City of Launceston in the frame

THE EXAMINER

Editorial | April 27, 2020 

Whether rightly or wrongly, councils are among the most heavily criticised and scrutinised organisations in any regional community. 

Few would deny that the City of Launceston's $8.5 million coronavirus support package was a vital injection into our local economy, attempting to fill part of the void left by the economic downturn. 

Central to this was the opportunity to transition businesses to a new playing field during the pandemic, where online delivery of services was vital in our contactless society. 

It's an area were many of our businesses, particularly more traditional ones, have little experience. They also needed help getting the message out there. 

The council's innovation grants needed to be provided quickly to make this transition smooth. But speed has almost certainly been their downfall. 

And it's meant that some of the very businesses the council intended to support may have missed out altogether, thanks to the design of the rollout. 

The allegations surrounding the distribution of $550,000 in Level 2 grants were extremely concerning. The wide range of individuals making criticisms - from prominent local business people, to small business owners - give an indication that there were issues. 

And the issues were so severe that they've polarised a significant segment of the business community, who saw inequity in the grant recipients. 

They also saw alleged predatory behaviour from a company that, many claim, saw the grants as an opportunity to sign up as many businesses as possible to boost their client base, while also ensuring these businesses had to work with them when they received the grant. 

As Premier Peter Gutwein has said, he's not afraid of necessary oversight during this time of massive government expenditure. Even the federal government has allowed Senate oversight of its actions. 

Councillors must allow an independent audit to get to the bottom of this grant scheme to assure ratepayers that funds are going to businesses that need them most.

City of Launceston backs call for independent audit of grants 
Adam Holmes Local News

The City of Launceston has recommended an independent audit of its innovation grants program, but it will be up to councillors to decide if the audit goes ahead.

Councillor Tim Walker will move a motion at Thursday's council meeting calling for the audit in response to a range of community concerns about oversight of $550,000 in grants, delivered as part of a response to the coronavirus pandemic.

 Related:'First in, best dressed' grant scheme prompts call for audit 

Concern included the speed at which the grants were approved and whether appropriate oversight could have been applied, and that a marketing company quickly signed businesses up to the program to help increase its client base, among other issues.

Chief executive officer Michael Stretton recommended that an independent audit be carried out, including assessing whether "genuine need" and "innovative solutions" criteria had been met, the administration of the entry and awarding process, and if due diligence had been applied to costings and co-contributions.

In his report, Mr Stretton said it was common for people to "take exception" when they miss out on a grant which could "manifest in complaints about the process".

"Of course, in most cases such complaints are more conjecture than fact, which is why an independent audit process is important to provide confidence to the community that their rates have been effectively spent," he wrote.

"In recognising the need for an audit of the grants program, it does not in any way lessen the fact that the City of Launceston should be proud of the work undertaken by its officers to assist its community, not only through the grants programme, but the entire $8.9 million Community Care and Recovery Package." 

The council reiterated its commitment to releasing a full list of successful grant applicants "once the process is finalised".

WHY LAUNCESTON'S RATEPAYERS AND TAXPAYERS NEED AN AUDIT NOW

An independent audit of the Council is indicated because:

LCC expends over $110 m p.a. yet provides very little detailed information on its budget reports, frequently acts behind closed doors and declares it's actions confidential so neither businesses nor the public can be sure where their rate and tax dollars have been spent. 

Requests from concerned community members and businesses are frequently met with no response, claims of secrecy and other claims in which the desired information is not revealed. As a result of these kinds of maneuvres and the sheer scale of the Council's spending, trust appears to be at a low point. Community and business suspicions of cosiness, bias, waste, favouritism and so forth can all be settled with an independent audit.

Many in the community, whether in business or not, are doing it tough in the face of income and other restrictions which may remain for weeks of months. Council's expenditures must be met from a diminishing pool of both rates and taxes consequently an independent audit would form a solid and trustworthy base for any future cuts to Council budgets or service reductions or both.

It will be easier for Council to be seen to live up to its values if an independent audit is carried out before budgetary pressures increase. Furthermore such an audit will serve as a basis of stability and rationality that will make sense to businesses and citizens.

