On the Roundup today, 25th October 2023,
A councillor exodus continues at two Victorian councils;
A council drops the prayer from its meetings for legal reasons – will others follow?
Greater Bendigo appoints its new CEO;
A Victorian council bucks the trend on aged care service delivery;
Sydney councils court controversy over their stance on conflict in the Middle East;
A QLD council hits out at rumours about the status of its CEO;
Results come in from the WA local government elections
And NZ councils criticised for holding councillor workshops behind closed doors.
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Stories in this episode (with links where available)
Victorian Roundup:
The Glenelg shire exodus continues with the resignation of Cr Chrissy Hawker, a second term councillor. She resigned on Friday with immediate effect.
There have now been two councillor resignations, and the resignation of the CEO Paul Phelan, in just one week – and now a total of three councillors to leave their roles this year.
Mayor Scott Martin told the ABC that there were issues within the council but that the situation was not unworkable.
As speculation continues about potential intervention from the local government minister, Mayor Martin said he would welcome any assistance that might come from the government.
Glenelg is scheduled to conduct its mayoral election next week.
Strathbogie Shire Council has been hit by its fourth councillor resignation this term, and potentially a fifth.
It was reported on Friday by the Euroa Gazette that Lake Nagambie Ward councillor Reg Dickinson had resigned, citing a toxic environment.
The former councillor has been removed from the councillor listing on the Council website, replaced with a designation of “extraordinary vacancy.”
That same page also lists an “extraordinary vacancy” in Seven Creeks Ward. Shirley Saywell was elected to that position in August in a modified countback, replacing Kristy Hourigan who cited issues with gender bias in her resignation statement.
The Council is yet to make any formal statement about the status of either councillor.
Warrnambool City Council has kicked off mayoral election season, and elevated Cr Ben Blain to the mayoralty. Cr Blain was elected unopposed last night, and at 34 years of age is believed to be the youngest mayor of the city to date.
Former mayor Vicki Jellie elected as deputy mayor.
Moonee Valley City Council and East Gippsland Shire Council will conduct their elections for mayor and deputy mayor on Thursday evening
Boroondara City Council has voted to remove the prayer from its council meetings, supported by a majority of submissions from a community consultation process.
86% of submissions supported the removal of the prayer, while 13% preferred it be retained.
Councillors received legal advice about the inclusion of a prayer at its meetings in light of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities before making its decision.
Some councillors spoke about feeling they had no choice but to support the prayer’s removal, with lawyers confirming to the Guardian that their view was the use of a prayer is unlawful.
Jennifer Kanis of Maurice Blackburn Lawyers said she hoped Boroondara’s decision would lead to a review of the practice by other councils,
The Boroondara vote was not unanimous, with just one councillor voting against the resolution.
Mayor Felicity Sinfield said she was disappointed the matter had to be discussed, saying it had been unnecessarily divisive for the council and the community.
Mount Alexander Shire Councillors have unanimously resolved to continue and expand the Council’s aged care services.
The decision was made following an extensive review of Council’s aged care services in response to national reform of the aged care sector.
Mayor Rosie Annear said the council would eventually explore delivering extra services as well, and any expansion would be done in a sustainable way and in line with client demand.
The council employs about 50 people to deliver aged care services, and will now be the only local government in the Bendigo federal electorate to offer in-home aged care services.
More on this story from ABC News.
Andrew Cooney has been appointed as the new CEO of the City of Greater Bendigo.
Mr Cooney has worked at three councils across the Loddon Mallee region. Over the last five years with Greater Bendigo, he has led the development of the Bendigo GovHub and served as the council’s director of Commonwealth Games.
He will succeed long term CEO Craig Niemann, who is stepping down in December after 16 years in the job.
Mr Cooney has told the Bendigo Advertiser that there will be no immediate shake-ups at the council, and vowed to focus on helping councillors finish off their four year term.
A new Acting CEO has commenced duty at Moira Shire Council, which is under administration until 2028.
Michael Tudball, a former CEO at Southern Grampians and recently interim CEO at Corangamite Shire, is also a former mayor and councillor at Moorabool Shire Council.
He is taking the reins for a six month period while a comprehensive search is conducted for the next permanent CEO of the council.
A safety campaign targeting e-scooter behaviours has been unveiled in Yarra City Council.
The campaign includes a clever YouTube video called “Bootin’ Scootin’ Off the Footpath” encouraging users to ride only in bike lanes and on shared paths and roads; to always wear a helmet and to park their devices responsibly.
Nearly 800,000 e-scooter trips have been taken under the trial that commenced in February 2022.
Victorian Briefs:
A potential memorial recognising the sacrifice of nurses on the island of Lemnos during World War One will be investigated by Greater Shepparton City Council.
The council has adopted a resolution to look into the costs of designing and erecting a structure in Lemnos, near Shepparton, which was named after the Greek island in the Aegean Sea, which was a staging area for allied troops during the Gallipoli campaign.
