Culture of extravagance revealed as Places Victoria chief Peter Clarke replaced PLACES Victoria staff had a private butler, taxpayer-funded alcohol, monthly office functions and a $27,000 Christmas party under ousted chairman Peter Clarke's rein. Leaked documents reveal a culture of extravagant spending at Victoria's peak planning authority. Expenses charged to the taxpayer by Places Victoria between June 2011 and April last year included: OVER $20,000 spent on Australian Open tennis tickets "BEVERAGES" totalling $3215, including more than $2970 from CBD Cellars MORE than $2103 spent on monthly "staff celebrations" A BOARD dinner at the flash Atlantic Restaurant on Southbank, costing $2072 A "SANTA throne" costing $470 for a yuletide event and an accordion player for $350 PARTY pies for "Friday night drinks" costing $100 Planning Minister Matthew Guy said he was shocked to find a butler had routinely served staff "coffee and croissants" and promised a "leaner and more efficient" organisation under a restructure he has ordered that will see 70 jobs axed. Mr Clarke - a close friend of Premier Ted Baillieu and a former Liberal Party vice-president - was replaced as chair of the urban renewal authority. Mr Clarke said he told Mr Guy and Mr Baillieu's chief of staff Tony Nutt weeks ago that he wanted to resign. "The short story is I wanted to resign at the end of January," he said. Mr Guy described the use of the full-time butler as an "obscene waste of money." "The idea of a butler in a modern-day organisation was ridiculous," he said. But Mr Clarke said: "The butler was there when I took over, but he's been gone for months." Mr Clarke chaired Places Victoria from June 2011, but voluntarily stood aside on full pay last August pending an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. "Investigations are obviously taking time and Peter has felt it better to move on, and I believe it is also better that he moves on and that we go forward with a permanent chairman," Mr Guy said. Acting chairman Ken Fehily will take over as chair of the organisation which recorded an $18 million loss last year.