The Department of Local Government and Communities will not confirm or deny whether it is investigating the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale amid a growing number of concerns about shire operations.
Concerns have been raised about a number of issues including the amount of alcohol spent on corporate credit cards and an error that saw a confidential Rivers Regional tender released on the shire website.
More recently the shire has come under fire after it breached the Local Government Act by not considering all submissions regarding a proposed five per cent rate increase.
In February the shire publically released a proposal to close a portion of Soldiers Road before it was endorsed by councillors following a misunderstanding of new planning and development regulations.
This week The Examiner asked the department how many complaints it had received regarding the shire in the last 12 months, how many complainants there were, what the complaints were in regards to and how the department responded to them.
The department was also asked if it was investigating the shire.
A department spokeswoman did not respond to that question but did confirm complaints had been received.
“The Department of Local Government and Communities has received complaints regarding issues at the Shire of Serpentine Jarrahdale,” she said.
“As some of the complaints are still being assessed the department cannot comment on the number of complaints, what they were in regard to or the number of complainants.”