Portland Airport will be used as a reference station for a project aimed at increasing the accuracy of GPS in Australia and New Zealand.
Glenelg Shire Council has approved a lease of up to 20 years for a small piece of land at the airport that will contribute to improving accuracy of global positioning services from a present 5 – 10 metres, down to as little as 10cm.
Ballarat City Council will tonight consider a recommendation to introduce a weekly FOGO collection service, and reduce the frequency of household waste collection to fortnightly.
The proposed plan also includes a monthly residential glass bin collection, and fortnightly mixed recyclables collection.
If adopted, an additional $800,000 per annum will be required to deliver the new service.
And Maribyrnong City Council has rescinded a decision to include a pop-up style bicycle path in the Summerhill Road reconstruction project.
Mayor Sarah Carter successfully had the decision overturned based on a lack of community consultation and strategic planning.
The council will engage the community on how best to deliver a north-south cycling connection.
National Roundup:
NSW:
City of Sydney Mayor Clover Moore has blocked a proposal to project the Israeli flag onto Sydney’s Town Hall.
Liberal councillor Shauna Jarrett called on the City of Sydney to illuminate Town Hall with the colours of the Israeli flag, as a mark of respect for Israel and the Jewish community after violent terrorist attacks by Hamas on October 7.
Ms Moore knocked back the proposal, arguing that while the council condemns war, terrorism and violence in any form, it “must stand with both communities during the difficult time”.
She called for the community to unite peacefully as “now more than ever it is vital we reflect our values of diversity, solidarity and inclusivity”.
Her decision was criticised by a spokesperson for the Israeli Defence Force, who said that she should have made a stand with Israel for good.
At Waverley Council, an extraordinary meeting will be held on Thursday to potentially replace its deputy mayor, and remove two councillors their committee and delegate appointments.
Four councillors have signed two motions, one of which would effectively vacate the office of deputy mayor, which is currently held by Cr Ludivico Fabiano.
A petition with more than 1,000 signatures has been gathered, calling for his resignation, after he and Cr Dominic Kanak last week voted against a council motion condemning the Hamas attacks.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Cr Fabiano has defended his stance and said he wanted to see amendments to the motion that acknowledged the military action taken by Israel.
Meanwhile, Randwick City Council has overturned a decision made in June to fly the Palestinian flag as part of International Day of Solidarity in November.
On Monday, the council abandoned the plan after Cr Daniel Rosenfeld brought forward a motion to reverse the decision in light of recent events.
QLD:
Gold Coast City Council has appointed its mayor Tom Tate in a caretaker role in the absence of suspended murder-accused Division 7 councillor Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden.
The Local Government Department has appointed an “advisor” for Division 7 until after next year’s elections, but the advisor is not able to undertake duties ordinarily undertaken by a Councillor in an official capacity.
The Gold Coast Bulletin reported that councillors were unanimous at a meeting this week in accepting an officer recommendation to designate Mayor Tate as the community contact for Division 7 issues until the election in March next year.
Scenic Rim Regional Council has described media speculation and rumours in the community about the status of its CEO, David Keenan, as salacious.
In a statement to the Beaudesert Times (26/10/23), the Council referred the right to privacy for Council officers who are currently on leave, and said measures are in place to ensure services are delivered to the community while protecting the wellbeing of its officers.
The speculation was fuelled when the council recently extended the tenure of acting CEO Oliver Pring around the time Mr Keenan was originally due to return from leave.
The Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) has released a nine-point Action Plan to address the issue of youth crime in the state.
The plan includes community-driven solutions such as tailored local solutions, diversionary strategies designed to keep young people out of the juvenile justice system, and increased support for victims of crime.
The LGAQ President and Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson emphasized that while law and order is a State Government responsibility, councils are focused on putting forward constructive solutions to help address the concerns of their communities.
WA:
Concerns have been raised about delays with the results from the Western Australian local government elections held on Saturday.
The switch to optional preferential voting and the direct election of mayors and shire presidents are said to be partly why it took longer to process votes, as well as a move away from ward structures at nearly all of the state’s 139 local governments.
Many results weren’t confirmed until Tuesday.
Electoral Commissioner Robert Kennedy told the ABC that the new process was logistically challenging, and has promised a smoother performance at future council polls.
Here are some of the notable results from the weekend’s polls:
Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas has been elected for a second term, receiving nearly 57% of first preference votes.
At the City of Stirling, incumbent Mark Irwin was comfortably returned, polling with more than 62% of first preference votes.
Filomena Piffaretti was successful in the mayoral election in Bayswater, after resigning her councillor position last week. An extraordinary election will be required to fill her councillor position.
A tight mayoral race in Belmont, with Robert Rossi successful in a field of five candidates.
