FREO COUNCIL COMPLAINTS POLICY COMPROMISED

THE City of Fremantle has breached its complaints and code of conduct policies by censoring findings upholding a complaint against former mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge.
StreetWise was told the City received the results of an independent investigation on November 7. Under its complaint handling policy (Division 3), the City has 14 days to provide copies of the findings to the complainant and respondent and publish the investigator’s report minus attachments on the City website.
The results should have been published by November 21 and instead the matter was referred as a confidential item at council last night. CEO Glen Dougall confirmed the City sent a copy including details of council’s course of action to the complainant who is a member of The Fremantle Society.
The City wrote to the complainant today, acknowledging “the allegation is substantiated” in the investigator’s report and that no further action would be taken.
A ‘summary’ report including the finding will be released to the parties and added to the City’s complaints register. However, the investigator’s report will remain confidential and not be made available to the public to protect the privacy of the parties.
Interestingly, the City also approved to revoke Division 3 of the code of conduct and requested the CEO prepare, “appropriate guidelines for dealing with complaints about alleged breached of behaviour requirements”.
But who would know given the decision was made behind closed doors. And why conceal Ms Fitzhardinge’s identity?
The City was asked in question time: “What is the value of a complaint handling policy if procedural fairness is compromised, determinations take up to six months to finalise and policy is not applied in good faith? Can ratepayers reasonably expect transparency, accountability and natural justice in the council’s complaint handling processes. Will the determinations made by the City of Fremantle bring the truth into the open or keep the community in the dark?”
Fremantle Society president John Dowson agreed and said the item should not be confidential. As the item does not identify the former mayor, Mr Dowson was restricted to asking only hypothetical question about the City’s policy. He said the Society wanted the City to treat the backstory to the confidential item dealt with fairly and in a balanced way.
Mayor Ben Lawver has been contacted for comment.
Ms Fitzhardinge in September posted a grovelling apology to Mr Dowson after calling him racist on a ratepayer-funded social media page for rejecting City plans for the WA bicentenary in 2029.
As reported by StreetWise, the West End heritage expert engaged defamation lawyers to sue Cr Fitzhardinge (and the City) after she published the racist slur on May 27.
However, her apology did little to inspire leadership and ‘politeness’ in local government in the weeks leading up to her run as mayor in the October elections.