A CONFIDENTIAL email that was leaked to the Newcastle Herald under the name Jason Sivo and has been linked to the Neylon letter-writing scandal was sent only to NSW local government general managers.
The revelation comes as City of Newcastle chief executive Jeremy Bath, who is on extended leave in the lead up to the September NSW government elections, maintains his silence on the issue.
Mr Bath is facing mounting pressure after he has refused to respond to questions about the leaked email which has been linked to his best mate, notorious letter-writer Scott Neylon.
Documents obtained under freedom of information laws reveal that an email written by former Maitland council boss David Evans, which was leaked to the Newcastle Herald, was sent to a closed Google Groups discussion forum of NSW council general managers, or 128 people.
The online chat group is managed by Local Government NSW, a non-government body that represents all councils across the state.
According to the information released under GIPA this month by Maitland City Council, the email was sent to lgnsw-general-managers-network@googlegroups.com.
Mr Evans said on Thursday that the discussion would have been sent to each NSW council general manager.
"It was a group set up as a chat facility for NSW general managers by the peak representative body," Mr Evans said.
"Some councils call the position CEO, but that is not a title that is recognised in the legislation, the legislation calls the position general manager. I was a mere general manager."
The email discussion, which took place at the height of the pandemic, centres around a $395 million local government stimulus package that the NSW government had just released details about.
It's unclear which other NSW council general managers contributed to the April 2020 discussion because the names of the other participants have been redacted by Maitland council.
It also remains a mystery how a person using the name Jason Sivo, who previously supplied the same mobile phone number as Mr Neylon in a letter to the editor submitted to the Newcastle Herald, accessed Mr Evans' email.
Mr Evans said he does not know Jason Sivo and a Maitland council spokesman confirmed no person using that name had ever worked for the organisation and there had been no data breaches.
Mr Bath 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.
For almost 12 months the Newcastle Herald has sought to get to the bottom of allegations that the letters submitted under the name Scott Neylon were in fact penned by Mr Bath.
Mr Neylon, who has lived in Japan for almost 30 years, has been best mates with Mr Bath for decades.
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 by council's consultant Pinnacle Integrity found in December that there was "insufficient evidence" that Mr Bath was involved in the misleading letter-writing campaign, or that he passed confidential information to Mr Neylon.
As previously reported, a new front in the letter-writing saga opened up last month when the Herald unearthed a series of emails sent under the name Jason Sivo.
Three emails from Jason Sivo were retrieved from an archive of deleted correspondence sent to this masthead since mid-2019.
The emails have been linked to the ongoing letter-writing saga because Scott Neylon and Jason Sivo provided the same Optus mobile phone number in submissions to the Herald's letters-to-the-editor page around the same time in late 2019 and early 2020.
Mr Bath and Mr Neylon have repeatedly not responded to the Herald's questions about if they know Jason Sivo or if they had access to Mr Evans' email.
A letter from Mr Bath's lawyer last month said the council boss did not write to the Herald under the name Jason Sivo and did not influence any correspondence from Mr Sivo.
According to Optus and the Australian Communications and Media Authority, telcos hold disused mobile phone numbers in quarantine for at least six months after they are disconnected, some are held for up to 12 months.
This means the phone number could not have been passed from Mr Neylon to Mr Sivo in the less than four months between their letter submissions.
The first of the retrieved Jason Sivo emails was sent to this reporter on May 1, 2020, encouraging the Herald to investigate the viability of Maitland council's then planned $43 million new civic centre development.
In the email, Mr Sivo is acting as a behind-the-scenes informant, offering confidential information critical of Maitland council.
In an effort to substantiate the information, Mr Sivo attaches the email written by Mr Evans, who retired last year after more than 25 years in the job.
The screenshot of Mr Evans' email had the top cut off to remove the recipients' names and the date. In it, Mr Evans is responding to others, detailing the impact of the pandemic on Maitland council.
He lists employment concerns and outlines the possible result of funding changes introduced by TCorp, the NSW Treasury financing authority, on Maitland's plans for its new administration centre.
Mr Sivo's email was sent to the Herald as the nation was in lockdown and just days after the NSW government announced high-level details of a $395 million stimulus package for councils.
Part of the stimulus included a two-year moratorium on using TCorp loans for capital works on council chambers and administration buildings.
It was this information that 'Jason Sivo' latched onto in an attempt to get the Herald to turn its attention to Mr Evans and his handling of Maitland council's new administration centre project.
This was at the same time as the Herald, in fact this reporter, was locked in a lengthy battle with City of Newcastle over a denied freedom of information request about how much Newcastle council was spending on its new headquarters at Stewart Avenue.
City of Newcastle initially told ratepayers it would spend $7 million on fitting out the rented premises and the Herald revealed in December 2020 the final cost was $17.6 million.
"Dear ms page [sic]. The nsw government has changed lending criteria to councils, temporarily suspending TCorp's ability to fund Maitland's new civic centre development," Mr Sivo wrote.
"This is a disaster for our council. Unfortunately the GM is reluctant to say anything publicly. Please don't reference the attached email, which confirms what I'm saying."
When contacted in June, Mr Evans said it was a "fair question" to ask how his email was accessed.
"I think to be honest here, the inference that I was sitting on something I should have been talking publicly about was probably an attempt to throw a bit of mud," Mr Evans said.
Do you know more? Donna.page@newcastleherald.com.au