Former Greens MP Alison Xamon will be the new mayor of the City of Vincent
At Busselton, a six way contest for mayor saw Phill Cronin elected on preferences, after receiving just 20.52% of first preference votes.
Challenger Gary Mack has unseated incumbent Keri Shannon and will be the new mayor at the Town of Cambridge.
The Shire of Augusta-Margaret River has its first popularly elected Shire President – Julia Meldrum was successful from an all female field of three candidates.
Patrick Hall has been returned as mayor of the City of Canning.
Fiona Argyle has held on to the mayoralty to the City of Nedlands.
Greg Milner was comfortably elected mayor of the City of South Perth.
In what has been described as a shock result, Jerry Clune has replaced Shane Van Styn as mayor of the City of Greater Geraldton.
The City of Gosnells mayoral election has been comfortably won by Terresa Lynes, with more than 70% of first preferences.
And Glenn Wilson has been declared the mayor of Kalgoorlie Boulder.
Head to lgnewsroundup.com for more information on the weekend’s election outcomes.
National Briefs:
A new CEO starts at WA’s Shire of Menzies this week.
Glenda Teede was CEO of Shire of Victorian Plains for six years, and has led councils in Queensland and Northern Territory previously.
The Shire of Menzies has been without a permanent CEO for more than 12 months.
Applications have been for called for the CEO position at South Australia’s District Council Peterborough.
The council is seeking a replacement for Stephen Rufus, who finishes on the 27th October, after which Colin Davies will be Acting CEO until a new CEO commences.
McArthur is handling the process, with applications closing 6th November.
The Shire of Goomalling in WA is also looking for its next CEO. The shire is 130km northeast of Perth, and the recruitment is being managed by Fitzgerald Strategies. Applications are due in by the 28th November.
Willoughby City Council is advocating for tougher penalties and deterrents for the destruction of trees.
A recent large-scale tree vandalism incident has prompted the Council’s call to the NSW Government for a comprehensive review of the legislative framework.
It has offered a $10,000 reward to find those responsible for the recent incident, and it will seek the support of other councils for its advocacy position at the upcoming Local Government NSW conference.
International Spotlight:
NZ:
New Zealand’s Chief Ombudsman has reprimanded councils for holding secret workshops behind closed doors.
Peter Boshier conducted a review of eight councils in light of complaints that critical decisions were being made out of the public eye, potentially undermining local democracy.
In his report, released this week, he said reasons of controversy, complexity or the potential for embarrassment were not good reasons to exclude the public.
According to a report from Radio New Zealand, Mr Boshier said elected members should be resilient enough to withstand reasonable public scrutiny.
He said the openness and transparency requirements of the Local Government Act meant in his view that all workshops should be open by default, with their time and location advertised in advance.
UK:
A plan to freeze council tax in Scotland has been met with anger and annoyance.
The local authority body COSLA said the announcement by the First Minister was made without any agreement from councils, and undermined the Verity House Agreement.
According to the BBC, COSLA feels previous tax freezes have been regressive and not to the benefit of those who need it most.
It says democratically elected councils should the ones to make such decisions, despite the first minister’s confirmation that the freeze will be fully funded by the Scottish Government.
USA:
An Oregon City Council meeting was disrupted by several AI-generated speaker bots that made racist and hateful comments towards the Jewish mayor.
According to the Daily Mail, the incident occurred during a virtual meeting earlier this month, where over a dozen callers began spouting racist, bigoted, and conspiratorial views.
The mayor, Lacey Beaty, quickly cut them off, and the exact slurs used by the bots have been redacted from the public video of the meeting.
Mayor Beaty believes that it was likely one person using AI to log in and make the comments. She said she understood from other female mayors that similar incidents had occurred in their cities.
The council released a statement expressing empathy and condemning the display of bigotry.
The Mayor and Vice Mayor of a city in the San Fransisco Bay area are facing a community backlash over a proposed anti-Israeli resolution, according to the Richmond Standard.
Community members are being mobilised to speak against a proposed 570-word resolution put forward by Mayor Eduardo Martinez and Vice-Mayor Gayle McLaughlin of the city of Richmond.
The motion, which some say is “biased and inflammatory”, describes Israel as an “apartheid state”, accuses it of “ethnic cleansing” and does not condemn the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Criticism against the motion has come from Jewish and non-Jewish members of the Richmond community.
And still in the bay area.. the mayor of San Fransisco is moving to deregulate construction processes to speed up housing development.
The city has targeted the construction of 82,000 housing units over the next eight years, but according to route-fifty.com at the current rate, it is delivering less than 3,000 annually.
Mayor London Breed said, “We need to… get out of our own way when it comes to housing”.
She has signed legislation to reduce building fees and the number of affordable units required for projects, and wants to see over the counter permits where proposals comply with existing building rules.
State and federal measures are also being brought in, including a $85M White House program to help communities identify and remove obstacles to housing development.