Eurobodalla Council has sunk to a new low that now sees Councillors being investigated by a top Sydney Private Investigation firm to determine if there is a Judas among them who may have leaked information to The Beagle in regards to the name of the winning tenderer of the Mackay Park Project. It is understood that the councillors have had their Council provided laptops, ipads and phones recalled in order to trawl over records of any communication with The Beagle around August 12th, 2020 that may have lead to the revelation of the winning tenderer. Councillors will also have been grilled by investigators, and as the issue, if proven, reveals a culprit, they will have certainly been threatened with a Code of Conduct, at least, or Criminal action at worst. As such each interview would be recorded, logged and reported on back to the "client". As the leak was "discovered" by way of an email to Councillors from The Beagle advising them of the winning tenderer and it was this very email that initiated the investigation one can immediately assume that the "client" investigating the councillors is the staff of council. Under such threat of criminal action if the culprit among them was found the councillors would have had little option but agree to a formal investigation that is estimated to be well in excess of $10,000. The findings of the inquiry will only be known to "the client" however The Beagle has advised the councillors, in an email sent to their councillor inboxes (so that it can be intercepted and easily read by third parties) they have nothing to worry about. While the councillors voted to spend considerable money and time in their pursuit of a 'Judas' they have now clearly indicated to councillors that they are under scrutiny and are not to be trusted. The investigation is evidence of this distrust in the integrity and oath of the councillors Now that the origin of the "leak" is known to to the investigator, and will soon be known to "the client", it is hoped that there is an apology by "the client" to each and all councillors. It is also hoped that the total cost of the needless investigation is revealed to councillors and that "the client" is brought to task for failing to simply contact The Beagle and ask how information around the winning tenderer came to be known. A 25c phonecall was all that was required to discover the source of information and the method of discovery; instead council chose to pursue spending thousands of dollars, hours of wasted staff time and leaving the sour note that now sits in the mouth of councillors knowing that they are to be distrusted in the first instance and considered guilty until proven innocent, under threat of further action if they reveal any details of the investigation. Instead... it appears that the councillors agreed to budget a hefty amount to carry out an investigation into themselves. Rather than someone having the idea to simply ring The Beagle and ask. With eleven months to go before the next Council election it will be interesting to see the lasting effects of Council's investigation into councillors. No doubt there will now be a reluctance by councillors to use councillor email addresses, council provided phone numbers or messages knowing that these can be retrieved by staff for investigation purposes if they suspected further "leaks".
