MORE claims of council misconduct have surfaced despite ICAC earlier this year clearing Wingecarribee Council of any improprieties - and Councillor Jim Mauger wants answers.
After being hung out to dry by the council after the ICAC dismissed corruption allegations (17 inquiries in three years), Cr Mauger wants answers over what News columnist Mac Cott recently dubbed Wingecarribee’s very own “Utegate”.
He wants to know what happened to vehicles impounded by Council between 1999-2005, which have seemingly disappeared without a trace.
Cr Mauger said he had also been told that records for 64 impounded cars (from 2005-09) showed that Council paid towing fees but has no record of any money for the cars coming back to it.
“The records of impounded vehicles from 1999-2005 have been lost, but I believe there is a record somewhere,” Cr Mauger said.
Between 1999-2007, Council impounded 282 abandoned vehicles. The council takes ownership if the owners don’t claim them within five days of being notified.
Vehicles valued above $500 were kept for 28 days - in line with the Impounding Act - before being sold.
If it was valued under $500, it was sent to the wreckers to sell for scrap metal and spare parts.
The News understands that an internal council investigation in 2007 revealed the Ranger Unit did not follow proper procedures and, as a result, a ranger was demoted.
Following the investigation, the procedures for impounding vehicles were made more accountable.
Before 2007, impounded cars were stored at the council-contracted towing company, Mittagong Auto Wreckers.
In the investigation, Council staff claimed impounded cars were deliberately undervalued and sent straight to the wreckers. Cars could fetch as much as $1500 in parts, according to one council staffer, when the price of steel was much higher than it is now.
Another witness in the investigation, which was submitted to general manager Mike Hyde in 2007, stated that his car had been impounded after he left it outside a friend’s place before going overseas for a few months.
When he returned, the car was gone, but he only found out where it was after a friend spotted it at the wreckers.
He had it returned, missing the two front seats, the ignition and the stereo.
Upon contacting Council, in response to letters about his allegedly abandoned vehicle, the man said no one could tell him where it was.
It cost $700 to replace the missing parts.
The man claimed he was told tow truck drivers were picking up abandoned cars off the side of the road and taking them straight to the wreckers.
There were also accusations in the investigation that dog registration fines were waived because the individual fined was doing work on a ranger’s house at the time.
An internal report prepared by Council’s head of environment and health Andrew de Montemas in June 2007 stated the demoted ranger demonstrated poor work practices, but that there was no evidence of corrupt behaviour.
Mr de Montemas has since left Council.
The report also stated that not having a council-owned impound yard was the source of the problems.
Current acting general manager Michael Brearley would not comment on the matter but said a thorough investigation had taken place.
A purpose-built impound yard was constructed in mid-2007 at Council’s work depot in Moss Vale and, since July 2007, 16 cars had been impounded.
Mr Brearley said four had been sold, four had been sold for scrap, and eight were in storage.
Cr Mauger said he wanted to know why the matter was not looked into more thoroughly at the time and said the council could have been defrauded.
“I want to know where the money has gone,” he said.
“We are talking tens of thousands of dollars and I want to know why the police were not brought in?”
“It’s criminal; we have been ripped off.”
“I have been told some of these cars have been resold and are back on the road.”
Mayor Duncan Gair, a councillor in 2007, said disciplinary action had already been taken and he would be extremely concerned if council staff had acted corruptly.
He said the ICAC gave the council the all clear on several issues, including the missing impounded cars, and appropriate action was taken in 2007.
Asked why Council didn’t make the matter public, Cr Gair said Mr Hyde decided it was an internal staff matter and the investigation had dealt with it.
“The procedures have been tighten up. The system was very slack and basically fell down,” Cr Gair said.
Cr Mauger said he didn’t believe the alleged scam was still running.
“It would have stopped by now, but if someone has benefited at Council’s expense it is a serious matter,” he said.
Cr Mauger and Mr Hyde, who recently left council, rarely saw eye to eye, but Cr Mauger said Mr Hyde should have taken the concerns to the proper authorities when he was made aware of it in 2007.
Before Mr Hyde’s departure he provided Cr Mauger with a memo outlining records that showed 64 impounded vehicles had been “disposed of by means unknown on Council record data base”.
There are records for fees paid to the towing company ranging from $66-297 but no record of sale for the vehicles.
Cr Mauger complained to Goulburn Police this year and was told the matter had been looked at by ICAC.
Cr Mauger is not satisfied with the response.
Goulburn crime manager Detective Inspector Ward Hanson confirmed he had been approached and said any allegations of misconduct by elected officials at any level of government falls under the jurisdiction of ICAC.
“NSW Police is not the proper authority to deal with this,” Mr Hanson said, advising people with any information on the alleged car racquet to contact ICAC.
Cr Mauger also claims staff who brought the problem to the attention of managers were victimised within Council for complaining about the improper practices of the ranger unit.
The Robertson farmer said he wouldn’t let the issue go until he gets the answers he wants.
“Have we or have we not been paid for these vehicles?” he said.
“I don’t want to see the people of Wingecarribee getting ripped off. Every dollar matters to me.”
“This is Wollongong Council stuff.”
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