A South Australian council committed errors and maladministration and breached the Local Government Act in reappointing a chief executive who doctored a report to delete negative comments about the way he treated women, the state's ombudsman finds.
A regional South Australian council committed errors and maladministration and breached the Local Government Act in reappointing a chief executive who doctored a report to delete negative comments about the way he treated women, the state's ombudsman has found.
Former Northern Areas Council chief executive Colin Byles was given a pay rise at the same meeting in May 2021 that received a report saying he may have committed misconduct.The misconduct was that in a report to the council on the results of the survey, Mr Byles had removed an answer that said: "Female staff are sometimes treated by the CEO in a disrespectful way. Sometimes inappropriate comments are made to female staff.
Despite the report and a search for a new chief executive, Mr Byles was reappointed for six months in October 2021 and then another two years in March this year.In his findings published this week, ombudsman Wayne Lines found the southern Flinders Ranges council "did not take appropriate disciplinary action" against Mr Byles after the report into him deleting lines in the survey.
He also wants the council to develop a policy for dealing with sexual harassment complaints and for it to upgrade its grievance resolution policy.Mr Byles was fired by the council in July this year for fabricating a letter to a doctors' clinic in Jamestown. The Goyder's Line Medical Centre had complained in November 2021 about the council not adequately supporting the area's COVID-19 vaccination program.
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