I've had several emails in relation to the issues ongoing at Greenbank which mostly seem to revolve around the divisional councillor, the Greenbank community centre management committee and now a new group trying to move into the area.
The issues;
The councillor being a member of the GCC management committee
The removal of a long term community group from the GCC
The use and relocation of a telephone line
The inconsistencies in the accounts at the GCC AGM.
The closing of GCC meetings to the public
The compulsory blue card requirement, with no children's program
The cancelling of memberships over blue card requirement
The matter of who resides in the care takers residence at GCC
It seems that when issues arose between the Divisional Councillor, Hagnal Ban, and a community group situated in the Greenbank Community Center's Kurrong Romm on a permanent basis with the rent subsidised by that Councillor, the first thing that Ban did was to stop paying the $50 a week rent without telling the group it had been cut. After a period of perhaps two months the GCC committee issued a notice to the group asking for rent to be paid up to date and after some checking to find it had indeed not been paid by the councillor, it was paid by a means that resulted in a permanent rec cord of the payment and the receiving of that money. Nevertheless later at the GCC AGM it was declared that the money had not been paid and this information was given to journalists to discredit the group in all probability.
The payment of the overdue rent was never acknowledged by the GCC committee and an order was issued by it to remove the group from the GCC . After a time, the dispute escalated to the point where the group was locked out by council (Beaudesert) Questions were asked at the time about the councillors involvement as a committee member of the GCC management Committee, and the Councillor gave assertions to the public and Logan Council that she was never a member of the committee, despite it being recorded on minutes that she had offered apologies at committee meetings and had attended committee meetings which are not open for the public. It has also been public knowledge that the previous council Beaudesert Shire put a councillor on every community group including the GCC management Committee and it is in council documents that she was put there and in the GCC constitution that a councillor would have automatic membership on that committee.
During the time these disputes were on going the GCC was undergoing some upgrades including the construction of a new caretakers residence, bollards around driving areas to keep cars away from pedestrian areas, and some other things. As soon as the group was locked out it seems their telephone connection, which I'm told cost the group about $3500, was connected to the new caretakers residence by someone other than Telstra apparently and without consent from the group, and that group paid the bill for a time while it was used by others. I believe that theft of a phone line is a serious offence, but I'm not seeing any action from either Council or other authorities.
I wonder at how the connection between the councillor, Hagnal Ban, and the committee in this matter is not obvious to a Council who have inherited the situation, but it seems they are nonetheless turning a blind eye to it.
The AGM of the GCC management committee was a shambles by all accounts and the president was just going to chair it until a member of the public insisted that all committee deliver reports and then stand down while a neutral chair hosts the re election of a new committee. The Councillor, ban was there but refused to chair, and it was Greg Birkbeck who quickly jumped to the position of chair after a whispering session with the councillor apparently. The old committee had the numbers and was re-elected without a problem, and those people who came on the night to join up as members to be elected to that committee were prevented from voting. I personally believe that was set up by some people who had declared that they were going to join up and help get a new committee going, but didn't do so until the AGM even though I'm told they were informed that if they did so they would not be permitted to vote. Those people are integrated with that committee very well now I'm told.
The GCC management committee have made it compulsory for members to have a blue card (for working with children) even though they don't offer any programs at all, no child care and are a hall hire committee in essence, they have also signed off on the applications for members saying that they do, and the members have signed off saying they are working or volunteering to work with children under the GCC management committee as i understand it.
Any members who wouldn't provide their personal details on the form for the management committee, rightfully, on the basis that it is wrong to make this a requirement for membership, have been sent letters terminating their membership.
Since that time it has been revealed to me that it is a requirement for members t attend 4 meetings per Annam to maintain membership, and of course vote at future AGM's and that committee has also changed the constitution to say that they only have to open meetings to the public on two occasions other than the AGM, so no one but them are ever going to be the committee.
