Central Coast Council crisis: Roslyn McCulloch appointed as Commissioner into public inquiry
She’s been charged with carrying out a public inquiry into the biggest financial disaster in NSW local government history. Meet Roslyn McCulloch.
Central Coast
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The parameters have been set and NSW lawyer Roslyn McCulloch will be placing Central Coast Council’s financial crisis under the microscope.
Ms McCulloch has been appointed as Commissioner for the public inquiry into the embattled council which has an accumulated debt of $565m over the past four years.
NSW Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock handed down her decision to extend the councillors’ suspension and order a public inquiry into the financial crisis on April 26.
Ms McCulloch, a local government and planning law expert, will head the million-dollar inquiry.
The terms of reference for the inquiry were recently set by the Office of Local Government, with Ms McCulloch to determine “whether the governing body acted in a manner that maximised the success of gaining efficiencies and financial savings from the merger process” and whether they reviewed the financial performance of council.
She will also look at whether councillors “disregarded the financial consequences of its decisions” and whether their decisions since 2017 contributed to the dire financial position.
Ms McCulloch was the independent Commissioner for the inquiry into Balranald Shire Council. In January 2020, the entire council was sacked after the inquiry found it had failed to act as a reasonable employer.
The NSW lawyer, who is a partner and special counsel at Pikes & Verekers Lawyers, has an extensive history in planning, environmental and local government law along with Land and Environment Court litigation.
In her career biography, it states “Roslyn has nearly 30 years experience in local government and planning law.
“That wealth of experience was recognised in 2013 when she was appointed as an Accredited Specialist in this area of law pursuant to the Nomination of Excellence Program.”
It states that a majority of her career has been connected with the Land and Environment Court, acting for both councils and developers.
“Roslyn’s continuing involvement in both areas has gained her a balance of experience rare to many practitioners,” the biography states.
She also regularly advises on local government related matters such as the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, various environmental planning instruments, Local Government Act and Roads Act.
Ms McCulloch was contacted by the Express, however is not doing interviews at this stage.
Earlier
Why judicial inquiry into council crisis is not possible
By Fiona Killman on April 20,2021
A judicial inquiry into Central Coast Council’s financial crisis cannot be ordered by NSW Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock.
Ms Hancock has responded to the petition, signed by 20,000 people, calling for an inquiry into the council which has found itself with an accumulated debt of $565m over the past four years.
In her response to the clerk of the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, Ms Hancock said a judicial inquiry “is not an action available to me”.
“I can only appoint a person or persons as commissioners to hold a public inquiry into council,” she wrote.
“As Minister I have various discretionary powers to intervene in a council’s operations. The exercise of these powers is made where there is a serious breakdown in councils operations or major flaws in key council processes are evident.”
Despite Ms Hancock’s response, the issue is still set down for debate on May 6 in the Legislative Assembly.
The online petition for a judicial inquiry reached 20,000 signatures in February, qualifying it for debate in parliament, and was started by locals Marianne Hamilton and Susan Greene.
The petition calls for an inquiry to investigate how the crisis happened and who is responsible; breaches of integrity requirements; any negligence by staff or councillors as well as financial impacts of the amalgamation of the former Gosford and Wyong councils.
ADMINISTRATOR RELEASES FINAL REPORT
On April 15, 2021
Central Coast Council Administrator Dick Persson AM said he will take whatever action necessary to prevent the return of councillors.
Mr Persson has handed down his final report following six months of steering council out of its current dire financial situation.
In the report, Mr Persson sets out “who was mostly responsible” and talks about the newly merged council embarking on an “expansionist journey” in terms of capital works and employing 250 extra staff.
He outlines his claims of the former CEO’s alleged inaction on the budget and a number of councillors that “still refuse to accept responsibility” and used political point scoring tactics.
Mr Persson’s report outlines a number of recommendations to Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock.
“I am sure the Minister is aware that almost no one wants the councillors to come back before the election,” he said.
He doesn’t cover new ground regarding the causes of the crisis – and accumulated debt of $565m – outlined in his 30 Day Report. However he details who he believes is responsible and recommends the further suspension of councillors and delaying the September 2021 election to allow for a formal inquiry to “determine what is needed to achieve the successful merger of the two previous councils”.
“I’m calling for an inquiry but not for the reasons others might think, we know what happened here and my two previous reports provide this detail, there is nothing more to uncover,” he said.
Mr Persson said council should remain in administration, indicating that the merge of the former Wyong and Gosford councils was “incomplete”.
He stated that there is no indication that council’s financial difficulty had anything to do with the merger and retracted some of his previous comments that IT costs were significant in the downfall.
“I believe the best outcome for Central Coast Council and the community would be a further extended period under administration, this would allow the new CEO, Mr Farmer and a new Administrator adequate time to complete the merger and rebuild community confidence without the distraction of elected representatives intent on playing out broader political agendas,” he said.
“Should the Minister decide to allow the Councillors to return prior to the September election, I recommend Performance Improvement Orders are put in place, including the appointment of a financial controller, and I recommend that person be Mr Rick Hart.”
Mr Persson also gave an update on strategies outlined in his 90 Day Report, such as reducing staff and indicates that council has to produce a $75m savings/revenue increase “year on year” as well as starting to produce surpluses and sell assets to pay down the $565m debt.
It’s been more than six months since council shocked the community and announced it was facing “liquidity” issues on October 6 2020. Soon after the council revealed it was unable to pay its staff, forcing the State Government to bail it out.
This promoted Ms Hancock to suspend the councillors.
Mr Persson has just days left in his role and said the situation at council was much worse than he ever imagined.
“The whole local government world can’t believe what happened here,” he said.
“Other councillors can’t believe what happened. Business managers can’t believe that council put on an extra 250 staff at merger.
“No council in history has ever come to the government saying they can’t pay the staff.”
He said he has always been clear about the cause of the budget blowout that occurred under the former CEO Gary Murphy, former chief financial officer Craig Norman and councillors.
He said he was naive to think he could come into the situation, find out what happened, put in a path forward and leave without being dragged into the political storm on the coast.
He said while he had enjoyed his time with the council and people in the organisation, he would decline an offer to become the Administrator if Ms Hancock dismisses the councillors.
The grandfather of five is happy to go back into retirement, play golf and spend time with his family. He said the coast will be in good hands under the guidance of the new CEO David Farmer.
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