Spending move restarts card row

By Rebecca Fraser
THREE councillors have accused Casey chief executive Mike Tyler of taking a free ride with ratepayers’ money.
Councillors Brian Oates, Rob Wilson and Kevin Bradford launched a scathing attack at last week’s council meeting when Cr Bradford attempted to reintroduce three controversial expenditure policies.
The policies, relating to officers’ conference and travel expenses and credit card and fuel card use, had been rejected by the council on 18 October this year.
If adopted, the policies would open council officers’ travel to greater public scrutiny.
Cr Bradford argued there was a need for more transparency of council spending after claiming councillors had copped unwarranted flak in the media over council expenditure.
However legal advice obtained by Casey warned that if adopted the policies would contravene the Local Government Act and restrict the chief executive’s role. Mr Tyler was on leave when the advice was sought.
Mayor Neil Lucas said he was appalled by the behaviour of some of his colleagues in sneaking the motion through during urgent business, despite knowledge of the legal advice and council’s current caretaker mode.
During heated debate Cr Bradford said councillors had been “hung out to dry” by council officers.
“We have been put out to dry in the pasture.
“We want council to be responsible and transparent with more checks and balances.
“If they have got nothing to hide then they should not have anything to worry about,” he said.
Cr Oates said the council had been misled by the legal advice outlined in a report to the October meeting.
“The legal advice was that the policies were inconsistent with the act.
“The chief executive is saying to us give me unfettered use of ratepayers’ money,” he said.
Cr Oates said it was the role of the mayor and councillors to manage the council for ratepayers.
“We hit the headlines over the council’s credit card use and we got reports from the AuditorGeneral’s office saying that our checks on spending were inadequate.
“We are not here to give the chief executive an unfettered ride,” he said.
Cr Wilson said the press had blamed councillors for the expenditure.
He also said that expenditure by council officers to attend conferences had been four times as much as councillors’.
Cr Lucas was quick to defend council officers, claiming it was an absolute disgrace for councillors to “get up and talk about a credit card fiasco”.
“It just appals me to hear language like this.
“Investigations into the council’s use of credit cards showed that there was nothing untoward.
“I won’t miss discussions like this when I leave council,” he said.
Cr Mick Morland said he was sick and tired of councillors “bashing officers”.
“If we did not read the report properly and if that is the case then that is our fault.
“Mike Tyler has done much for this city over the past 25 years and I totally trust him.
“Councillors have to take responsibility. If we stuffed up we should apologise,” he said.
Mr Tyler did not respond to inquiries by the News by the time of print.
The matter was referred to the next council meeting.