Ryde’s hole in the ground stays as council raises ‘serious probity concern’

A “serious probity concern” was raised in the months before the failure of a renewed attempt to turn the site of the City of Ryde’s demolished civic centre into a large apartment and civic complex.

The council-owned triangular block of land, next to the Top Ryde City Shopping Centre in Sydney’s north, has sat as a hole in the ground since the council demolished its old seven-storey, 1960s Civic Centre in 2021 in the hopes of building a new one. Last September, the council requested tenders for a 99-year lease on the site.

But in October, councillors were informed staff had received information about a “serious probity concern” in relation to the tender. Staff requested that councillors either disclose any discussions they had with external parties – such as developers, agents or tenderers – or confirm they had not done so. By February, the council announced the tender process had failed because no proposals for the site had met its criteria.

“Given the seriousness of the matter and the importance of maintaining transparency and probity in all tender processes, I ask that any outstanding responses be provided no later than 5.00pm, Tuesday 28 October,” a staff member wrote in a follow-up email to councillors.

The email did not identify who or what the concern was; and this masthead is not suggesting any councillor acted improperly. Since the concern was raised the council has not confirmed whether or not any councillor acted improperly.

The previously unreported integrity concern is the latest revelation in a month of crisis for the council. Last week, this masthead revealed three of the council’s most senior staff – its chief executive, deputy chief executive and head of governance – were stood down with pay pending an investigation, following a closed-door council meeting called at the last minute that spanned more than four hours. There is no suggestion that those stood down were involved in corrupting the tender process.

The former council building was demolished in 2021 under then Labor mayor Jerome Laxale to make way for a revamped building which was promised to be completed in 2023.

But plans fell through in 2023 after the council voted not to sell the site to developers, and defer any construction on it because it did not have the money.

Lack of transparency slammed

The council is also facing scrutiny for the secrecy surrounding its meeting last week and the suspension of key staff. Liberal mayor Trenton Brown has not spoken publicly about it, and councillors say they have not been able to contact him for a week. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Herald over the week, nor after Tuesday’s ordinary council meeting.

The council may have breached its own meeting rules in the way it published the record of its decision after last week’s meeting, said academic Andy Asquith, who researches governance matters in local councils.

If a resolution is made during a confidential portion of a meeting, Ryde’s code of meeting practice requires the resolution to be made “public as soon as practicable after the meeting … has ended, and the resolution must be recorded in the publicly available minutes of the meeting”.

But the council’s minutes record that councillors unanimously agreed to “note the information contained in the Mayoral Minute and associated verbal briefing and resolve to adopt the clauses A through I”, in addition to appointing an executive staff member as acting general manager “for the period of absence of the chief executive officer”.

“Decisions were made behind closed doors that the general public were excluded from, and then the record of these meetings is not one which allows people to have a fair idea of what went on in the meeting,” Asquith said. “I think the public have got every right to ask what’s going on and why … Are we talking about the college of cardinals electing a new pope or are we talking about a local authority in NSW?”

Roy Maggio was the only councillor at Tuesday’s council meeting who voted against a motion to confirm the minutes from the March 16 confidential meeting. Councillors also agreed to accept a report about the delay of the Devlin Street site without debate.

Call for public inquiry

On Monday, Labor councillor Lyndal Howison wrote to NSW Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig requesting an urgent public inquiry into the council, with concerns about its financial viability and the new executive team’s capacity to manage the change.

“Since the unexpected confidential meeting last Monday, the Mayor has let us down,” she said in a statement. “People understand that the specifics of the matter are confidential, but they deserve information and a proper plan for tackling [the] cost of living and Ryde’s big problems.”

A spokesperson for Hoenig did not answer questions about calls for an inquiry, but said: “Transparency matters. The public should be able to see how decisions are made, and councils should operate openly wherever possible.”

A City of Ryde spokesperson said the council did not comment on staff matters and would not be making further comment.

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