Rodney Stevens
Concerned about the number of staff vacancies impacting the effectiveness of council operations, the Yamba Community Action Network Yamba CAN Inc has taken Clarence Valley Council to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal NCAT.
On October 9, 2023, Yamba CAN’s solicitor lodged an application on the community organisation’s behalf to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal and a case conference was held on October 30.
At the case conference Yamba CAN Inc’s solicitor alleged there are high staff vacancy rates and turnover at Clarence Valley Council and, if demonstrated, Yamba CAN is concerned this might be impacting the effectiveness of the council.
Council’s 2021-22 annual report, the newest report available, states as at May 2022, council had 321 full time employees, 14 permanent part-time staff, seven casual staff, 16 staff on a fixed term contract, four senior staff, and 63 staff on contracts or other arrangements, totalling 425 staff.
According to information provided to Yamba CAN Inc by council, between May 2022 and May 2023, 85 staff left council, 74 employees resigned and 51 of those were permanent staff, while 43 were outdoor staff and 41 were indoor staff, from a total of 486.98 full time equivalent staff.
During 2023, when Yamba CAN Inc lodged a number of Government Information Public Access GIPA requests trying to obtain details about council staff resignations over the past two years, the reasons for resigning in exit interviews, the number of resignations in Director, Manager, office staff and outdoor positions, and how many positions are filled with casuals or temporarily filled, they experienced significant delays of more than five months. No personal details were sought.
When Yamba CAN Inc lodged a GIPA request on May 12, council emailed them on May 18 to inform the application was considered valid.
On June 28, council provided its notice of decision that outlined there are no statistics on the number of resignations in the electronic council system and the information requested does not exist as its own record.
Then Yamba CAN Inc requested an external review by the Information and Privacy Commission IPC and on September 8, the IPC issued a report stating it was not satisfied that council met its obligations under the GIPA Act to undertake reasonable search efforts and council’s decision to refuse to provide access to certain information is not justified.
The IPC report recommended council make a new decision, by way of an internal review, and Yamba CAN had 20 working days from the date of the report to apply to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).
When council hadn’t responded on the 20th working day, Yamba CAN Inc’s solicitor lodged an application with NCAT, then they received an email from council on October 9, asking Yamba CAN Inc to amend its request as their internal review would be completed on October 16.
Council then emailed a notice of decision (NOD) on October 17, which Yamba CAN Inc alleges contained an incorrect date when the GIPA application was first requested, and an incorrect date when council’s first NOD and a staff vacancy report was provided to council.
The information provided by council stated there were 30 outdoor staff vacancies, 45 indoor staff vacancies, one director, and one manager between May 2021 and May 2022, which council claimed total 90 vacancies, when the total is actually 77 vacancies. The total full-time employees was then 473.03.
The next NCAT meeting for mediation was confidential between Council and Yamba CAN Inc and was held on Tuesday, November 21.
A Clarence Valley Council spokesperson said the matter is currently before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal and Clarence Valley Council has no comment at this time.