WALGA President Karen Chappel presented a road safety award to the Shire of Toodyay in September 2023.  The award was accepted by Aldo Lamas,the shire’s coordinator for civil works and maintenance.

By Rashelle Predovnik

June 2026

The shire’s former civil works and maintenance coordinator has repeatedly questioned what he suspects may be a significant overspend on the Bindi Bindi Rd project due to poor project management and lack of council oversight.

And he is yet to get a complete response to his questions.

Aldo Lamas is concerned the shire applied a seal on section of the road that didn’t need it, which could cost ratepayers anywhere between $350,000 to $700,000 depending on what seals were applied.

Paving the way to overspending?

Mr Lamas told The Herald the first section was completed in the 2023-24 financial year, which included a primer seal and two-coat hot seal (14mm aggregate for the first coat and 10mm aggregate for the second coat).

The second section, which is less than a year old, received a 5mm chip seal as a temporary preservation treatment due to delays in the sealing works.

This was then followed by a primer and two-coat hot seal using 10mm aggregate for the first coat and 7mm aggregate for the second coat.

“Technically, this results in three coats of seal within a short period, and now additional coats are being applied to various sections of the road,” he said.

“In my opinion this is not required, as the road surface is in excellent condition with no visible defects.

“A seal of this type would normally have an expected service life of 10–15 years before renewal or resealing is necessary.”

Mr Lamas’ said he also believed there were several other roads in far greater need of sealing, which were not completed in the 2024-25 financial year due to the lack of Road to Recovery funding.

Including Hoddywell Rd, Salt Valley Rd, Beejoording Rd, Davies Rd and Phillips Rd.

A roadblock to answers

Mr Lamas questions on the project span back to August 2024 when he was a community representative on the Works Advisory Committee.

He joined that committee because he believed his technical expertise would help ensure infrastructure projects were properly scrutinised on behalf of ratepayers.

But in December 2024 CEO Aaron Bowman wrote to advise Mr Lamas council had resolved to disband the committee.

“We believe that the types of questions being asked at the committee level are best responded to via normal business correspondence, rather than through a committee or working group,” he said.

“This approach will allow us to address your queries more efficiently.”

But three months later Mr Lamas was told he was sending in too many questions, which had become a matter of significant concern regarding the volume and nature of his enquiries and service requests.

In a letter dated March 18, 2025, Mr Bowman said the disproportionate volume was placing an undue strain on the shire’s limited resources.

He said it also impacted on the shire’s ability to serve the broader community effectively.

But Mr Lamas said as a resident and a ratepayer, he was entitled to ask questions and he challenged Mr Bowman’s claims the number of questions he asked was excessive.

Due to his technical background Mr Lamas worked at a high level of detail and asked questions he believed were necessary to understand projects, costs, risks and decision-making process.

He told The Herald he had asked between four to five questions a month. 

He said his questions had piled up because they were simply not being responded to by staff, even though they had been taken as questions on notice at council meetings held in September, October and December.

 He said his questions and the responses given at council meetings were also not included in the council minutes, despite this being a requirement under the Act.

He said if his questions been answered in a timely manner, it would have led to less follow up questions.

The road ahead lacks detail

In May 2025 Mr Bowman thanked Mr Lamas for his correspondence and said the shire would not be providing further comment in relation the matters raised in his letter.

But Mr Lamas has continued to ask anywhere between two – 10 questions at the shire’s monthly council meetings and responses taken on notice last month about the road seal were included in the agenda of the June council meeting.

The response said the final seal was included in the 2025-26 mid-year budget review and was approved and funded by Main Roads WA (MRWA) as part of the Regional Road Group funding program,” the response said.

“This is to complete the section of road.”

In response to The Heralds query asking Main Roads if they funded the works a spokesperson said Bindi Bindi Rd was under the care and control of the Shire of Toodyay.

Mr Lamas had also asked who made the decision to carry out these works and who approved them from the shire, as they did not appear to be included in this year’s capital works program.

But those question were not answered in the shire’s response.

Mr Lamas said up until the 2024-25 financial year, the budget was presented clearly, allowing ratepayers to easily identify funding sources and municipal expenditure.

But, in the current budget, this level of detail was no longer visible, and the relevant table appears to have been removed, making it difficult to understand how funds were being allocated.