FOUR council staff have been reprimanded and counselled over acceptance of gifts from supply companies. They were among six employees found to have received.
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Coles Myer gift cards from a chemical company and other organisations supplying Goulburn Mulwaree. General manager Chris Berry said he had dealt with the matter at the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s (ICAC) request.
The Commission’s Operation Jarek is exploring allegations that employees of 110 councils and government organisations accepted benefits from companies in return for placing orders. In this area Goulburn Mulwaree, Upper Lachlan Shire, Wingecarribee Shire and Yass Valley were named in the list.
But the full results of the Goulburn Mulwaree investigation will not be made public, Mr Berry said. Nor will he say how he dealt with staff found to have received the gift cards. None have been dismissed.
“I have dealt with them appropriately,” he said.
However the benefits awarded to staff by chemical company, Momar Pty Ltd, Hilindi Pty Ltd (trading as R&R Tape Supplies) and several other organisations the council identified in its inquiries, total $500 to $600. They stretch back to 2001.
The gifts comprised redeemable Coles Myer cards, caps, tee shirts, pins, notepads and more.
“The maximum value at any one time was $50,” Mr Berry said.
“The reason they chose that amount was that Local Government guidelines say that anything worth $50 or less is a token gift and doesn’t have to be declared.
“They operated in a grey area and kept it at a level below what might be detected.”
Nevertheless, he said some staff had declared the alleged gifts. All were part of what ICAC termed “grooming” of staff in order to gain more orders.
However, Mr Berry told the Post there was no evidence staff had ordered more than necessary to capitalise on these incentives. The ICAC investigation, now complete, identified that between 2006 and 2008 a Bathurst Council employee ordered 444.55km of mesh (11km/month average) from one of the “grooming” companies.
Since that person has left, the council has only required 0.6km of mesh each month. The Goulburn Mulwaree employees’ roles involved purchasing for units across the organisation, not any one area.
“I’ve also spoken to general managers of councils from around the region and their experiences are similar,” Mr Berry said.
“If it was part of a grooming technique, it was at the initial stages, not the extreme end.”
Staff undergo code of conduct training advising them how to respond when confronted with gifts and benefits. Reminders have been ramped up in newsletters in the lead-up to Christmas.
Mr Berry said he’d undertaken some “administrative adjustments” to tighten things up. In addition, he’s written to the companies advising them that Council has ethical procurement policies and gift enticement was not the way they did business.
Mr Berry will write to ICAC advising he has dealt with the matter. He said he doesn’t have to provide the detail to ICAC and the report would not be made public. The Authority could not advise on this point yesterday.
With the investigation complete, it is now drafting a report. Fifteen main council and state organisations were required to appear at the inquiry. Lesser allegations involving other bodies were referred to general managers to deal with.