Toodyay Herald

Councillors voted 7-1 on October 2 to recognise the “high rating” of Ms Halsehurst’s performance based on an annual independent review by Perth firm Price Consulting.

The motion was opposed by Cr Mick McKeown after a dispute with former shire president Rosemary Madacsi over meeting procedures.

Cr McKeown gained the support of Toodyay’s two new councillors five weeks later to defeat Cr Madacsi 4-3 in a secret ballot for the presidency which was held in the council chamber at a special meeting two days after the October shire election.

Former shire deputy president John Prater – who was re-elected after a 10-year absence – joined Crs Dival and Steve McCormick to vote for a new president.

Ms Haslehurst gave formal notice two weeks later that she had withdrawn her request for a new employment contract.

Councillors noted the new advice last month and directed Ms Haslehurst to seek at least three quotes from independent consultants to help find a new shire CEO.

It was proposed that President McKeown be the principal liaison between the recruiting agency and the council, with office support from Ms Haslehurst’s executive assistant.

Extra costs and fees – including a new CEO salary package – would be considered in the council’s mid-year budget review.

The recommendation was moved by Shire Deputy President Dival and carried 7-0.

Ms Haslehurst later declined to comment to The Herald about why she had withdrawn her request for a new employment contract.

The former York acting CEO was hired in 2020 to replace discredited former Toodyay shire CEO Stan Scott against whom 15 adverse findings were tabled in the WA Parliament after a year-long State Government inquiry.

Ms Haslehurst was required to implement major administrative reforms arising from the inquiry, manage faulty financial software contracted by her predecessor and budget for hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual loan repayments for a largely unused recreation centre built by the former council.

This follows the discovery of new ore at depth and was “in parallel” with a two- kilometre-wide open pit planned to a depth of up to 800m on Chalice-owned farmland between Keating Road and Plunkett Road.

Chalice described it as a potential “opening play” for a much bigger 28km-long mineral province in the Julimar Conservation Park.

The company said it planned to “valley fill” the storage of hundreds of millions of tonnes of waste material and was also investigating “dry structure” options.

Chalice shares fell to a new low of $1.39 at the end of last month after peaking at $7.92 in May – a 78 per cent drop in value.

Chairman Derek La Ferla told last month’s annual general meeting of shareholders at Perth’s five-star Westin Hotel that it was clear that market expectations had not been met.

He described it as a “difficult” period in which Chalice had been “impacted by the challenging market conditions facing exploration and development companies”.

Chalice was in discussions with a “strategic partner” that had lodged an expression of interest in September, Mr La Ferla said.

The 18-room, two-storey brick building, built in 1903, was previously occupied by Franciscan monks.

New owner Kinross Creasy Investment Pty Ltd plans to restore and convert the building into four “luxury short-stay rooms with ensuite”, a one-bedroom studio called The Laundry and a separate “holiday residence for the owners”.

An upstairs chapel on the west side will become a main bedroom with an ensuite.

A maximum of 10 guests will be allowed to stay at a time, with a maximum of two guests per room.

The precinct will have a 1.2m wrought-iron street fence with brick piers, a 1.8m brick wall around an 8.8m pool with the remainder proposed as 1.8m timber-lap fencing.

The Toodyay Shire Council last month approved the development application with conditions recommended by the WA Heritage Commission and support from the Toodyay Historical Society.

She said councillors and staff had for a long period of time been subjected to unacceptable behaviour that would not be tolerated anywhere else in the community.

People who could not control their anger had used the council and staff as a punching bag.

“We have lost a lot of staff, and some of that has definitely been due to this,” she said.

“I have been intimately involved in seeing what has been going on and it has caused a lot of internal stress and sick leave.

“There is a belief that you can kick the guts out of people if they upset you.

“Why are we tolerating it?”

Cr Madacsi said angry, abusive behaviour was also causing people with something to say to feel too timid to speak up.

“We are allowing certain elements of the community to control the rest of the community’s ability to speak, and that is a very sad indictment of us,” she said.

“We have seen what has happened, we have heard what has happened and we have seen the consequences of what has happened.

“It’s not acceptable, as far as I’m concerned, in any civilised society.”

Cr Madacsi said all written correspondence to councillors and staff containing “adverse reflection, denigrating or abusive content” should be “recorded and not dealt with”.

Writers should be informed and given an opportunity to resubmit their correspondence “without the offending material”.

An administration report to the council said vigilance was needed to assess the content and tone of incoming correspondence.

“The risk is insignificant, however this report mitigates the risk,” the report said.

Cr Danielle Wrench told last month’s meeting that it was time for the council to act.

“Some community members show their ire against us – and, of course, they have the right to do so – but it crosses the line by actively engaging in behaviour that is not fair or appropriate to our staff.”

Cr Charmeine Duri said the council had a duty of care to ensure that shire staff were not being bullied verbally or in writing.

In answer to a question on duty of care, Shire CEO Suzie Haslehurst said that she, as the council’s only employee, was the person responsible for the health and safety of all other shire staff under her direction.

“The council can give me the tools to be able to do that more easily,” she said.

Cr John Prater opposed Cr Madacsi’s proposal.

I really don’t see the need for it,” he said.

“What are we going to do?

“Are we going to wipe Facebook out as well – where are we going with it?

“We’re bigger and better than that.”

Cr Steve McCormick said trying to police Cr Madacsi’s proposal would be “quite futile because of the diverse range of communications we now have”.

“I think it’s a real minority where there’s a lack of respect and I don’t think it’s worth building policy around it,” he said.

“Isn’t it a reflection on the person who shows a lack of respect, not the shire?”

President McKeown said the shire code of conduct did not apply to the public, and standing orders applied only to the council.

“We can’t apply that to life,” he said.

“We are obliged under the Local Government Act to represent the interests of all members of the community, not just the polite ones.

“I don’t think we can tell people how to write to the shire.”

Cr Madacsi’s motion was lost 3-4, with Crs Madacsi, Wrench and Duri for, and President McKeown, Deputy President Shelly Dival and Crs McCormick and Prater against.

In the latest attack, one of 10 plaques installed by Toodyay’s Friends of the River on the Bilya Walk Track was damaged.

It was the only plaque dedicated to Aboriginal culture, and the only parts of it vandalised were the words “Aboriginal people” (pictured above) and a Noongar Kaartdijin Aboriginal Corporation logo.

As with the Redbank Pool vandalism two months earlier, it looked like car keys or a screwdriver were used to deface the plaque’s two mentions of the word ‘Aboriginal’.

Toodyay Friends of the River Project Officer Greg Warburton said he believed the same person had carried out both attacks.

The plaque was recently installed by the volunteer organisation to help generate more community understanding of the significance of the Avon River to indigenous people and their connection to it.

Damaging it was an act of “wanton vandalism,” Mr Warburton said.

Friends of the River hoped to replace the damaged plaque next year but Mr Warburton said he feared it might be vandalised again.

The plaque was funded by Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management in conjunction with the Shire of Toodyay and was damaged in the first week of November.