‘Right person’ for job needed
THERE is still no indication of when a municipal monitor will arrive at Frankston Council more than a month after the state government formally voiced concerns about “conduct and proper functioning” at council.
The decision to send in a monitor to oversee council meetings was announced by the state government on 9 September.
Victorian Local Government Minister at the time, Natalie Hutchins, said the Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate had recommended the appointment of a monitor.
Inspectorate chief municipal inspector David Wolf said at the time the councils watchdog “has received several recent complaints related to Frankston Council”.
The mayor Cr Brian Cunial named himself and council CEO Dennis Hovenden as complainants to the inspectorate.
“The CEO and I have spoken with the Minister’s chief of staff and met with the Local Government Inspectorate to raise concerns,” Cr Cunial said in a statement in September.
Ms Hutchins was succeeded by Marlene Kairouz in a Labor state government cabinet shuffle days after announcing a government-appointed monitor would be heading to Frankston.
On Friday (13 October), a spokesperson for Ms Kairouz said a monitor has not yet been appointed.
“The Minister is considering the best candidate to be appointed monitor at Frankston City Council,” spokesperson Pat Hutchens said.
“This is about getting the right person to help restore good governance at the council and it’s a decision that won’t be rushed.”
Concerns about “infighting” between councillors were cited by Ms Hutchins, before the cabinet reshuffle, as a reason to appoint a monitor.
The monitor, when he or she arrives at Frankston Council, will sit in on council meetings – the meetings involving councillors held in public and behind closed doors – and report back to the Local Government Minister about council’s governance.
The Minister can direct council to make governance improvements, stand down individual councillors or decide all elected representatives be stood down and government administrators be brought in to run council operations for an interim period before new council elections.
Under the Local Government Act ratepayers ultimately pay the municipal monitor for the time spent at any council.
Individual monitors called in to other councils have cost about $1200 each day.
