit Auburn Council and Salim Mehajer hold the unenviable record of being a part of the most complained-about NSW council in recent memory,” Local Government Minister Gabrielle Upton said.
“The NSW Government reforms — including a comprehensive Model Code of Conduct for councillors which is being finalised — will target dodgy behaviour and councillors who abuse their public office for personal or financial gain.”
The Office of Local Government statistics for 2015-16 and 2016-17 reveal an increase in the proportion of complaints about customer service, enforcement and regulatory powers and engineering services.
The number of complaints in 2016-17 was 811, a 44 per cent reduction compared to the 1454 complaints the previous year.
This is despite the state government’s bungled amalgamation policy in 2016, which cut the number of councils from 150 to 120.
Ms Upton put the decrease down to rules banning councillors convicted of certain offences and forcing councillors to hand over any financial benefit gained through their pecuniary interest.
“Ratepayers have a right to expect their local council to be serving their best interests and these complaint statistics will help councils identify areas in need of action or improvement,” Ms Upton said.
“The Office of Local Government assesses each and every complaint and while some are found to lack merit, others require my department to intervene and work with the council to resolve the issue or take other appropriate regulatory action.”
Central Coast Council was the most complained about council in 2016-17 with 32 complaints, followed by Georges River (30), Port Stephens (26), Northern Beaches (25) and Byron Shire (23).
A Central Coast Council spokeswoman said that per head of population the percentage of complaints within their area “is quite low”.
“Council take all complaints seriously and deal with complaints when received,” she spokeswoman said.
“Council has an internal ombudsman’s office who deals with all complaints received directly from ratepayers and also those referred by the NSW Ombudsman.”
UTS Centre for Local Government director Professor Roberta Ryan said councils have performed well following amalgamation.
“There has been no evidence to suggest that residents have less access to councillors now that councils are larger,” Ms Ryan said.
“Overall I believe councils’ service has remained the same or improved. Councils could improve by having a reporting system better understood by the public.”