Far worse off under 'new' structure

I've been involved in observing and participating in Gosford Council processes for 16 years.

In most of those years, I observed staff employed for their environmental expertise being disregarded, having their honest reports tampered with and having constant pressure to ease up on developers.

Most of these staff eventually succumbed and resigned their integrity basically meant that they could not put up with the extent of the inappropriate interference.

Their morale was extremely low.

About four years ago, the councillors of the time, and I was one, decided to look at the structure of council and employed an external consultancy to do the review.

After extensive staff and community consultation and many in-depth meetings with councillors, a new structure was proposed and eventually adopted with some minor changes about two years ago.

The Environmental Planning Directorate came into being and the staff concerned with these issues was for the first time placed together.

The staff was now able to do their job credibly and the inappropriate pressure of previous times was abated.

Stability and cohesiveness in the section was at an all time high.

What has happened now is that a whirlwind review of the structure has taken place instigated by mayor Malcolm Brooks and general manager Peter Wilson.

The process included a few meetings of councillors and a very small amount of consultation with staff (who had two weeks to respond to a memo) and absolutely no consultation with council's main clients, being the community.

A late Mayoral Minute was put up last Tuesday night.

It was not on the advertised agenda, some councillors were away, there was no discussion and it was passed.

The Mayoral Minute announced a new structure effectively wiping out the Environmental Planning Directorate as a cohesive, well-functioning unit.

It will disperse the staff throughout council and ends up returning to the dysfunctional modes of previous times.

Just about all that is left is the title of Environmental Planning Directorate.

The extreme haste and lack of consultation in a major upheaval of this nature is an absolute disgrace and makes a mockery of democratic processes.

The staff and community have been treated with extreme contempt.

Democracy should involve more than just getting elected and doing whatever you like and there are a great many ways that can involve the community and the staff in finding constructive solutions to perceived problems.

What will most likely happen now and has already started are resignations from key professional people in Gosford Council who have been treated abysmally by this process.

Council and the community will be far worse off under this "new"/old system.

Geoff Preece, Tascott