It was a fiery start to the last council meeting for 2020.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Councillors had only reached the mayoral minute in the council papers when confusion and in-fighting erupted over the performance of council.
The mayoral minute discussion lasted for more than 18 minutes in which councillors debated the legitimacy of the report and made calls for correspondence between the mayor and the Minister for Local Government to be made public.
Councillor Garry Turland demanded to know the contents of the correspondence between the mayor and the minister Shelley Hancock about acts of disorder by councillors.
Mayor Duncan Gair said he would not be releasing that letter.
"That letter was addressed to Ms Hancock and the letter I received from Ms Hancock was addressed to me. I do not ask for your personal letters that you write Cr Turland. I expect you not to ask for mine."
Cr Turland said he would go to court to get the letters released.
"I will have that letter released," he said.
"You have no right to not release the letter when you wrote about councillors."
Cr Gair said he would put everyone on mute if there were continual challenges.
Councillor Ian Scandrett called a point of order - a way to point out a breach in rules, procedures and practices in council - over Cr Gair's refusal to release the letter and whether the letter was a public document.
Cr Gair said there was no point of order and the letter was not a public document.
The mayoral minute was a compliance report in the performance improvement order (POI) which was issued to Wingecarribee Shire Council earlier this year.
Cr Gair said he was duty-bound to the Office of Local Government.
"That's what this minute is doing, acknowledging that we have carried out requests at this point in time from the office," he said.
"If you look at the OLG improvement compliance report which is attached, it is about [OLG observer] Mr Ian Reynolds and the dates he was a part of the committee meetings.
"A second observer - Mr Norm Turkington will submit his report with the OLG by mid-January."
Cr Gair said he had received a letter from the Minister of Local Government, the hon. Shelley Hancock MP while he was on leave.
"[Ms Hanckock] will review the reports from the two officers, Mr Turkington and Mr Reynolds, and will come back to council when those reports are received," he said.
Councillor Ken Halstead expressed confusion about the mayoral minute.
"You can talk about a performance improvement order but I'm just wondering what the content is going to be," he said.
"Sitting here now, I don't know how any councillor, besides myself, understands what is going to be submitted. I mean what is Mr Paull going to submit?"
Acting general manager Barry Paull said there was a two-page attachment to the mayoral minute.
"It indicates how we've complied with the performance improvement order in relation to the advisor Mr Reynolds and his engagement with council," he said.
Read also: Parcel deadlines loom for Christmas gifts
"Council is to report to the minister on the conduct of all its meetings four months from the date of the order. The Minister of Local Government appointed Mr Ian Reynolds as a temporary advisor to Wingecarribee Shire Council to attend council meetings for the purpose to the provide advice and assistance to the chair in respect to meeting procedures and deal with acts of disorder and provide advice and assistance to council to ensure it complies with the performance improvement order."
Mr Paull confirmed that Mr Reynolds had attended the following meetings; the mayoral election in September, Wednesday October 28, and viewed online the September 23 meeting, October 14 meeting, November 11 meeting and November 25 meeting.
Mr Paull also apologised to councillors for the late inclusion of the mayoral minute and attachment after Cr Halstead asked why it was the first time he was hearing about the report.
"It was an oversight on my part to get it into the agenda," he said.
"December 11 is when this report has to be in and I didn't get it in the agenda on time. The only way I could get it in was via the mayoral minute. There's no subterfuge, it's a very straight forward report. Mr Reynolds will submit his own independent report. I don't get to see it, I don't believe the mayor or any of the councillors will get to see that. It goes straight to the minister."
Mr Paull mentioned councillors and members of the public could visit the OLG website for a list of councils under a PIO. There are currently four councils under review, including Wingecarribee Shire Council.
"This document will go on that website and when the Office of Local Government asses council's compliance, it will also be on the website. They are all public documents," Mr Paull added.
Cr Scandrett asked for clarification on whether Mr Ian Reynolds was observing the December 9 meeting and asked if council would release the mayoral minute as a press release.
Cr Gair confirmed that Mr Reynolds was not observing the current meeting and that the mayoral minute would not be released as a press release as it was in the business agenda for council and was on the council live stream.
The exchange between the councillors at the start of the meeting set the tone for the rest of the evening
Cr Gair limited councillors to two speakers for a motion and two speakers against a motion as council battled to stay on track for the remainder of the meeting.
Did you know the Southern Highland News is now offering breaking news alerts and a weekly email newsletter? Keep up-to-date with all the local news: sign up below.
Vera Demertzis
Journalist at the Southern Highland News covering council yarns and community news. Got a tip or a story to tell? Email vera.demertzis@southernhighlandnews.com.au or call on 0427 250 908.
Journalist at the Southern Highland News covering council yarns and community news. Got a tip or a story to tell? Email vera.demertzis@southernhighlandnews.com.au or call on 0427 250 908.