OPEN LETTER TO MINISTER SHELTON, THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND OTHERS

If you agree with the proposition being presented to government please either:

Copy the text below, modify it if you wish and email your concerns to Minister Shelton and others via

• eMAIL Shelton, Minister (DPaC) Minister.Shelton@dpac.tas.gov.au 
• CC Elise Archer MP elise.archer@parliament.tas.gov.au ... Auditor General [Tas] admin@audit.tas.gov.au

OR via post to:

• Department of Premier & Cabinet
• ATTN: Minister for Local Govt, Attorney General and Auditor General
• C/- 5 Murray St, Hobart TAS 7000

THE DRAFT LETTER

Dear Minister Shelton, Attorney General and Auditor General, 

We write to draw your attention to the growing disquiet in the Launceston Municipality generally in regard to the potentially dire financial circumstances the city, and the municipality in general. faces as a consequence the current and pending economic downturn. 

Looking ahead, we are particularly concerned about the impact that this current crisis is likely to have upon the long term wellbeing of ratepayers and residents – the business community, service providers, et al – relative to planning processes, service provision and the changed and changing circumstances in the city, the region and in fact, Tasmania generally. .

Of immediate concern is the way the City of Launceston Council is currently managing the financial collateral damage flowing from the COVID-19 Crisis and the ways that is increasingly becoming evident. 

The fiscal measures in train, and in prospect, have all the characteristics of ad hoc decision making with ratepayers and residents looking forward to ominous outcomes across the board in an environment of discretionary transparency and non-mandatory accountability. 

We understand that the City of Launceston is proposing to appoint an auditor to investigate and report on Council’s current grants program after the process in train is completed. 

We also understand that the CEO is proposing that he, rather than Council’s elected representatives, appoint the auditor who apparently will be briefed by him and consequently report to him in isolation from the Councillors. By extension, ratepayers and residents, the people who are required to carry the financial and social burdens, will essentially excluded from the process if this were to be the case. 

We enthusiastically endorse the concept that there should be an audit of the City of Launceston’s operational outcomes. 

Furthermore, we believe that such an audit needs to be undertaken independently, with the terms of reference determined at arm’s length from the Council’s operation imperatives and be undertaken in two phases: 

• Phase one, focused of Council’s response to the ‘economic disruption’ brought on by the COVID-19 Crisis; 

• Phase two, focused on the fiscal realities of the municipality’s economies and the long term economic sustainability of Council operations within the municipality. 

Phase one, needs to be reported on early in the audit process and 

Phase two needs to be a more thorough investigation albeit conducted within an appropriate timeframe. 

Against this background, we request that the auditor be: 

• Recruited commissioned and appointed by Council in collaboration 

• Briefed by Council in collaboration with the State Government in an open and transparent process at an ordinary meeting of Council;

 • Briefed to undertake a forensic audit and specifically in regard to Council’s capital works projects such as Riverbend Park, Quadrant Mall, Civic Square and the Brisbane Street Mall; 

• Briefed to investigate the application of and implementation of Section 62 Tasmania’s Local Government Act 1993 by the General Manager/Chief Executive Officer; 

• Briefed to investigate Council’s strategic purpose in regard to the acquisition of the property known as the ‘Birchalls building’ – 118 -122 Brisbane Street Launceston. 

•  Briefed to report to Council in an open and transparent process at ordinary meetings of Council. 

We respectfully request that you use your authority to do whatever is necessary to ensure that that an appropriate audit is implemented in a timely way in order to facilitate better planning in the context of the city’s current circumstances and economic outlook looking forward. 

Furthermore, we ask this given that we are increasingly aware that in regard to ‘fiscal matters’ there is a growing number of people who no longer “trust the authorities” and this is a matter that requires urgent attention given all that is at stake. 

Yours sincerely

Date

LOTS AND LOTS OF QUESTIONS FOR LAUNCESTON COUNCIL

Small business the big winner in Council grants program:

Around 150 small businesses in Launceston will benefit from innovation grants allocated under the City of Launceston's $8.9m Community Care and Recovery Package.

The innovation grants program is designed to allow Launceston's small businesses — around half of which have little to no online presence — to shift their products and services to the online marketplace and/or to enhance links with customers across Tasmania and the globe.

