Toodyay Herald

It is uncertain if schools will re-open after the three-week Easter break starts on Thursday April 9, and all local museums, indoor sports venues and libraries have closed for the next six months.

Visitors from outside the Wheatbelt – including Perth – can no longer travel to Toodyay, causing local job losses and cutting hours for workers in local businesses that rely heavily on tourism.

The Federal Government’s Centrelink welfare agency and some banks are offering temporary financial relief.

Supplies of essential products such as toilet paper which ran out in Toodyay late last month are expected to return to normal this month when fresh supplies arrive in WA after logistical delays of up to 10 days in eastern states freight deliveries to Perth.

Local doctors are telling patients with virus symptoms (left) – a cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, runny or blocked nose, or fever – not to go to Toodyay’s medical centre but stay home and call 9574 2500 (or 1800 225 523 after hours) for help.

All callers will be offered a Telehealth appointment at home via their phone or various video apps.

Face-to-face visits will be available only by prior telephone request and with the approval of a health practitioner.

As in all other public places, medical centre visitors are required to stay a ‘social distance’ of at least 1.5 metres (five feet) from others (below), and waiting room chairs have been placed farther apart.

State health authorities are urging everyone to wash their hands thoroughly – front and back – for at least 20 seconds (the time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice) as frequently as possible, particularly after touching door handles, money, benchtops, desks, chairs and other items touched by other people.

People are also warned not to touch their eyes, nose or mouth – particularly in public – unless they first wash their hands thoroughly with soap.

Shaking hands and unnecessary physical contact with others is to be avoided at all times.

The WA Health Department says people don’t need to wear face masks (below) unless they have virus symptoms and need to stop it spreading through coughs and sneezes.

Toodyay’s Wheatbelt Health Network says Covid-19 can seem similar to ordinary influenza and normal coughs and colds.

People with any such symptoms should stay at home and call the Toodyay medical centre for advice.

Caution is needed because people can have Covid-19 but not show symptoms.

New vaccines for ordinary influenza are expected to become available soon but a Covid-19 vaccine has yet to be developed.

Elderly people and those with lung disease, diabetes or suppressed immune systems as the result of cancer treatments or chronic illness are more vulnerable to Covid-19 than others in the general community.

About 30 per cent of Toodyay’s estimated 4400 residents are older than 60, and another 20 per cent are aged between 50 and 60.

Visits to aged care facilities are now restricted, and people wanting to see relatives and friends living in units for older residents such as at Toodyay’s Butterly Cottages should use special care.

Limiting social contact will reduce the spread and impact of the virus, and shorten the recovery time for a return to normal life.

Local restaurants and cafes are now allowed to sell only takeaway food and drink, and customers must leave as soon as they receive their purchases and stay at least 1.5m apart in doorways and queues.

Toodyay police are urging all local residents to stay home as much as possible unless they need to buy food, go to work or travel for other essential reasons.

There will be no local Anzac Day Dawn Service, Parade or Gunfire Breakfast in Toodyay on April 25, and no Moondyne Festival next month.

The shire is continuing essential services such as rubbish collections but now prefers payments by card or cheques, or bank transfers (call 9574 9300).

In safe hands ‒   Shire of Toodyay crisis management leadership team (from left): Works and Services Manager Scott Patterson, Acting CEO Chileya Luangala and Emergency Manager Kylie Neaves.

The council is currently awaiting the outcome of a year-long State Government ‘authorised inquiry’ into the shire during the seven years Mr Scott has been CEO.

The department said last month that the investigators’ report is still being examined by the State Solicitors Office before being referred to Local Government Minister David Templeman.

The new shire CEO will be expected to manage any recommendations arising from the outcome of the inquiry.

The job was advertised at between $160,000 and $250,000.

Shire President Bill Manning has sold his Hoddy Well house to move to Tasmania but was forced last month to delay his April 25 departure due to new travel restrictions.

“I still plan to resign from the council after we appoint a new shire CEO,” he said.

A shire recommendation last month moved by former shire president Brian Rayner not to hold an election to replace Cr Manning lapsed when there was no seconder.

When asked later why the council should operate for another 18 months with only eight members and give a new president two votes to break 4-4 ties, Cr Rayner said it would save the $22,000 cost of a new election.

Bacteria: A type of cell upon which nearly all biological life depends. Bacteria do not cause colds or influenza but can produce secondary lung infections.

Vaccine: a biological preparation that provides artificial immunity to a disease.
There is currently no vaccine for Covid-19.

Pandemic: The worldwide spread of new diseases such as Covid-19.

Quarantine: A period of time or place of isolation – such as a house, ship or hospital – in which people that have arrived from elsewhere or have been exposed to an infectious or contagious disease are placed.

