CLAIMS that council payments to external consultants are on the rise made Frankston Council CEO Dennis Hovenden see red at last week’s public council meeting as it emerged a committee of councillors to monitor external consultancy fees paid out by council was never established despite being mandated by councillors four years ago.
A visibly angry Mr Hovenden said payments to consultants have fallen during his tenure as CEO as councillors asked him to put a figure on how much consultancy fees have declined at council’s latest public meeting.
“It is a fact that the executive management team are all across things that are happening in this organisation around consultants,” Mr Hovenden said.
“I meet with the procurement department on a weekly basis. Something came across my desk the other day – we were going to appoint a consultant for three years and spend $100,000. I put a stop to it.”
Former mayor and councillor Kris Bolam has questioned “wasteful spending” on external consultants after payments to outside consultants jumped from $1.2 million in 2009 to $1.7 million in 2013, the latest breakdown of such payments provided by council under freedom of information laws (‘Cash out as consultants cash in’, The Times 26/4/16).
Mr Hovenden was hired by Frankston Council as CEO in September 2012.
At last Tuesday evening’s public meeting Frankston mayor Cr James Dooley said overall consultancy fees since 2013 have fallen.
“Some have gone down, some have gone up,” Cr Dooley said.
“The claim that consultancies have gone up overall under this council is wrong. It’s just wrong.”
Councillors tried to take a greater interest in payments to consultants four years ago without success.
A notice of motion by Cr Colin Hampton in February 2012 “that a committee of interested councillors meet with the CEO to discuss methods of actually apportioning consultancy fees and means of reporting back to council and this meeting be convened within the next four weeks” was passed by councillors but never actioned.
Cr Hampton’s motion rescinded an approved notice of motion by then Cr Kris Bolam at the previous meeting on 6 February 2016 requiring each council department to report to councillors the number of consultants, services provided and the anticipated cost of consultants on a quarterly basis.
“The report should also be used as a reference point for the CEO to identify departments within the organisation where professional development opportunities may have to be afforded to reduce dependency upon the use of consultants,” Cr Bolam’s notice of motion stated at the time.
No action on establishing the committee proposed by Cr Hampton was subsequently taken under the management of former CEO George Modrich before Mr Hovenden’s arrival and council elections in October 2012 saw many of the councillors who ordered the committee’s formation leave council.
“This has not been acted on. It’s just been forgotten about,” Cr Hampton said at last week’s council meeting.
Mr Hovenden fired up at this assertion.
“I draw the line … I take offence at the comment that it hasn’t been acted upon,” Mr Hovenden said. “We may not be reporting to the councillors about it [consultancy fees] … but we are living within our budget and are reducing costs.”
He said councillors get a breakdown of costs for capital works projects such as the building of the Peninsula Aquatic Recreation Centre including payments to external architects and lawyers.
Council was also forced to pay $5 million in legal fees recently to negotiate a $9 million settlement with Casey Council over a methane gas leak at Stevenson Rd landfill in Cranbourne, formerly a joint tip for both councils (‘Tip dispute costs councils’, The Times 8/12/14).
“The fact that a committee hasn’t been formed doesn’t mean the work [to monitor consultancy fees] hasn’t happened,” Mr Hovenden said.
“I’m not quite sure that I need a committee to tell me how to do my job.”
Despite Mr Hovenden’s reservations, councillors at the latest council meeting unanimously backed Cr Hampton’s urgent notice of motion, introduced as a result of last week’s report in The Times about consultancy fees, to establish a committee of councillors to meet with the CEO to further discuss consultancy fees.
Mr Hovenden said he “is happy” to meet with any councillors about consultancy fees.
“We are reducing expenditure, we are working smarter. Yes, we make mistakes. It’s a fact. Who doesn’t? But I think we have got it right and I’m intrigued as to what the committee is going to do beyond what we are doing now – reporting to councillors through the capital works program,” he said. “The simplest thing to do if want to do if you want to cut out consultants is to stop doing things. Would the community demand that of us?”
“The simplest thing to do if want to do if you want to cut out consultants is to stop doing things. Would the community demand that of us?”
Cr Glenn Aitken said councillors need to regularly monitor payments to consultants.
“I do think we need to keep our finger on the pulse of consultancy fees. We do need to be very demanding about why we’re getting consultants, what they’re really doing and how much they’re costing and what they’re producing,” he said.
“We have had some consultants come in here and the end product has been anything but satisfactory. That’s a lot of money spent for very little return.”