At the last AGM questions were asked as to who was residing in the caretakers residence, since it was supposed to be advertised to the public that a job as caretaker was available, but it was clear that someone was already occupying the building, I was told that the secretary was seen parked there and her car was there overnight on a regular basis. At that AGM it was publicly announced by the secretary that a temporary caretaker named BUDDY WILSON was in fact the occupant of the building until a permanent care taker could be found.
Apparently there was 1 applicant interviewed for the job and was rejected, I am also told that someone named Greg Birkbeck interviewed the applicant, although not a member of the committee or an officer with Logan Council, I don't know if Birkbeck is qualified to interview applicants for a caretakers job anyway, but if there was only one why were they rejected? will this information be made public. The rumour is that the persons residing in the caretakers residence are related to members of the committee.
So I wonder who was Buddy Wilson, how was he removed from the residence and why if the position was not yet filled, and where is he now and for that matter where did he come from because other than the claim of his existence by the GCC management committee member, no one else has ever seen or heard of him.
If you know Buddy Wilson, please email me so I can resolve the issue.
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34 comments:
I have had a few comments now naming names and making allegations that I won't allow to stay up for obvious reasons.
There are real problems in Division4 and it seems that council is involved or turning a blind eye, and that's the tip of the iceberg really with satisfaction with the representation from the elected councillor at an all time low.
Unfortunately the alternatives aren't worthy of consideration either , the wannabe's from the Chamber, or more ex Beaudesert shire left overs who quite possibly got us into this mess in the first place.
People should know that they can actually have a councillor removed if they have the will and are prepared to do some work.
Anonymous April 21, 2009 12:58 PM
Quite obviously you care enough to make a comment, I can only guess at the motivation for such a cavalier attitude to what is really a serious matter that quite possibly involves fraud and falsifying minutes.
Anonymous April 17, 2009 10:59 PM
I'm sure that you can still get a petition up with about 20% of the voters signing, stating that you are unhappy with the representation you are getting, I mean the issue of her supporting bullying could be a trigger.
You could word a petition to say something like;
"As constituents and voters of Division 11 in Logan Council we do not support the elected represenative's views that support bullying and have condoned the actions of the bully on national TV ; we don't feel that we are being represented adequately by the councillor (name them) and ask that they be removed as the representative."
You'd have to send this once the signatures were collected, to the minister for local government.
I would make copies of everything, and also sent them to the shadow minister to table in Parliament if the Minister does not respond, I would also send a copy to Mr Mickel who seems to have taken an interest in Logan lately.
Also never leave your petitions unattended, they will dissappear.
I know that the blog author has the right to delete comments but we are very curious why all comments have been deleted.
If we don't know why, we can't comment in future for fear of upsetting the status quo.
OK, this is very a very curious thing, either the one person has deleted these comments, or persons have almost simultaneously deleted them. They have not been deleted by me and I am concerned about how they may have been deleted if they were not deleted by the author of each comment because I had thought that these were comments by several different people not just one person. I can assure you I am not about to inhibit free speach on this blog by arbitrarilly removing comments for no particular reason or for political purposes. I actually started this blog to allow issues that are sanitised in our local print media to be aired without intervention from those who would like to keep their actions secret and use community groups for electioneering purposes and repay them with handouts of council funding and who quite often seek means to destroy groups or anyone else who don't support them unquestioningly.
I can assure you that I did not delete my comments and I'm sure that others would not either.
I think this is part of the bullying and intimidation.
Perhaps its the person who was so curious about the 'rubbish bins' on another blog.
It just shows the lack of ethics and respect for other people's property and opinions.
Some of us have saved copies of the comments and would be happy to submit these.
One wouldn't have to look too far for the culprit.
Who has been appointed editor and cleaner for the representative?
Is this part of the ongoing Silence the Voices?
Surely this is hacking and unlawful?
It would be interesting to know if all the comments were deleted 1/5/09.
To the person/s who deleted our comments without our permission - we are not intimidated in any way. In fact you have made us more determined to get the truth out there now.
We will consider letter box drops if you persist in trying to stop us.
Council claims to 'listen' to its constituents, so why are they choosing to dismiss reports from community members regarding the mismanagement of public facilities?
