Toowoomba Regional Council CEO saga - CEO demands councillors sign statutory declarations ...
News reports indicate the Toowoomba Regional Council CEO summoned Councillors to a meeting and asked each Councillor to sign a statutory declaration confirming that they had not discussed the prospect of sacking him.
Why would they sign statutory declarations about the events of a Councillor meeting just because the CEO has demanded it?
Who really has the ultimate say in events affecting Toowoomba and the surrounding region? The Councillors elected by the region's residents or the CEO ...
Excerpt from the Chronicle:
Chronicle article sparks inquiry
20 September 2008
Toowoomba Regional Council chief executive officer Philip Spencer yesterday launched an investigation after The Chronicle reported a split in the council ranks.
Sources within the council said Mr Spencer was angry about the story.
Mr Spencer summoned councillors to a meeting, initially asking them if his job was in jeopardy.
When told it wasn't, he asked councillors if they had discussed his sacking at a Greenmount workshop. Councillors told him the matter was not discussed and he then asked if they would sign statutory declarations to that effect.
Most councillors signed yesterday. The Chronicle could not confirm if all councillors had signed.
Mr Spencer and deputy mayor Paul Antonio have been at loggerheads over resignations in Cr Antonio's home service centre at Millmerran. Cr Antonio was formerly mayor at Millmerran.
There were claims councillors discussed Mr Spencer's dismissal after claims bureaucratic blocks were creating staff unrest, leading to resignations.
Eleven senior staffers have left since the new council came to power in April.
The latest are Millmerran service manager Greg Quinn and Peter McCashney, Millmerran's environmental health/building services manager.
Mr Spencer did not return The Chronicle's call yesterday.
In Millmerran, support for the former mayor was mounting.
Chamber of Commerce and Progress Association Millmerran president and Downs Chamber of Commerce president Geoff Hannaford said he had heard Cr Antonio was under siege for standing by his town.
Mr Hannaford, the former councillor and deputy mayor of the Inglewood Shire Council, said he knew local government and it shouldn't work like it was with the TRC.
"We're right at the butt end of the shire and we feel Paul is supporting us and we feel he's being kicked at the moment.
"So he has our support.
"There's a real feel of lost local knowledge and services."
Mayor Peter Taylor late yesterday issued a lengthy email to media and staff supporting Mr Spencer.
See - Chronicle article sparks inquiry.
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 8:24 AM
6 Comments:
Why do I have an image of most of the councillors cowering in a corner while Spencer is yelling at them demanding they sign stat decs? Bunch of timid mice. When will any of them stand up to Spencer and say we were elected by the people to keep an eye on you and your bureaucracy?
1:43 PM, September 20, 2008
Sounds like the councillors are only puppets in this council. Taylor is doing what Spencer wants. This is bullying at its worst!
3:43 PM, September 20, 2008
We promise that we never ever talked about sacking the CEO and truly promise to never ever discuss anything like that again.
Signed - the really really sorry councillors.
8:45 PM, September 20, 2008
Chief Executive Officer - Philip Spencer
Philip Spencer has had strong links with local government for about 34 years. He spent 20 years with Hindmarsh Council in South Australia, with 10 years as the deputy Chief Executive Officer and 10 years as the Chief Executive Officer.
Prior to moving to Toowoomba to take up the position of Toowoomba City Council’s Chief Executive Officer in May 2006 he was Director of Finance and Corporate Services at Logan City Council for 13 years.
In September 2007, Phil was appointed the interim CEO of the Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) and was responsible for overseeing the process of amalgamating eight regions into one new council.
Phil holds formal qualifications in Accounting, Business, Commerce and Local Government, plus a Master of Business Administration. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of Local Government Managers Australia, President of the Local Government Accountants Association of Queensland, board member and past president of the Kingston Neighbourhood Centre and the Chair of University of Southern Queensland’s School of Communications and Marketing Advisory Board.
He has also been a past president of the Metropolitan Chief Executive Officers Association of South Australia, the South Australia Branch of the Local Government Managers Australia and the South-East Queensland Branch of the Local Government Managers Association. Phil has also held executive appointments on a number of community and sporting associations and he coached junior and senior baseball teams for 15 years.
In his younger years he was a keen sportsman, playing competitive football (AFL), cricket, baseball and golf. His pursuits today are more passive in the form of music, golf, reading and the study of Roman history.
9:05 PM, September 20, 2008
SO What has all that got to do with the fact that Phil Spencer is a bully and every one knows it.
We have mostly weak spinless councillors and he is lording it over them.
We will not even go near the fact that Peter Taylor is a weak leader and if we could see the back of he and Spencer this region would be better off.
10:35 PM, September 20, 2008
The CEO should reread his Roman history!
11:33 PM, September 20, 2008
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