An internal arbitration process to investigate alleged misconduct by Wyndham councillor Robert Szatkowski has been dismissed.
The process was initiated by mayor Mia Shaw after Cr Szatkowski supplied Council Watch with a letter he penned to the local government minister.
On April 6, Cr Szatkowski emailed a letter to Local Government Minister Nick Staikos requesting that he encourage the Local Government Inspectorate, an independent agency, to investigate Wyndham and determine if a municipal monitor was warranted.
In the letter, seen by Star Weekly, Cr Szatkowski cited decision-making processes, financial oversight and councillor conduct as the reasons for his request.
According to the arbiter’s report, Cr Szatkowski then forwarded a copy of this letter to an email account associated with Council Watch on April 7.
The report found that Cr Shaw’s request for arbitration alleged that by forwarding the letter to Council Watch, Cr Szatkowski engaged in behaviour that brought discredit upon council as outlined by the Local Government Act 2020.
Clause 4 of the Model Code in the act concerns actions that diminish “the public’s trust and confidence in the integrity of local government“.
Arbiter Joel Silver said that “while Cr Szatkowski did not act ideally, I am not satisfied that he engaged in misconduct“.
Mr Silver did, however conclude Cr Szatkowski did not fulfil his responsibilities of supporting the council.
“It is hard to see how a council can provide good governance when its councillors are publicly stating or implying that their colleagues are not taking governance and integrity seriously,“ Mr Silver said.
“I struggle to see how Cr Szatkowski’s distribution of his letter was not a self-interested exercise, designed to raise his public standing.
“I can understand that his colleagues would see his unilateral actions as an implicit criticism that Cr Szatkowski alone was taking governance seriously.”
In his ruling, Mr Silver also stated that Cr Szatkowski’s outlined concerns were too “opaque” to seriously discredit the council and that it would not cause most reasonable readers to lose trust in Wyndham.
