00:00Eighteen months after the Dorset Council was suspended, a Board of Inquiry has delivered
00:07scathing findings.
00:09When you look at it as a whole, it is amazing that some of these things have occurred.
00:14The Board of Inquiry's report found significant failures by the Council, including governance
00:19and decision-making failures, not complying with legal obligations, not declaring conflicts
00:26of interest, behaving with bias and improperly using legal authority to punish some residents,
00:32and the Mayor and General Manager using offensive and inappropriate language.
00:38Andrew Wardlaw acted as Commissioner of the Dorset Council while the review was underway.
00:43I won't comment in relation to the people involved here, but just to say that I am alarmed
00:48with some of the things that happened and also some of the commentary and some of the
00:52communication between the Council and ratepayers and others.
00:57Greg Howard has been the Dorset Mayor for the last eight years.
01:00He says he won't be returning to the role.
01:04What the process has done is it has taken one of the most efficient and effective councils
01:08in the state and effectively destroyed it because myself and the Deputy Mayor and two
01:14other councillors are not returning to council.
01:16We've already resigned.
01:19He insists he's done nothing wrong and says the Board of Inquiry process has been a witch-hunt.
01:25There is a clear lack of evidence to make many of the findings.
01:30The Council's former General Manager Tim Watson said he emphatically refuted the report's
01:35findings saying they contain multiple factual inaccuracies and misrepresent his evidence.
01:42The Dorset Councillors will be free to resume their offices here from midnight tonight.
01:47A recount will soon be held to appoint new councillors to replace those who have resigned.
01:54Under the Local Government Act, the Board of Inquiry was unable to recommend any councillors
01:59or council staff be dismissed.
02:02I think some of the things that have come out of this Board of Inquiry have also highlighted
02:06the need for some changes in the Act.
02:09Some of the matters raised in the report will now be referred to the Department of Public
02:13Prosecutions for further investigation.
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