Originally a $650,000 initiative, the overwhelming popularity of the grants resulted in the City of Launceston last week voting to inject a further $213,000 into the program.

This additional funding will only be open to small businesses that have already applied for the 'Level 1' tier, and not to new applicants.

This funding will assist businesses who receive professional advice through a level one grant to implement their identified ecommerce solutions. Further details on this additional funding will be provided in the next several weeks.

Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said while the grants program only represented a small portion of the $8.9m Community Care and Recovery Package, it was already making a difference.

"We know there are businesses around Launceston who have been able to keep operating because of these grants, and businesses that have been able to keep employees on," Mayor van Zetten said.

"We're delighted that we've been able to respond so quickly to the needs of businesses that are in danger of closing, and also those that needed a helping hand to adapt to changing conditions moving forward.

"This means the securing of jobs in a range of industries in Northern Tasmania at this critical time, which will have an untold positive economic impact in the months and years to come."

Mayor van Zetten said Council staff were working to assess the remaining submissions as quickly as possible against a range of relevant assessment criteria.

These criteria require businesses to demonstrate a genuine need, demonstrate creative and innovative solutions to current business challenges and demonstrate that any required support and expertise could be provided by a partner local business.

"We're fortunate as a Council to have a team of staff who are highly skilled at administering and assessing grants programs, and this has allowed us to roll out a significant, targeted and agile program in a very short space of time," he said.

"It has also been a very competitive process, with many businesses going to great lengths to demonstrate how they meet the assessment criteria, and working fast to get their submissions in.

"This means not all applications have been successful, and that some businesses have missed out because funding has run out.

"We have limited funds compared to other tiers of government, and we feel for businesses who have missed out.

"We make no apologies for developing and implementing a targeted and swift grants program designed to keep Northern Tasmanians in employment, and to keep small businesses afloat in the most significant economic crisis of the past 100 years.

"For those who did miss out, or for businesses in other municipalities, there are business support measures available through the State and Federal Governments, and we'd strongly encourage businesses to familiarise themselves with those programs."

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”Martin Luther King.

Against the background that this $650,000 is money provided by the city’s ratepayers and residents a lot of questions need to be asked to put these grants in context. This money is not the Council’s money and it didn’t fall out of the sky, it was hard won by ratepayers!

So, to the questions:

• Who made the decision about who would get a grant in order to recommend their payment to the elected representatives?
• What information did the applicants provide and where is that information documented?
• What business case were the applicants required to present in order to be eligible for consideration?
• Who are successful applicants and what class of business do they operate?
• When will ratepayers and the unsuccessful applicants discover who got what for what?
• What guarantees does Council have that the money provided will be used for the purpose for which it was provided?
• When are the recipients’ due to report to Council that they have fulfilled their obligation to use the money for the purpose for which it was provided and on what evidence?
• When will Council report to ratepayers on the success or otherwise of this initiative and in accord with what criteria?
• Which Councillors are prepared to unreservedly endorse this process as an appropriate use of ratepayer’s funds under the current circumstance?
  
  

DIGITALmeetings at TOWNhall

WELL SPOTTED ON FB .

“It was all over phone/video conference! Official photo used.”

Radio RN (ABC) does this stuff well and a lot and what was 

missing was someone with thatkind of nouse 

Worth getting however as this kind of meeting/conferencing needs

to be the ‘new standard’ that must be embraced towards greater 

accessibility transparency and accountability. 

However, there is quite a bit of serious tweaking  that needs to be done in 

presentation methodology remembering of course thatwe are well into 2020. 

LIKE, council meeting format is positively MEDIEVAL and 

that’s a bit of a worry. It does not need to be with ‘pictures’ to be 

21sr C relevant but if everyone isn’t SOCIAL distancing   

a webcam overview supported by a website with HTMLaccess to 

documents and graphics should be a part of the mix. 

Stand back and wait for the list of ‘why nots’ in the negative with a heavy 

emphasis on the PROPER WAY 

That straight and narrow pathway that ultimately leads to mediocracy 

GO TO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo7VoAw7MvY&fbclid=IwAR3DSHKWoz_TDdPirmUFTO3X2IAon2efY6qPvM_id4il3SxCy-0GKsI8Fe4

LINK: https://lcc63.blogspot.com.au/