DOCUMENTS related to councillor code of conduct arbitration hearings will not be released after deputy mayor Cr Colin Hampton requested they be sealed from public view forever.
At last month’s public council meeting councillors voted for the documents and hearing outcomes to be brought into open council but a subsequent notice of motion at the same meeting by Cr Hampton stated: “The arbitration reports … remain in closed council indefinitely”.
Crs Glenn Aitken, Brian Cunial, James Dooley, Sandra Mayer and Michael O’Reilly voted to release the documents but then backed Cr Hampton’s notice of motion ordering the documents be sealed.
Cr Darrel Taylor and Cr Suzette Tayler had been ejected from the meeting for 30 minutes by mayor Dooley, as meeting chair, at the time of the voting because the mayor believed comments made at the meeting were slanderous (“‘Dirty laundry’ aired at council”, The Times 26/9/16).
The documents, seen by The Times, include emails between councillors and evidence given to the arbitration hearings that show bitter personal feuding mostly unrelated to council policies and decisions amid accusations and counter-accusations of “bullying” and “harassment”.
Acting Frankston Council CEO Tim Frederico said council had also sought legal counsel after the council meeting that advised the documentation could not be released due to “privacy and legal obligations”.
“Council has been advised that none of the information from the confidential report can be released to the public,” Mr Frederico said.
“In view of this advice, the information will not be released in any form.”
The acting CEO said Cr Hampton’s notice of motion also “supplanted” the previous notice of motion when councillors voted to release the arbitration hearing documents.
Council CEO Dennis Hovenden confirmed last month that it cost ratepayers about $19,000 to pay lawyers to adjudicate on five complaints against three councillors – Crs Darrel Taylor, Suzette Tayler and Rebekah Spelman – by fellow councillors Dooley and Aitken.
Lawyers found no merit in three of the complaints, including Cr Aitken’s complaint about Cr Spelman and Cr Dooley’s complaints about internal council emails sent by Cr Darrel Taylor.
Lawyer ruled phrases used by Cr Taylor and Cr Suzette Tayler in Facebook comments about council matters breached council code of conduct provisions and they should publicly apologise.
Cr Darrel Taylor claimed the complaints were payback against the three councillors motivated by the outcome of an independent panel hearing that in June found Cr Colin Hampton breached Local Government Act code of conduct behaviour clauses over the way he was “aggressive” towards two council employees at a public function at The Deck bar in Frankston late last year.
The mayor ordered Cr Taylor from the meeting, saying he had been “defamed” since he was effectively being accused of “bias”.
Cr Hampton has tabled the exact wording of the apology Crs Taylor and Tayler must make at a public council meeting on Monday (10 October).
