By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Casey chief executive Glenn Patterson has told an IBAC hearing that developer John Woodman and his planning consultant Megan Schutz were “the most difficult” for council planning staff to deal with.
On 4 March, Mr Patterson said the pair had been nominated “in terms of behaviour, style and a poor method of engagement”.
It was in contrast to the “extremely professional” development “community” generally around Casey.
Mr Patterson said Mr Woodman had been serving a three-month ban from contacting council officers as a result.
It had been handed down by interim CEO Steve Dalton and was lifted after a three-month review under Mr Patterson’s tenure.
The day before, IBAC heard a tapped phone call between Mr Woodman and Ms Schutz bragging of a “strong connection” with Mr Patterson.
Ms Schutz on 8 October, 2018, described Mr Patterson’s decisive response after a Casey planning officer had reorganised a meeting with her.
Mr Patterson, formerly CEO of Yarra Ranges and Baw Baw councils, had started in the role less than a month earlier.
“Within two hours Glenn Patterson had obviously intervened and, basically bashed (the officer) over the head and fixed another meeting with the right people at the meeting,” Ms Schutz told Mr Woodman.
Earlier Mr Woodman told her of the “strong connection between Glenn (Patterson) and you (Megan Schutz) and Andrew Wyatt (from developer Blueways) and Heath (Woodman, who is John’s son)”.
Ms Schutz replied: “Well, they, they know about the strong connection now because (the officer) got absolutely bashed over the head.
“So he has obviously went straight over, said what the f*** is this about?”
She told Mr Woodman that Mr Patterson had “already” indicated that two planning officers were “on the way out”. They were indeed later dismissed, Ms Schutz later told IBAC.
In a tapped call with Mr Woodman on 21 December 2018, Ms Schutz told of Mr Wyatt having a cup of coffee with Mr Patterson, in which they allegedly talked about Pavilion Estate.
Regarding the Pavilion Estate, Mr Patterson had said he wasn’t at Casey at the time but criticised his planning staff for not being able to “argue anything”, according to Ms Schutz.
Mr Patterson had reportedly said he’d look at the “FOI matter” in which Mr Woodman and Ms Schutz was seeking information on Casey’s staff complaints against the developer and who leaked them to The Age newspaper. At the time, Mr Woodman threatened defamation action against The Age, IBAC heard.
“(If) my officers leaked material and I f***ing find out about it they’ll be f***ing fired, was what he said,” Ms Schutz told Mr Woodman.
In the call, Ms Schutz referred to an arranged meeting between Mr Patterson and Mr Woodman being set for 7 January, 2019. Then councillor Geoff Ablett had highly praised Mr Woodman to Mr Patterson, according to Ms Schutz.
In his IBAC evidence, Mr Patterson said he’d long known Mr Wyatt, who had been a development consultant on projects in the Shire of Yarra Ranges. He was an “acquaintance” who he’d also met with while at Casey.
Mr Patterson said Mr Wyatt, who he assumed was acting as a development consultant, hadn’t raised with him any of the planning issues of interest to IBAC – Amendment C219, the H3 intersection or Pavilion Estate.
But Mr Wyatt was interested in how Casey’s planning department would improve.
Mr Patterson told the hearing he knew of Mr Wyatt’s “partnership” with Wolfdene.
In separate evidence, Ms Schutz said Mr Wyatt’s employer Blueways often worked with Wolfdene – run by Mr Woodman’s son Heath – on projects.
As part of starting at Casey, Mr Patterson said he consulted up to 500 people, including developers Leighton and Dacland – but not Woodman-linked companies Wolfdene and Watsons.
He said he first met Ms Schutz in late 2018, who criticised between six to 10 planning staff. About two-to-three of them lost their jobs, Mr Patterson told IBAC.
Mr Patterson said he’d also informed Mr Wyatt of staff departures after the affected staff were notified.