Lockdown: An emergency measure to prevent people from entering or leaving an area such as their town, region or country.

President Manning said he will chair the next council meeting on Tuesday March 25 and wants to remain president to oversee the appointment of a new shire CEO.

CEO job applicants

A report on job applicants was presented to councillors on March 3 after the council engaged national recruitment agency Beilby Downing Teal to advertise the $158,000-$260,000 job on a four-year contract.

President Manning said he also wanted to oversee the council’s response to any recommendations that may arise from the State Government inquiry.

He listed the two items as “unfinished business” when he resigned from the council last October to recontest his seat under new rules which for the first time allowed all electors to vote for all candidates.

President Manning said publicly before the poll that he was selling his home and unlikely to serve a full term if re-elected.

Inquiry report pending

The WA Local Government Department says the investigators’ report is still being examined by the State Solicitors Office to consider any prosecutions that may arise.

It is understood Mr Scott did not re-apply for his current $243,000-a-year job after failing twice last year to convince the council to let him stay for another three to five years when his contract expires on July 22.

Mr Scott took three weeks’ sick leave at short notice before a council meeting on February 25 but did not inform President Manning of his absence after attending a morning briefing with President Manning and Deputy President Rosemary Madacsi.

His automated email says “I am out of the office until Monday March 16”.

New elections needed

A new election for a council vacancy must be held within four months of President Manning’s resignation.

It also means the other eight councillors must elect a new president at the first council meeting after President Manning resigns.

This can be done at the scheduled Tuesday April 28 monthly council meeting or if an earlier special meeting is called.

Unlike council elections that involve all voters, Toodyay’s president and deputy are elected by a secret ballot of councillors who must be in the chamber when the vote is called.

When eight councillors (Cr Paula Greenway was absent on approved leave) tried to elect a new president last October, it resulted in a 4-4 deadlock between former deputy shire president Therese Chitty and Cr Rosemary Madacsi.

Cr Madacsi was re-elected to the council last year after serving four years from 2011 until she lost her seat in 2015 to former North Ward Cr Eric Twine.

Cr Ben Bell – who won the most votes in last October’s shire elections – was the first to announce in October that he would run for president but withdrew a day before the new council’s first secret ballot.

The stand-off between Crs Chitty and Madacsi resulted in both withdrawing their nominations to enable Cr Manning to be elected president unopposed a week later.

Cr Madacsi – who polled the second-highest number of votes in last October’s shire elections – was then elected deputy with five votes, followed by Cr Chitty (two) and Cr Bell (one).

Madacsi to nominate for President

Deputy President Madacsi says she will again nominate for president when Cr Manning resigns next month.

She will need the support of least four other councillors (including at least one of her former opponents) to gain an absolute majority of five votes as required by law on the normally nine-member council.

If she loses to any challenger, she will remain deputy to whoever else is elected president.

Crs Chitty and Bell told The Herald last month that they would not run again for president though both voted against Cr Madacsi when she nominated for president last October.

Former shire president Brian Rayner also said he wouldn’t run again, though it is understood that he too voted against Cr Madacsi last year.

Rayner may run for deputy

Cr Rayner said he might nominate next month for deputy president, depending on who is elected president.

He was shire president for two years until last October after not needing to contest an election in 2017 when he stood for council unopposed in the now-abolished North Ward.

Cr Rayner has never faced an election by all voters under new rules adopted last year.

Audit Committee Chair Beth Ruthven, who – like Cr Madacsi – was elected by all Toodyay voters five months ago, said she would not nominate to be president but declined to comment on the deputy’s role.

Three other councillors – veteran Paula Greenway and newcomers Phil Hart and Susan Pearce – appear unlikely to be contenders.

Cr Greenway – who has also never faced an election by all Toodyay voters – ran unsuccessfully against Cr Chitty for deputy in 2015 after the previous council re-elected former Cr David Dow unopposed as president until his election defeat in 2017.

Recent council voting patterns suggest there is no obvious factional split to oppose Cr Madacsi’s new presidential bid.

However, last October’s stand-off when four current councillors voted against her becoming president suggests fresh behind-the-scenes jockeying may be underway.

If another challenger emerges and the council is again deadlocked in a new 4-4 split that cannot be resolved, the presidency will be decided by a lottery draw.

Marathon meeting

The actual amount of money or percentage that would be saved was not revealed or discussed at last month’s marathon council meeting which started at 4pm and ended at 10.15pm after a half-hour dinner break.

The Herald estimates the total saving to be about $3360 – a 2.2 per cent cut on the total of $171,000 budgeted this year to pay the nine-member council.