Council also claims that they cannot interfere in community issues yet they contradict themselves by enforcing unjust and unethical decisions.
Those of us who are aware of the problems in Greenbank are very concerned about the way the Community Services Department is handling issues in this area. Our perception is that an inter-twined group of people have all the facilities tied up and appear to have council support in continuing this bad practice.
Logan will remain 'Bogan' until it learns to govern in an open, transparent and ethical manner.
Two centres in Div 11 are clearing operating more like commercial enterprises than non-profit organisations, one would think that they would be charged commercial rates rather than sustained by rate payer funds.
Even the newly formed group, by the Jimboomba centre, is more concerned about raising funds than actually working for the community.
The would be candidate may see this as a way of campaigning in this area but we think the people see through the whole sham.
Our advice to the Jimboomba lot - work in your backyard and leave our community alone, we don't need your practices up here.
What can one say about the Greenbank area at this time?
It has become a battle field for those who want to continue as the power brokers and those who want to regain facilities and services for the community.
'Big guns' are being pulled into the arena without consideration of their limited capabilities or intentions. Instead of allowing the community to drive its own development, outside interference with several personal agendas is being supported.
Instead of allowing the Greenbank community to grow, Jimboomba has come up here with its own preconceived ideas to ride rough shod over the area. It’s typical of the Health area to say 'you will take your medicine'.
To protect their own territory the GCC has joined the throng to push through a ridiculous document and I guess to be the eyes and ears for the area representative.
Someone mentioned the Greenbank Mafia - I have to agree that they appear to be just this. Although no bodies have been found, they have attempted to assassinate characters and reputations. The community still remembers that the same 'mob' even did some character assassination of the Div 11 (4) representative pre 2004 election and even after the election.
Logan wonders why the people of Greenbank are so angry - well the amalgamation was one thing but having Jimboomba come up here and try to stake a claim in our community is another.
We will not be told what we need and how to get it by a handful of Jimboomba people. Greenbank has its own identity and we will stand up to the bullying and intimidation and we will continue to appose the injustice and bad practice.
Unowho makes an important point. With effort and a heck of a lot of patience - there is nothing that people power can't achieve.
On the issue of Councillor removal, it is important to make note of this -
The Local Government Act (LGA) in its current form, only grants the Minister the authority to sack an entire Council - NOT individual Councillors.
I am of the belief that this is being discussed at State Government level but as of yet there is no current legislative provision within the LGA to dismiss an individual Councillor, for whatever reason.
If any Logan resident would like to discuss this further, I am more than happy to assist.
Ph: 0406 303 510
E-mail: tj@tjnorton.net
Thank you in advance, Unowho, for the opportunity to speak on this important issue.
Great work on the quality of your articles as well. Won't say we share views but I appreciate a well thought out article. More e-press in Logan! :-D
Mr TJ Norton ; the rumour mill has you running for division 11 at the next council elections and if what I'm hearing about the other candidates is true so far, if you can get more than Ban you will win it,(I assume she is running again) because the others are duds so do you want to confirm or deny the rumours?
Hi TJ, I would hope that this blog would encourage many views other than those which seem obvious in some of my articles because i try to write them from a perspective at time which invokes a response from the reader be that to agree or disagree with what I have to offer.
Good to see you supporting local news and views ( I noticed you also comment on Lin Hall's blog) we try to get some things up that maybe are a little sensitive or that council seems to manage in the conventional media.
There have been allegations that the local media isn't totally bi-partisan when it comes to a few of our councollors and that even letters to the editor are omitted, edited and reworded to sate the desire by certain people not to paint council or councillors in a bad light.
Also if you feel like commenting on the las comment, we'd be happy to hear that a real candidate has come into the division 11 battle.
The local newspapers are not only editing/omitting etc, letters about council and crs but any that try to expose some of the crs' pet groups.
Its got so bad that the community are suggesting that one paper in particular be renamed after their 'favourite' group who seem to get coverage almost every week.
Yes TJ Div 11 residents would like to know early.
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