KINGSTON councillors have been accused of trying to silence further debate about the possible axing of the village committees system of consultation.
Councillors met on Monday evening to finish last month’s ordinary general meeting which was unable to be completed when it ran on until midnight on Monday 26 May.
At that meeting, councillors narrowly voted five-to-four to put the village committees “in recess” until a new formal community consultation process was decided upon (‘Village committees canned’, The News, 28/5/14).
Appointed residents of nine Kingston village committees have provided feedback to council on issues affecting the community at publicly open monthly council meetings since their establishment in 1997.
Council started a review of the village committees system in July last year.
At last month’s council meeting crs Ron Brownlees, Tamsin Bearsley, Geoff Gledhill, John Ronke and mayor Paul Peulich voted to suspend village committees’ activities until further notice. Crs Rosemary West, Steve Staikos, David Eden and Tamara Barth opposed the move.
However, the village committees are due to meet one final time this month before they are suspended, to decide how to allocate community grants before the end of the financial year.
Cr Geoff Gledhill introduced an urgent item of business at this week’s council meeting, seeking to have councillors advise the village committees “that the only recommendations to be considered from the village committees at the June Ordinary Meeting of council be those relating to village committee grants”.
This would have effectively denied village committee representatives speaking at June’s council meeting, to be held later this month, about the community consultation review process and the likely abolition of the village committees.
The item was not debated when council officers present at Monday evening’s meeting advised a majority of councillors would have to agree that it could be added to the agenda.
Councillors were deadlocked at four-four on Monday, with Cr Ronke absent from the meeting.
Former councillor Trevor Shewan, a member of the Patterson Lakes Carrum Village Committee, the most publicly vocal critic of the review process (‘’Secret panels slammed’, The News, 28/5/14), was prevented from speaking about the matter at council’s 26 May meeting.
Mayor Peulich, chairing the meeting, said the village committee had not indicated they intended to talk about the review when submitting its recommendations to be discussed prior to the meeting.
In Mr Shewan’s opinion, the failed manoeuvre to stop village committees discussing the issue at their June meetings is further proof some councillors were determined to shut down public debate.
“It’s a joke – what sort of democracy do we have in the City of Kingston?”
“It’s totally undemocratic and it shows certain councillors do not want to hear any dissent,” Mr Shewan said.
Cr David Eden said the attempt to stop village committee members officially talking about the review was a way to try “stopping village committees pulling together to present their concerns about the review to council.”
“It was a blatant attempt to censor the village committees,” he said.
Cr Steve Staikos asked council officers to intervene when mayor Paul Peulich tried to use his mayoral casting vote to have Cr Gledhill’s item of business added to Monday evening’s agenda.
“Some councillors just don’t want to hear feedback from the community at all,” he said.
“Councillors, myself included, should always be willing to listen to opposing opinions even when that can sometimes be uncomfortable.”
When contacted by The News, Cr Gledhill said there was no sinister intention behind his proposal.
“Some people are always looking for ‘spooks behind the curtain’,” he said.
“It’s a little disappointing that, when we started reviewing the village committees system, eight councillors agreed reform was needed and now some people seem to be taking it all far too personally.”
Cr Gledhill said he had no problem with “vigorous debate”.
“People are free to say whatever they like,” he said. “There are many ways they can make their views known, be it via ward meetings with councillors, calling council’s customer services line or writing letters to newspapers.”
He said claims that debate was being silenced in an undemocratic manner were “completely incorrect”.
Mr Shewan said he believed some councillors feared a repeat of May’s public criticism from village committee representatives at this month’s council meeting.
1 Comment
Cr Gledhill and Cr Brownless Both have no problem with vigorous debate. As long as it does not come from Ratepayers who voted them into there Humble roles as (the ratepayers voice) Have they Risen above their roles and now think they are Grande Politications of the World .Voters of the Central Ward keep your eye on these boys ,when you next vote , ask them what they have done in thereRoles that have helped you as a Ratepayer . Wont be a long list.