The City of Ballarat has recommended a summons be served and charges filed against Craig Willian, the owner of 1444 Sturt Street, Ballarat, the historic Bishop's Palace property.

Council alleges Mr Willian is in breach of clauses of the Ballarat Planning Scheme by failing to obtain permits for Bishop's Palace for accommodation, place of assembly, and function centre uses, as well as parking permit breaches.

Council has also recommended action for an alleged breach of Section 118 of the Building Act 1993, the Contravention of Emergency Order or Building Order.

Victoria Police laid charges and issued COVID fines against partygoers at the property in July after complaints from neighbours. The Courier can reveal noise complaints from local residents about parties and functions at Bishop's Palace go back some years.

The property is a popular wedding venue and is regularly booked solid, with a strong online presence.

In documents obtained under Freedom of Information legislation, it's also revealed the former compliance officer Rebekah Isaacs, who lost her job at the City of Ballarat, promoted the charges now being pursued against Mr Willian as early as December 2019.

Ms Isaacs was employed by the City of Ballarat as a council compliance officer in November 2019.

Her quasi-legal position was to ensure council conformed to government regulations, to act as an authorised officer and exercise delegated authority. She was also responsible for planning compliance, investigating unauthorised or illegal land use, fines and local law breaches, and preparing reports and investigations for action by council.

If it was a serious job, it was also fraught, Ms Isaacs says, in a culture where she alleges some council officers gave preferment to some members of the Ballarat community over others, and some councillors allegedly used their influence to attempt improper changes to application outcomes.

Ms Isaacs says she was repeatedly advised to ignore or ameliorate complaints which involved certain people who were seen as 'friends of council' or 'big players' in town.

"It was either, 'You make that problem disappear or your job will disappear'," Ms Isaacs told The Courier.

Bishop's Palace owner Craig Willian told The Courier he was unaware of council's listing of breaches, and the COVID-19 outbreak had cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in bookings.

He said he had conducted his business legally as an Airbnb, and had complied with council's requests for permits and alterations to his 1877 property.

The Courier is not alleging Mr Willian sought preferential treatment or attempted to influence any outcome at council in any way, or was aware of council having possibly conferred favourable treatment on him or anyone else, nor Ms Isaacs's allegations about council's culture.

Ms Isaacs says her employment was terminated at the end of her qualifying period in April 2020, primarily because she pushed too vigorously for the enforcement of possible permit breaches at Bishop's Palace.

In her termination letter, provided to The Courier, former director Terry Demeo says Ms Isaacs's appointment to the role would not be confirmed, in part because of:

Ms Isaacs says she is aware her whistleblowing could be interpreted as the accusations of an aggrieved former worker, but insists she is determined to expose what she felt was a deeply-compromised governance and regulatory culture at the City of Ballarat, where outcomes on everything from planning permits to parking fine appeals were often determined on a partisan basis, not merit.

She says it was a given understanding within her department that paper trails were not to be left, so if evidence was sought by investigative bodies or the public via Freedom Of Information, there could be a feasible defence of none being available.

City of Ballarat CEO Evan King says he is limited by privacy laws in responding to many of Ms Isaacs's grievances, but moving to enforcement as the first port of call in compliance is not recommended.

"You've got to provide due process, an opportunity to find a solution, before you jump to complete the enforcement at the end, Mr King told The Courier.

He says part of his job is to put in place protocols at council which ensure variability in the application of regulations are eliminated, thus eradicating the perception of favourable bias towards certain clients.

"At a point in time, if you can't achieve compliance, then you need to take a more proscriptive action."

Ms Isaacs's position was terminated in April 2020. She has taken her concerns over the governance of the City of Ballarat to the Local Government Inspectorate, the Victorian Ombudsman and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC).

Rebekah Isaacs says focus on transparency was largely derided within Town Hall.

"The entire culture was geared towards making sure nothing got out."

"At one point a manager got upset with me constantly raising these issues, and sat me down and said 'I'm gonna make you have a chat with (two other officers) because they grew up in Ballarat. They will tell you who the important families are, and who we leave alone; because I think your problem, Rebekah, is you want to change Ballarat, and you don't understand how it works.'"

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