Griffith’s deputy mayor has asked mayor John Dal Broi to brief councillors about allegations of misconduct in council’s building certification department.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A list of developments signed off by staff without building certifications was sent to The Area News by an anonymous source who claimed there were “many more”.
In an email to senior staff and councillors, Neil Southorn, council’s director of sustainable development, confirmed there were seven cases where a council manager had signed a certificate and not an accredited building surveyor.
On Wednesday, Councillor Dal Broi told The Area News they had “nothing to hide” and the Building Professionals Board had been notified of the certificates.
Deputy mayor Doug Curran said he found mayor John Dal Broi’s admission of council’s guilt “worrying”.
“This is brand new to the council body as far as I know,” he said.
“I’d like councillors to have a full briefing on what the mayor may know, there’s a lot of rumour and innuendo around town and I’d like him to come and clear it up.”
Cr Curran said he also wanted to see the full results of the Building Professionals Board’s investigation.
“Depending on the recommendations there could potentially be an investigation into how stop this from happening in the future,” he said.
“We need to employ the correct staff or follow the rules to letter. There are times we as councillors want to do things and we’re told by staff we can’t do it because of policy. That’s fair enough, but we need to apply the rules to staff as well.”
A spokeswoman from the Building Professionals Board confirmed council had voluntarily notified them.
“The Building Professionals Board is considering the matters raised in Griffith City Council’s report,” she said.
“We can investigate a council’s certification activities and the professional conduct of accreditation holders.
”It is an offence for a person to issue a certificate if they are not authorised to do so under the Building Professionals Act 2005 or the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.”
Griffith businessman Paul Snaidero, a member of council’s Business Development and Major Projects Committee, raised concerns about allegations in Mr Southorn’s email, which was presented in a memo to their meeting on March 21.
“We need a full, external, transparent audit of council operations, starting at the top with the general manager,” Mr Snaidero said.
Mr Southorn and general manager Brett Stonestreet are both reportedly on annual leave and not able to comment at the time of writing.
