Dubbo Council: Office of Local Government raises ‘concerns’

The embattled mayor of Dubbo has been temporarily stripped of a portion of his coveted mayoral allowance after a majority of his councillors voted to transfer it to his deputy.

The embattled mayor of Dubbo has been temporarily stripped of a portion of his coveted $60,000 mayoral allowance after a majority of his councillors voted to transfer it to his deputy who is currently acting in the role.

Councillor Ben Shields was rushed to hospital after suffering a medical episode at his Dubbo home a few short hours after six out of 10 councillors signed a letter calling on him to resign on March 31 because of concerns about his conduct in the role.

Dubbo mayor Ben Shields is a divisive figure in the community.

He took indefinite medical leave, was placed in intensive care at Dubbo and has had part of his lung removed at RPA in Sydney in April.

Cr Shields is currently being treated at a hospital in Orange.

Last week councillors changed rules to prevent any councillor, including the mayor, from using council-owned phones, iPads or cars when they are on leave for more than a month.

On Monday, councillors again voted to change rules so that when the mayor is on leave, the relevant portion of their $60,000 pay packet goes to whoever is stepping up to act as mayor in their absence.

Before the vote a close ally of Cr Shields, Cr Greg Mohr, slammed the move and attacked the alleged political “hypocrisy” of former Wellington mayor Cr Anne Jones who moved the adopted motion to cut the mayor’s pay.

“Cr Jones got three months worth of pay while she was off on medical leave,” Cr Mohr said.

Cr Lawrence said Cr Mohr was out of order and told him to apologise, however Cr Mohr refused to and said councillors were “gutless” and “disgraceful”.

“To continually fire bullets at the mayor while he is in hospital and not here to defend himself is utterly disgraceful,” Cr Mohr said.

Dubbo councillor Greg Mohr has attacked his colleagues. Picture: Ryan Young

Cr John Ryan said Cr Mohr was “misleading” the public because Cr Jones kept her $24,000 councillor allowance and Cr Shields would still have his despite the stripping of the mayoral allowance which is paid on top of the councillor allowance.

Cr Lawrence said because he stood to benefit and would receive more money because he was acting in the mayor’s role, he would donate the extra cash to the Apollo House charity for disadvantaged Dubbo youth.

“We cannot respond to the events that led to the hospitalisation of the mayor but acting other than in the public interest,” Cr Lawrence said.

If Cr Shields returns to the role he will receive the relevant portion of his mayoral allowance until local government elections take place in September.

Dubbo Regional Council interim CEO Dean Frost and acting mayor Stephen Lawrence at an extraordinary council meeting held in April 2021. Picture: Ryan Young

Before the heated meeting, council was warned about “serious concerns” the Office of Local Government (OLG) had.

In a letter to the council’s interim chief executive Dean Frost, Office of Local Govenrment acting deputy secretary Luke Walton said “OLG has several concerns about the tenor of decisions made by the council at recent meetings”.

Mr Walton said a request by councillors to have Mr Frost prepare a report on complaints and allegations of misconduct which had been subject of a code of conduct process, could prove problematic as it “has the potential to undermine the efficacy and independence of the council’s code of conduct processes”.

“Governing bodies of councils have a limited role in relation to the consideration of code of conduct matters,” Mr Walton wrote.

“The only circumstance where code of conduct matters should come before the governing body of a council is following a formal and independent investigation of an alleged breach by either a councillor or the general manager, in circumstances where an independent investigator has determined there has been a breach and recommended disciplinary action by the council.

“Governing bodies of councils should not be taking on an oversight role of the management of code of conduct matters as this has the potential to compromise the integrity and independence of the framework for managing complaints.”

Dubbo Regional Council headquarters. Picture: Ryan Young

If anyone had a concern about the way a code of conduct complaint had been dealt with they could ask the Office of Local Government to review it, Mr Walton said.

According to Mr Walton, any examination into the handling of past complaints “should not seek to re-open or re-prosecute past matters that have been finalised and any report to the council should not identify individual code of conduct matters”.

In his letter to council, Mr Walton also warned councillors about the impact of sharing information contained in a confidential report prepared by the interim chief executive about a request for documents made by the widow of a council employee who died by suicide.

“ … it could give rise to a liability to the council,” Mr Walton wrote.

“I should also bring to attention that individual council officials may find themselves personally liable if any such liability was incurred.”

After considering the letter from the Office of Local Government, councillors voted to seek further advice from the OLG about options for a “independent and proactive” approach that would ensure the public could have confidence in the code of conduct process.

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