Ratepayer anger at monitor’s report into City of Yarra

An expert was brought in to fix the problems at the Greens-run City of Yarra council, but residents claim he’s made things even worse.

Yehudi Blacher was brought in to performance-manage the Greens-run council.

City of Yarra ratepayers and an independent councillor say the state government-appointed monitor who was to help fix the troubled council has actually made things worse.

The monitor, brought in to performance-manage the Greens-run council, instead reserved his criticisms for residents and media.

Residents said a report by the monitor was underwhelming and failed to address problems of the administration.

“The monitor’s report has completely missed the mark and has not met community expectations in quality or substance,” Yarra Residents Collective spokesman Adam Promnitz said.

“His appointment has failed to address the underlying systemic issues in this council and has left the community worse off from where we started nearly a year ago.”

The collective said the monitor had overseen the “most anti-democratic reductions in transparency and governance” ever seen at Yarra.

A barrier was placed between the public and Yarra councillors at Richmond Town Hall.

The council area includes inner suburbs of Richmond, Abbotsford, Collingwood, Fitzroy, Carlton North and Clifton Hill.

The monitor Yehudi Blacher was appointed last December for six months and then extended for another three months.

His four-and-a-half-page report outlined the process to approve new governance rules and said that the public consultation resulted in 17 responses.

“Despite some media comment to the contrary, the process to develop and consider the rules was exhaustive, involving extensive community consultation and councillor input.’’ the report said.

Independent councillor Stephen Jolly said the monitor’s report had spent more time attacking residents than council policies. He also said the monitor had supported the anti-democratic practices that were recently introduced.

The Monitor's 2nd and final report on Yarra spent more time attacking residents than Council policies. One thing that unites all factions of the ruling class is that they hate community mobilisation.

— Stephen Jolly (@stephenjolly99) October 23, 2022

Changes for council meetings included shorter question time and a limit of one question per resident.

And its September meeting was cancelled because council bosses said there was nothing to discuss.

At the previous meeting, a “Great Wall of Yarra” was erected between councillors and residents.

Cr Jolly said the monitor was angry at residents “who had the temerity to question council policies over the past two years’’.

The report also referred to council meetings being disrupted by “abuse from a small number

of community members”.

But Cr Jolly said no examples of disruptions had occurred.

“So it’s wrong to call it outrageous behaviour by residents if they just disagree with you.’’

This is a council not delivering for its community. This is a monitor not delivered for his Minister. This is a shambles. We, the residents and ratepayers are the victims of this collective ineptitue. /3@IanRoyall

— Yarra Residents Collective (@yarraresidents) October 22, 2022

Mr Promnitz said he was baffled how the community was being blamed for the council’s mismanagement, and called on Local Government Minister Melissa Horne to act on Yarra’s failed performance.

The monitor highlighted financial problems for the council and the need for changes and restructuring.

“In short, significant reform is required to create a modern service-orientated organisation,’’ he said.

Ms Horne requested the council implement the monitor’s recommendations in full, and

has also asked the Auditor-General to review Yarra’s progress towards financial sustainability, on top of his regular annual audit of council accounts.

City of Yarra mayor Sophie Wade. Picture: Facebook.

Councillor Stephen Jolly. Picture: Alex Coppel.

“The government will continue to support councils throughout the state to improve culture and governance, ensuring they better serve the communities they represent,” Ms Horne said.

Greens Mayor Sophie Wade welcomed the report and said the work with the monitor had been “positive and productive’’.

“Mr Blacher has assisted us in ensuring improvements to good governance practices we already had underway were delivered to the very highest standard,” Cr Wade said.

“Council is pleased that this report commends progress on longstanding structural issues.’’

“We acknowledge that our work to meet the financial challenges faced by local governments will be ongoing.

“At Yarra we are committed to ongoing reviews of our operations to drive continuous business improvements so that we can continue to provide our highly valued services and programs to our community both now and into the future.”

Yarra’s new chief executive, Sue Wilkinson, has started a review of the organisation’s operation and culture.