Sunday, October 11, 2009

Serious concerns of misleading, deceptive and possible misconduct

In addition the above matters, there is information and evidence which suggests that relevant Council staff and/or Councillors may have been involved in false, misleading or deceptive conduct possibly constituting misconduct in contravention of section 6.1(g) of the prescribed Model Code of Conduct for Local Councils in NSW, Schedule 6A(6) of the Local Government Act (NSW) 1993, and possibly the purposes of section 9 of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act (NSW) 1988.

1.      In the 24 March 2009 General Manager (GM)’s report to the Council, which was the basis of the Council’s decision to adopt the Bankstown City Centre Car Parking Strategy, the GM reported that having exhibited the draft policy for public consultation and having written to and having informed over 1,100 businesses and organisations, it only received four submissions - none of which objected to the proposal. However, the GM’s report failed to clarify that:
·         the only information relating to the proposal to reduce commuter parking was a statement in the exhibited document which referred only to a proposal to establish a “Parking Management Plan which revises time-limits for parking located on commercial streets, to promote higher turnover of parking for users of the CBD”;
·         only CBD carpark users such as businesses, landowners and community groups in the city centre, were directly written to and notified of the proposal;
·         given that among the objectives of the proposal was to ensure “higher utilisation of parking supply for the CBD users”, it was convenient that the released draft document did not disclose information which may have been objectionable to other users of the city carparks such as commuter users; and
·         without proper disclosure of how proposed car parking strategy would ultimately adversely affect them, commuter users of the carparks had little reason and no real opportunity to object to the underlying agenda.

2.      On the basis of the biased and misleading GM report, the Council ultimately approved the Car Parking Strategy which would empower them to remove commuter parking amenities from public without proper public disclosure. Having thus paved the way, in the 28 July 2009 GM report to the Council, the GM recommended, among other things, that the time limit of the open-air ground floor of the Marion Street carpark, previously used by commuters for all-day parking, be reduced to a 4 hour time limit.

3.      The stated objective of the GM recommendation of 28 July 2009 to convert the open-air ground floor commuter park at the Marion Street carpark to 4-hour restricted parking was to “increase the demand for more use of the rooftop area of the Marion Street structure for all day parking.” This was clearly misleading and deceptive given that, according to the Carpark Occupancy Survey table in Attachment C to the report, the occupancy rate of parked vehicles on the level 3 rooftop of the Marion Street carpark was already at 100% full capacity during business hours and therefore could not possibly cater for additional vehicles. At the same time, the survey revealed that the ground floor open-air commuter carpark area was beyond full capacity at 106% utilisation during business hours.

4.      It is important to reiterate that at the time of the GM’s recommendation to substantially reduce the number of commuter parking spaces at the Marion Street carpark, there was abundant information and evidence which undermined the merit, justifiability, and reasonableness of the proposal which relevant Council staff should have, but failed to, whether purposely or otherwise, bring to the Council’s attention including:
·       the Carpark Occupancy Survey report which showed that utilisation of the commuter parking facilities at the Marion Street carpark was already in excess of 100% capacity;
·       anecdotal evidence from commuters of the carpark’s  full capacity;
·       statistical evidence from the 2006 Census of the 1,504 Bankstown residents who commute to work by train representing 16.7% of the local working population; and
·       revenue data from parking infringements of commuters parking outside of marked parking spaces on the rooftop of the Marion Street carpark due to shortages of commuter parking spaces even before the proposed further reductions.

5.      On 26 August 2009, as part of the “Mayor’s Weekly Message”, the Mayor announced that the Council had recently adopted changes to time limits in a number of public car parks within the Bankstown City Centre which would come into effect on Monday 07 September 2009 and that the Council would, among other things, “re-locate... commuter car parking to more suitable locations within the existing facilities. ... Public notices detailing the changes will be located in the affected car parks, as well as details on Council’s website”

6.      Unfortunately, no notices were placed neither at the main stairway leading to the rooftop, nor on the rooftop carpark of the Marion street carpark, to inform commuters of changes to effectively move all outdoor ground-floor commuters to the rooftop to jockey with rooftop commuters for parking space even though the rooftop parking area was already at 100% capacity. This left roof-top parking commuters ill-prepared for the pending influx of users and paid the price for it with parking infringements.

7.      The Council misrepresented to residents in stating that it would move “commuter car parking to more suitable locations within the existing facilities” since after removing all day parking from the outdoor ground-floor, no additional commuter car parking spaces were created.

Without the benefit of further information and internal Council documents which would be available under an FOI request and/or by way of a ministerial inquiry, outstanding questions remain regarding the possible motives, purposes and objectives of the above conduct and the extent to which they constitute serious misconduct for the purposes of paragraph 6.1(g) of the prescribed Model Code of Conduct for Local Councils in NSW, Schedule 6A(6) of the Local Government Act (NSW) 1993, and section 9 of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act (NSW) 1988.

Summary of concerns and irregularities

After reviewing Council Minutes and other publicly available material, I have identified a number of concerns and irregularities relating to the manner in which the decision to reduce commuter car-parking facilities at the Marion Street and nearby carparks were made and implemented.  Particulars of my concerns may be summarised as follows:

1.      In preparing and releasing the “Draft Bankstown City Centre Car Parking Strategy” (BCC/001634) for public consultation between January and February 2009, the Council failed, whether intentionally or otherwise, to disclose details of the proposal to substantially reduce the number of commuter car-parking facilities at the Marion Street carpark as well as nearby all-day parking facilities at the Greenfield Parade and Meredith Street carparks.

2.      This failure to disclose meant that segments of the Bankstown community who would be most adversely affected by the proposal, namely residents who park their cars at commuter carpark facilities and travel to work by train from Bankstown Railway station, where not given the opportunity to voice their concerns regarding and/or to oppose the proposal.

