Legal invoices reveal how much sacked Whittlesea councillors spent on Overland legal fight
Whittlesea Council claimed $93,000 of ratepayers’ money was spent on disputes against former boss Simon Overland. But legal documents seen by Leader reveal the true cost — and it runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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Whittlesea ratepayers have unknowingly been footing council legal bills amounting to more than $254,000 over the past 18 months.
It comes after State Government monitor Yehudi Blacher’s March report found Whittlesea Council went through five chief executives in five years and spent $500,000 on legal disputes.
The half-a-million dollar figure, which drew wide criticism, broadly covered all of the council’s legal dealings in that period.
The council was sacked last month.
But Leader can reveal former councillors specifically splashed $254,452.64 on disputes against their former chief executive Simon Overland in the past two financial years alone.
Freedom of information documents obtained by Leader showed the council was billed 16 times, and by seven different legal consultants, since the former Victoria Police chief went on stress leave on November 20 last year.
The council had only previously released a figure of $93,000 at a February meeting.
Mr Overland was appointed as the council’s chief executive on August 21 in 2017.
Records from the 2018-19 financial year showed councillors spent $126,798.10 in legal fees related to in-house disputes against their current boss at the time.
Sydney-based law firm Russell Kennedy Lawyers invoiced the council 23 times for their services, while Maddocks and Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning also billed the council.
A leading Australian barrister group Foley’s List and employment, discrimination and labour relations law firm Justitia, were also among the list of invoices.
WHITTLESEA’S 30 DAYS OF SCANDAL
Documents showed councillors amassed a further $184,039.00 of ratepayers’ money into the next financial year.
The council was hit with a spate of invoices when Mr Overland went on stress leave, and was again bombarded with more legal charges when councillors terminated his contract on December 10.
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The council paid out Mr Overland for a three-month notice period, but he still had two years remaining on his contract for which he was due to be paid $800,000.
And the council could incur more legal fees with Mr Overland’s “adverse action” claim with Fair Work Commission poised to reach the Federal Court.