By Catherine Watson
CASEY Council’s chief executive Mike Tyler had a conflict of interest when he failed to notify councillors that he was the subject of a sexual harassment claim by a former staff member, according to an independent report.
The report, carried out by a solicitor appointed by the Municipal Association of Victoria, will be referred to the Local Government Inspectorate for further action.
Councillors voted at Tuesday’s meeting to make the 23-page report and resolutions public. Mr Tyler was on leave and not present at the meeting.
Mr Tyler and the council were cited as respondents in a sexual harassment case set for a mediated hearing at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in May last year.
The complaint was made by a former council employee and the settlement remains confidential. Casey councillors have never been told the nature of the allegations and how much it cost to settle the case.
However, a letter from the complainant’s lawyers to then mayor Lorraine Wreford in 2010, containing details of the claims, was leaked to the media in March.
Ms Wreford, now a Liberal MP, did not inform her fellow councillors of the claim.
In April, a motion to sack Mr Tyler was defeated 6-5 but councillors voted to refer the matter to the MAV for an independent investigation into its own handling of the sexual harassment claim and payout.
The investigator found:
* The CEO did not seek to influence council staff, delegated authority to manage the complaint and did not become inappropriately involved.
* The staff who managed the handling of the complaint followed proper processes.
* It was appropriate for the matter to be settled, the manner in which it was settled had been appropriate, and such settlements were typically confidential.
* The CEO complied with the requirement that the mayor be advised of the complaint.
* The CEO did not recognise that he had a conflict of interest and therefore did not report this to the first council meeting after becoming aware of such a conflict.
Mayor Sam Aziz said the report cleared the council but identified a single potential issue of non-compliance — Mr Tyler’s failure to declare a conflict of interest — which would be referred to the Local Government Inspectorate for resolution.
At Tuesday’s meeting, councillors voted to give a mandate to the mayor or any other councillor to report to the council if they became aware of an undisclosed conflict of interest in relation to the CEO. It was unclear whether this would require a councillor to do so.
