SETTING a more collaborative tone which promotes and supports a team approach will be Newcastle's new Lord Mayor Ross Kerridge's first priority.
In the wake of a stunning victory, Dr Kerridge said on Wednesday (September 18) that establishing the elected council, and getting them to work effectively together, was at the top of his list.
Dr Kerridge said he would like to see all of the councillors working together, not in party blocks, contributing independently as individuals.
"Setting a tone and building a team, and that will take some time," Dr Kerridge said about his priorities as Lord Mayor.
Next cab off the rank will be an external, independent review of both the function of the elected council, and of the council as an organisation itself, he said.
Closer scrutiny
"I would want that to be done reasonably promptly by appropriate people, to review what's going on, and either to reassure the community that their concerns are unnecessary, or to identify things that could be improved about the function of council," Dr Kerridge said.
"And if the latter, to identify strategies for addressing those areas for improvement."
The review would look at a broad range of issues plaguing the community, he said, such as claims of bullying, a lack of transparency regarding funding allocation, and the obscurity of council reports into where funds are going and how some decisions are being made, as well as some operational council matters, including some of the relationships between the council and the elected councillors.
"So it's a broad ranging number of concerns," Dr Kerridge said.
It would also involve closer scrutiny of the letters to the editor saga which, while some people might wonder why that was such a concern, for him it was significant, Dr Kerridge said.
The saga involves Newcastle City Council general manager Jeremy Bath who has been the subject of heavy scrutiny since revelations last year that dozens of letters and online comments have been published in media outlets over 13 years under the name Scott Neylon, which twist the truth, distort reality and follow Mr Bath's career progression, attacking his critics and supporting his employers.
Mr Neylon, who has lived in Japan for almost 30 years, and Mr Bath are close friends.
Mr Bath denies writing the letters or having anything to do with them, and Mr Neylon has said previously via email he, not Mr Bath, penned the letters under his name. An investigation into the letters commissioned by the council led by outgoing mayor Nuatali Nelmes and conducted by Pinnacle Integrity found there was insufficient evidence to support any wrongdoing by Mr Bath.
The key issue was transparency, Dr Kerridge said, in relation to the letters saga, but as well as to other ongoing concerns.
Transparent agenda
"Transparency about funding allocation, about money being spent on projects and exactly how much is being spent, and that's no longer clearly apparent from the reports, which are far less detailed now than they used to be," Dr Kerridge said.
"Some issues about decision making, awarding of contracts, tenders and so on. Modification of projects over and above what had been initially presented to council.
"The focus on the commercialisation of assets, sometimes on fairly dubious business models. One example of that would be commercialisation of say the animal enclosure at Blackbutt, of the Newcastle Ocean Baths, and what's going on with the former Queen's Wharf building being left derelict.
"There are a whole lot of issues where I think many people in the community are confused and frustrated at how things are being handled and want clarification of that. So I think that all of those things justify an external review."
In terms of his biggest challenge, it was the same as his first priority, Dr Kerridge said - wrangling 12 disparate individuals into a team.
"But I keep on saying, and I think it's a valid metaphor, that it's a bit like pulling together a team in the operating theater at two o'clock in the morning.
"They're all different personalities. Some of us don't get on with each other. We'll have different ideas, but we need to make decisions as best we can and act on them. And there are times when ... a decision will be made that I don't necessarily agree with them."
Either they will attempt to reach consensus, go with the majority, or take more time to make a decision, Dr Kerridge said.
"We might decide, let's put it aside and let's come back to this in a month's time. I think one of the concerns that I've heard of in the previous council has been the council staff putting a pressure, time pressure on the counselors to make a decision that this has to be dealt with now. And some of the councillors have come back to me afterwards and said there wasn't any great need for that. We could have had more time."
Outgoing Labor Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes emailed Dr Kerridge to concede defeat at about 8.30pm on Tuesday. He was out playing trivia, which he also won.
Defeat conceded
In a public statement, Cr Nelmes said "it is now evident" that she will likely fall just a few hundred votes short of re-election.
"I congratulate Dr Kerridge on his likely election as Newcastle's 15th lord mayor, and offer him my best wishes," she said.
"Though I am naturally disappointed in the outcome, I am incredibly proud of the progress we've made over my time as Newcastle's second-longest serving lord mayor."
Dr Kerridge held 35.19 per cent of first preference votes with 33,403 votes, and Cr Nelmes held 31.87 per cent with 30,257 as at Tuesday.
Dr Kerridge was a life member of the Labor party when he quit in July to challenge Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes as an independent, heading up a team of independent candidates under the "Our Newcastle" banner.
He told the Newcastle Herald at the time that the Labor-majority council had become too focused on "glamour" projects and divisive politics.
Dr Kerridge is a senior staff specialist at John Hunter Hospital and University of Newcastle associate professor.
In the run up to the election key issues included scrapping outdoor furniture fines, learn-to-swim classes at all inland council pools, free access to outdoor swimming venues, tripling the number of footpaths built across the city, and keeping council rates low.