3.      Information and evidence from Council Minutes and publicly available documents suggest that Council staff, whether purposely or otherwise, chose to selectively notify Bankstown CBD-based users of the carparks, being those who would benefit from the proposal, and not commuter users who would be adversely affected by any proposal to reduce the number of commuter car parking facilities (Council Minutes dated 24/03/2009).

4.      Despite its resolution to provide a 4 week grace period when new parking time limits are introduced (effective between 7 and 28 September 2009), Council parking officers continued to issue parking infringement notices on commuters who parked outside of marked spaces on the rooftop of the Marion Street carpark even though they did not interfere with the carpark’s traffic flow nor cause inconvenience or obstruction to others. This is unconscionable given that the chronic shortage of commuter car-parking itself was caused by Bankstown Council’s own decision to substantially reduce the number of commuter parking spaces (Council Minutes dated 28/07/09).

5.      The Council’s decision appears to have disregarded, whether purposely or otherwise, available data and evidence that would have directly undermined the merits and justifiability of the proposal. 2006 Census data shows that some 1,502 residents of Bankstown or 16.7% of the local working population travel to work by train compared to the 12.3% Sydney metropolitan average. With only 250 all-day parking spaces at the Marion Street carpark serving Bankstown Railway station commuters prior to the changes (which was later reduced to 139), there was evidently, already an under-supply of commuter car-parking facilities in Bankstown. Anecdotal evidence from commuters using the Marion Street carpark suggests that even before the recent changes, all-day commuter parking would virtually be 100% utilised by approximately 10:00 am on weekdays during working hours. Furthermore, revenue collected by the Council from commuters parking outside of marked parking spaces in the Marion Street rooftop carpark over the years would have informed the Council of the shortage of commuter carpark facilities at the carpark.

6.      In contrast, Bankstown Council saw the need and recently decided to enter an agreement with the Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation (TIDC) pursuant to the NSW Government’s Commuter Car parking Program to construct a 670 space commuter carpark facility for Revesby (to commence in January 2010) even though the 2006 Census shows that only 970 residents of Revesby-Revesby Heights travel to work by train. This would equate to approximately 1 parking space per 1.44 commuters as opposed to 1 parking space per 6 commuters in Bankstown previously and 1 parking space per 10.8 commuters after the recent all-day parking changes at the Marion Street carpark.

7.      While publicly endorsing the NSW Government’s ‘park-and-ride’ initiative and obtaining funds under the Government’s Commuter Car park Program to construct additional commuter parking at Revesby and Padstow, Bankstown Council undermined the overall initiative by purposely cutting back commuter parking at Bankstown station. The decision is also in disregard of general community concerns regarding encouraging the use of public transport to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions from cars on the road.

8.      The Council’s conduct and/or that of relevant staff as outlined above, is arguably in breach of the Council’s own mission statement of “Good governance across Council operations” and “Well managed services and facilities that meet the needs of the community, and that respect the environment and diversity”, and stated values of “Fair, honest and open dealings”, “High levels of community consultation concerning our decisions and activities”, and “Caring for the natural environment”.

Irregularities regarding Bankstown Council's decision relating to the Marion Street Carpark

My wife and I are tax paying residents of Bankstown and have been using the Marion Street rooftop carpark daily for the past three years to commute work by train from Bankstown station. We have always appreciated the facility being available.

On 15 September 2009, when we arrived at the Marion Street carpark at our usual time (approximately 7:50 am), we were surprised that there was not a single carpark space available. Out of desperation and urgency to get to work on time, we decided to park in a space at the end of one of the two middle rows of carpark spaces which, while not technically marked, did not interfere with the carpark’s traffic flow nor cause inconvenience or obstruction to others.

When my wife and I returned to our car from work that afternoon, we found a parking Penalty Notice on our windscreen for not parking in a ‘marked parking space’. Also on our windscreen was a short hand-written note from a fellow commuter who wrote:

“Dear Car Owners,
I was parked in front of you & also received a fine. I intend to ring the Council & complain as they blocked off the ground area for all-day parking causing this level to be full.
I have parked here for 10 years & am not happy.

I have since discovered that Bankstown City Council (the Council) recently decided to convert the entire all-day carpark area on the outdoor ground floor of Marion Street carpark to restricted 4-hour parking. It means that commuters using Bankstown Station to commute to work are now left with 139 car spaces on the Marion Street rooftop carpark as opposed to approximately 250 previous available when both the rooftop and outdoor ground floor were available for all-day commuter parking.

In addition, the Council also decided to substantially reduce the number of all-day parking available at the nearby Greenfield Parade and Meredith Street multi-level carparks by completely removing all all-day parking at the Greenfield Parade carpark (formally levels 8 and 9) as well as converting the ground floor of the Meredith Street carpark to 4-hour restricted parking.

The combined effect of these decisions have been that commuters using Bankstown Station to travel to work who used to park at the Greenfield Parade or Meredith Street carparks now have to jockey every morning with former users of the ground-floor Marion Street carpark and compete with Marion street rooftop carpark users for one of the 139 all-day carpark spaces now remaining.

I am perplexed at how Bankstown Council could come up with these decisions considering that according to the 2006 Census, some 1,502 residents of Bankstown commute to work by train[1]. While other councils are actively working with the NSW Government to take advantage of the announced $56 million mini-budget to construct much needed additional commuter carpark facilities to promote the ‘park-n-ride’ initiative and reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions from cars on the road, Bankstown Council saw fit to substantially cut back existing commuter carpark facilities in disregard of the needs of Bankstown commuters.


[1] Community Profile: 2006 and 2001 Enumerated Census information for Bankstown, Bankstown City Council – ID Consulting Pty Ltd, dated 18 August 2008, p.55