Ballarat Council: Janet Dore’s voicemail challenges $17k flower spend of ex-mayor Sam McIntosh

A 30-second voicemail message from Ballarat Council CEO Janet Dore advises the former mayor she has done nothing wrong, apologises for the error and assures her it will all be kept hush.

Ex-Mayor Sam McIntosh and Interim CEO Janet Dore. Picture: Twitter

A voicemail message left by the interim Ballarat Council CEO on the phone of Samantha McIntosh appears to clear the former mayor of overspending on flowers for her office.

Ms McIntosh has been singled out in an audit of the council’s expenses conducted by the firm Pitcher Partners.

She is accused of having spent $17,000 on blooms from a local florist over a two-year period between 2017-2019.

The message, obtained by The Ballarat News, was left by CEO Janet Dore for the former mayor shortly before 10am on November 20, 2020.

After clearly identifying herself, Ms Dore remarks: “I’ve checked the information out and you’re absolutely correct. My apologies for the Pitcher Partners mistake.

“I will be classifying the document confidential and it will not go into the open council meeting. No need to ring me back but I hope that gives you some relief.”

The Pitcher Partners report was made public in an open meeting of council broadcast on Wednesday night.

An angry Cr McIntosh had her microphone muted during subsequent debate but was clearly heard to refer to a voicemail message and attempted to play it.

Cr McIntosh rejects the figures quoted in the report and said just $810 had been spent in total on flowers.

Ms Dore told The Ballarat News that the voicemail recording has not been made available to her.

“I’m not sure that sharing it is actually appropriate,” she said.

“There were (some) mistakes in the report and I’ve said that publicly. I said at the meeting on Wednesday night that there were obviously some wrong cost allocations.

“I have publicly said at the last council meeting in September that I would publish that report, that’s what I’ve done and I’ve focused on process and the lessons from the report are about making sure people who are unauthorised do not commission work or arrange for invoices to be paid without prior approval.”

Asked why she would make a public assurance to release the report in September, tell Ms McIntosh she would keep it confidential in November, and then release the report in January, Ms Dore replied: “I’ve changed my mind, that’s all I can say.”

“The more important thing is it’s publicly transparent and will be referred to our audit and risk committee and it’s not over yet.

“I have apologised on behalf of the administration to the community and so that’s where I’m at.”