AS a practising business accountant in Ballarat I am concerned that the current council's record has been nothing short of appalling for the past four years.
The expectation four years ago was that the current councillors would not renew CEO Anthony Schinck's contract. They failed to do this and this city has paid a price ever since.
Councillors have consistently failed to hold Mr Schinck and other senior highly-paid council officers accountable for their poor performance. For example:
1: Civic Hall fiasco and the resulting loss of $1.8m.
2: Ballarat swap meet debacle resulting in a costly defamation case against Mr Schinck.
3: Spending $100,000 in legal costs chasing a dog and then handing it back to the owners.
4: The Eureka pool tender mess with the McKenzie family and the granting of a fixed 10-year contract to the YMCA to run the Ballarat Aquatic Centre when the council owns all the plant and equipment including the gym equipment and with the YMCA not contributing a single dollar of capital.
I support the request to the Auditor-General for this tender process to be fully investigated as it would appear to me not to be a commercially-sound outcome for Ballarat citizens.
5: Failure of council to recognise the potential amount of contingent liability they are facing with unfunded superannuation obligations and to set money aside on an annual basis to pay for it given the problem has been known about for almost 20 years.
6: Failing to dredge Lake Wendouree before it rained resulting in hundreds of thousands of extra costs.
Sitting councillors who are re-standing for election have failed to hold Mr Schinck and senior council officers accountable and do not deserve a second chance.
Ballarat desperately needs strong, competent councillors who are committed to taking back control and making senior council officers and the CEO totally accountable for their performance.
Ian Boyle
Ballarat