Councillors earlier voted 5-4 to defeat a motion by Cr Rayner, seconded by Cr Paula Greenway and supported by Crs Ben Bell and Therese Chitty to cut allowances and fees to 50 per cent of the maximum State rate – a saving of about $36,000 a year.

Pay rise recommended

This followed a shire administration recommendation to increase councillors’ payments to 80 per cent of the maximum State rate – costing a further $13,700 a year – “to reflect what appeared from discussion to be the common view” behind closed doors at last month’s council strategic forum.

“I don’t understand why we want more money,” Cr Bell said.’

“If you want to annoy people, that’s the way to do it.

“If you think this council had a bad reputation before the last election, see what people say after they read this in The Herald,” Cr Bell said.

Deputy President Madacsi said good representation on council required recognition that not everyone had the means to absorb the wage losses and extra costs associated with being an elected member.

‘Exclusive’ warning

“If we’re not careful, we will make the council exclusive only to those who can afford it and retirees,” she said.

Cr Chitty said she agreed that increasing councillors’ fees and allowances was “not a good look”.

“I think we need to take a pay cut and save money in the budget ‒ I will vote for 50 per cent,” she said.

Shire President Bill Manning said he didn’t think councillors should be giving themselves a pay rise but 50 per cent of the State maximum rate was “too drastic a cut”.

“If we cut it to 70 per cent, that brings us pretty much in line with other similar councils,” he said.

‘Right reasons’

Cr Rayner said if councillors adopted 50 per cent “it would show we’re in this for the right reasons, not the wrong reasons.

Cr Ruthven said she didn’t think Toodyay councillors were overpaid compared with other councils

“It’s an important job like teachers – if you don’t pay enough, what do you get?” she said.

Cr Greenway disagreed, saying “We are supposed to lead our community and now is the time it is needed”.

“Being financially reimbursed is not part of being a councillor,” Cr Greenway said.

Cr Susan Pearce said “wages are not a part of it – it’s recognition of what we do.”

Toodyay councillors currently get paid $1080 a month to attend meetings, President Manning gets $3366 and Deputy President Madacsi gets $1503, which is about 80 per cent of the State maximum rate.

They are also entitled to claim payments for internet, phones, travel and other expenses, budgeted this year to total $21,600.

Residents were evacuated to Shire of Toodyay emergency centres at the town’s Memorial Hall and at the Toodyay Showground (for those with pets) and provided with tea, coffee, snacks and support services.

Seven water bomber helicopters and a fixed wing aircraft flew immediately from Perth and spent the next three hours before nightfall limiting the bulk of the fire as emergency ground crews (left) worked through the night to cut and hold containment lines.

They were able to arrest the fire in dense, inaccessible bush about 240m from dozens of nearby homes which were evacuated.

It was the second emergency warning in a month for nearby Majestic Heights residents after their homes were threatened by another big bush fire which started on December 11 when a petrol-driven brush cutter lit farmland near the Toodyay golf course during a shire hot works and harvest ban.

The earlier fire burnt out 16ha and forced the closure of Toodyay Road for several hours as volunteer firefighters worked through the night to save dozens of hilltop homes, the golf course, racetrack and a caravan park and holiday chalets.

Majestic Heights bore the brunt of Toodyay’s catastrophic Decem

ber 2009 fire when more than 100 homes were destroyed or severely damaged.

Toodyay Road was again closed last month – this time for 20 hours from 5pm on January 8 – as metro and rural firefighting units rushed to the new fire after a 38C day.

‘We dodged a bullet – it was scary, scary scary’

They spent the next 31 hours battling to contain and control the blaze before it was safe for crews to leave.

Local farmers with mobile water tanks helped fire crews using heavy earthmoving machinery to clear containment lines as a fleet of water bombers worked overhead.

The fire burnt out 90ha and reached the edge of a farmhouse, which fire crews were able to defend and save.

No homes were lost and mopping up operations lasted another two weeks.

“It was scary, scary, scary – the worst fire I have ever faced,” local firefighter John Hansen said.

“If not for the Helitacs (helicopter water bombers, left and below) and ground crews able to clear a line in front of the fire, it would have been a total nightmare, a complete disaster.

“We dodged a bullet that day.”

Police said last month’s fire “most likely” started by a cigarette butt thrown from a passing car on Toodyay Road.

The fire was first reported by a motorist driving towards Toodyay.

Local volunteer bushfire brigades had to rush to another fire near a rural residential subdivision on last month’s Australia Day Monday public holiday when a Wicklow Road property owner allegedly used an angle grinder during a shire hot works and harvest ban.

The fire burnt half a hectare and is being investigated by Toodyay police for potential prosecution.

Acting Sgt Kevan French said all Toodyay residents should register to receive shire works and harvest ban notices on their phones by texting ‘BANS’ to 0408 017 439.