Spent Rates, Spent Conviction

James Trail had moved on before he faced the magistrates to answer the charges brought against him as a result of his behaviour when he was CEO of Augusta-Margaret River and Kalamunda . After Kalamunda dismissed him he created JT Professional Services and shifted from being directly involved in local government, as a CEO, to being a local government consultant.

He is still aiming to influence government spending and his new website confirms this;

Our approach to procurement is to manage, coach, mentor and influence all levels of an organisation

Should those who govern our civic finances consider Trail a fit and proper person to coach, mentor and influence their staff?

"From 1 July 2006 to 1 July 2007 the A-MR Shire spent $230,947 procuring IT software from CAMMS. A single approval dated 24 April 2007 by the A-MR Council authorising procurement of CAMMS IT software in the sum of $60,000 was sought and obtained. " from the CCC Report on Trail's activities

This means that in twelve months $170,947 was spent on procurement of CAMMS software without Council approval. Our elected Council sign off the accounts every month, after being given the opportunity to check that they are in order. The CCC report doesn't detail whether the CAMMS payments were in large chunks or smaller sums, but in either case the councillors ought to have questioned Trail as to what the payments were for. 

So, the councillors who are paid by the ratepayers to scrutinise the accounts did not notice the unauthorised spending. 

At the Council meeting 3rd April 2007 Trail presented a report in which he gave the credentials of CA Technology, the parent organisation of CAMMS;

"C A Technology currently has the City of Wanneroo, Shire of Busselton and City of Fremantle as clients using Interplan."

Such a pedigree was probably not something to boast about  because this particular clutch of local governments had been riven with corruption. Alarm bells might have been ringing in 2007 regarding the adjacent shire of Busselton because from December 2006 the very public CCC enquiry was revealing matters of great concern. The former CEO of Busselton, Michael Swift, had been the subject of Minter Ellison report on misconduct in office and the former shire president, Troy Buswell, although exonerated after investigation had been very incautious in how he had met with Brian Burke's associate and former Liberal member Noel Crighton-Browne. 

Wanneroo had been the subject of numerous commissions of enquiry, including the damning Kyle Report and later the CCC report published December 2009, which contained an interesting section indexed under the title;

Mr Kelly and Mr Salpietro’s Relationship with Mr Burke.

Anyone reading nothing more than the executive summary, the opening paragraphs, would recognise the problem in public service;

The real gravamen of this ninth and penultimate report by the Corrrruption and Crime Commission (“the Commission”) in the “lobbyist” series, is not any particular allegation of misconduct by a public officer, but rather  the theme of misconduct risk which it reveals.

 That theme is the risk of public officers being diverted from fidelity to the public interest (or perceived to be so diverted) because of close personal or political relationships with lobbyists representing private or commercial interests. Associated with that, is the provision of assistance or favour or the prospect of advantageous exercise of influence by lobbyists to benefit the public officer at some time in the future.

Further, the events and activities described in this report show how the integrity of public officers and their agencies can be undermined by the way lobbyists representing particular interests may manipulate those relationships and portray them to others.

We must be concerned to read the CCC's warning expressed in terms such as;

"... for a public officer to seek assistance of the kind Mr Salpietro did in the circumstances, and so become obligated to a friend who was a lobbyist for commercial clients, had the potential to create an obvious risk of actual or perceived conflict of interest and partiality. Mr Salpietro risked future conflicts of interest by putting himself in a position of obligation to Mr Burke."

Any executive seeking a consultant to manage, coach, mentor and influence all levels of an organisation should really be very cautious of the cultural influences they allow into their organisation . They might be prepared to look behind the JT Professional Services glossy marketing to see where exactly the consultant running the show learnt his craft. And make no mistake there is craft in these activities. James Trail was himself managed, coached and mentored by Kelly and Salpietro, he was their Finance Manager at Wanneroo. Trail made no secret of the fact that anyone who did not share his cultural values had to be culled from the organisation.

In 2005 there had been a report on this shire by the Department of Local Government  within which there was a warning about the perceptions being created by the CEO, James Trail, meeting with developers. When Busselton Shire was revealed as having the local elections stacked by Burke our local councillor Cr Bob Wyburn questioned the propriety of meetings Trail had with Burke and Grill in 2006.  

Wyburn was a lone voice on a Council that found nothing concerning at all.

Trail plays down the meeting with the ex-convict by using the "any person" term to describe him. In my book it is inconceivable that any person involved in public service at an executive level or elected to represent their community would not have familiarised themselves with the CCC reports. All of our public officers and elected representatives know the risks when they deal with Burke, Grill or any other lobbyist. 

Trail was trained by the Wanneroo gang, who were themselves groomed by ex convict Brian Burke. Trail came to this shire fully trained and accepting of a culture of cronyism that favours the few, the elite. Given his age and experience when he rapidly rose through the ranks in public service it was inevitable that he would develop the behaviours of his mentors and senior managers. He probably thought he was an exceptional intellect and significantly smarter than he actually was. He was just another Burke pawn.

But Burke's minions being employed as consultants to manage, coach, mentor and influence all levels of an organisation? Surely this couldn't happen in local government?

If our councillors are stupid or colluding then yes it will happen, and cronies get the profits and the public pay the price.

Each contract with CAMMS was signed on behalf of the A−MR Shire during this period by Trail. The procurement did not go to tender and no other companies were asked to quote.

We need good governance if democracy is to thrive and for that we need councillors prepared to scrutinize all the paperwork they deal with and to reject a culture of cronyism.

Rubber stamps won't do!