Extraordinary meeting of Wingecarribee Shire Council has been called

The decision was made after Councillor Garry Turland pushed for an extraordinary meeting with two other councillors who expressed concerns over an alleged breach of privacy and claims that councillors were being shut down.

The call came after Mayor Duncan Gair shut down the Ordinary General Meeting ahead of schedule when Councillor Ian Scandrett questioned a Wingecarribee Shire Council staff member regarding an "operations matter."

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Cr Gair had warned that he would shut down the meeting if councillors "continued to challenge the chair and make statements and insinuations that bring council staff in to disrepute."

His warning followed a situation that occurred earlier in the evening when the meeting was adjourned for 15 minutes.

This followed an attempt by Councillor Garry Turland to enter a Notice of Motion for discussion in closed council.

Cr Turland had indicated concern that the Notice of Motion had been "left out of the business paper" despite having been submitted in the appropriate time.

The details of the Notice of Motion and allegations are not known to the Southern Highland News but it's understood that it regards an alleged privacy breach.

Cr Turland said that the notice was put in on Monday, February 17.

"It met the timeline," he said. "The process has been broken."

"We were told yesterday [February 25] that it would not be in the business papers. It's not good enough."

Following a call from Cr Gair for a clarification regarding the omission of the Notice of Motion from the business paper General Manager Ann Prendergast said "admittingly councillor [Turland] you didn't get the noticification until yesterday."

"Your Notice of Motion would not have been put on the business paper for the reasons that were given to you and Councillor [Ken] Halstead. That position remains," Ms Prendergast said.

"The chair can't rule on this matter because the chair doesn't know what you're talking about.

"I, as general manager, had to make a decision about what goes on the business paper. I carefully considered your Notice of Motion and it would not have been put on the business paper even if it had been brought to my attention before the business paper went out."

Cr Halstead supported Cr Turland's claims that the Notice of Motion was submitted on time.

"We got an answer back yesterday after the agenda was prepared, suggesting some reason why it shouldn't be there," he said.

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"I don't accept it and I've had legal advice on it. The advice I got confirms what I think. I'm very annoyed about this and I will be taking action. It's not going to stop here.

"All this is doing is trying to shut us down."

Cr Gair said that he did not read the Notice of Motion and was not aware of what was in it.

"I saw the advice from staff and as such I will follow the staff direction and not rule this as a matter of urgency."

Cr Turland later told the Southern Highland News that he believed "confidentiality" may have been broken.

"That's a problem," he said.

"The community can't guarantee that their privacy hasn't been breached and used for other purposes."

"If this is not cleaned up or resolved, it will bring council in to disrepute."

In a statement to the Southern Highland News, General Manager Ann Prendergast said that she stood by her position to exclude the Notice of Motion as it was "consistent with council's adopted Code of Meeting Practice".

"The Notice of Motion was excluded in accordance with clause 3.20 of the Code of Meeting Practice. Clause 3.20 states:

That the general manager must not include in the agenda for a meeting of the council any business of which due notice has been given if, in the opinion of the general manager, the business is, or the implementation of the business would be, unlawful."

After reviewing the Notice of Motion Ms Prendergast formed the view that it would be unlawful to include the Notice of Motion in the agenda as per clause 9.12, which states:

"You must not make allegations about, or disclose information about, suspected breaches of this code at council, committee or other meetings, whether open to the public or not, or in any other forum, whether public or not."

"The NOM breached clause 9.12 of the Code of Conduct, as such it would have been unlawful to include it on the agenda for the Council meeting on February 26, 2020," she said.

Cr Gair said the meeting was closed due to "the misconduct of a few councillors who would not abide to the Code of Meeting practice and as such were not following due process or meeting protocol."

"In relation to comments made by Cr Turland, there are appropriate procedures in place to deal with such suggestions," he said.

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