The $900-a-day cost to keep a watchdog at City of South Perth council

The City of South Perth council has voted to spend an extra $900 a day to extend the term of its local government monitor until August 17.

This is the second time this year the city has requested monitor Gail McGowan’s time be extended and comes with a hefty price tag for ratepayers.

A City of South Perth spokesperson confirmed McGowan works two days a week which will incur an approximate fee of $16,200.

This is on top of a $12,600 paycheck ratepayers had to pick up after McGowan’s role was extended earlier in the year.

The City of South Perth was the third dysfunctional local government in Western Australia to be given a monitor following the appointment of local government inspector Tony Brown on January 1.

McGowan was originally appointed to her role at the city on February 25 for a term that was set to conclude on April 29, but the city extended her contract to June 17.

Councillors voted unanimously on Tuesday night to request acting chief executive Anita Amprimo write to Brown and request another extension of McGowan’s tenure.

Mayor Greg Milner said the decision to keep McGowan in her position is to allow for a workplace psychosocial risk assessment to be completed.

“I think it would be very useful for the monitor to be able to have regard to the results of the psychosocial risk assessment that’s currently going on, before preparing an action plan and recommendations to the inspector,” he said.

He said the city was “presently facing some challenges” including a lack of employees across all levels of governance.

“We currently have a number of key personnel on leave, which is compounded by a higher than usual number of employee vacancies across the organisation, and an elevated number of employees currently working in acting or higher duty capacities,” he said.

“That in turn puts pressure on our staff, but where we have key personnel absent also means that some of the usual sources of guidance, supervision, and collegial support are necessarily reduced.

“Speaking for myself, I consider that Ms McGowan’s presence at the city has been a positive and stabilising influence since her appointment, and I do think that the ongoing presence ... as monitor would be helpful in the current circumstances, particularly where the good governance of the city is concerned.”

Despite voting in favour of the motion, Councillor Bronwyn Waugh said she wasn’t fully behind extending McGowan’s tenure as “there has been no substantial change” regarding the ongoing issues at the city.

“I am acutely aware that since the appointment, the organisation has continued t