“To say that I conspired with Brian is absolutely shocking,” she said.
The published motion on the agenda calls for Cr Byrne to stand down,partly owing to the mayor’s strained relationships with general managers. The previous chief executive,Michael Deegan,left in October after raising working difficulties with Cr Byrne.
Part of the notice of motion had been changed following legal advice about potentially defamatory statements.
In his correspondence to councillors,Mr Barrett said that,following a November 2017 recommendation,positions were created for the support of the mayor and councillors,however “they appear to have largely been dedicated to the support of the Mayor.”
He then detailed the five-person line-up “allocated for the exclusive use of the Mayor”,including a contracted policy and media relations manager,a contracted media officer,two permanent full-time executive assistants,and a support worker on three days’ part-time.
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He estimated the cost of the staff to be about $538,000 per year.
“In addition,the Mayor regularly receives support from Council’s communications and engagement team who draft media releases,arrange his attendance at events and the like. The governance team also make available to him a driver where required,” Mr Barrett said.
“As you would appreciate,a policy as loose as Inner West Councils provides little transparency to members of the public.”
Mr Barrett said his discovery was sparked by a request from Cr Byrne to retain a “surplus” staff member who had been on secondment to the mayoral office for more than two years.
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Mr Barrett said that,at Parramatta City Council,the lord mayor had a personal assistant and shared with other councillors five staff members providing policy,media and administrative support under the same executive.
He said the mayor of Canterbury-Bankstown City Council had one executive assistant and other support from within the organisation,the Liverpool mayor had one dedicated personal assistant,and the Blacktown mayor had a secretary and other support from within the organisation.
He wanted to bring the details to the attention of the elected body so they could benchmark it against other councils before it was adopted by the new council following the September elections.
The memo follows an email sent by Mr Barrett to staff and councillors last month in which he described Cr Byrne’s referral of staff to the NSW Auditor-General over the restoration of the Dawn Fraser Baths as an “enormous betrayal”.
In that email,he said he had decided to leave his temporary role weeks sooner than previously arranged. Peter Gainsford has been selected as the new general manager of the council.
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