A PETITION calling on Frankston Council not to offer a commercial lease on a public golf course saw council CEO Dennis Hovenden teed off that the proposal became public before councillors formally discussed the matter.
South Ward councillor Brian Cunial read a 103-signature petition at council’s 23 April public council meeting imploring council to “keep Frankston’s Centenary Park Public Golf Course in public hands”.
A visibly frustrated Mr Hovenden urged mayor Cr Colin Hampton, chairing the meeting, to stop Cr Cunial reading out the petition.
Before he was interrupted, Cr Cunial said people who signed the petition were concerned “that a private lease over the course would result in cutting of maintenance [and] loss of local employment”.
The mayor disagreed that the petition should be heard in confidence although did instruct Cr Cunial to stop reading all of the wording in the petition after the CEO’s intervention.
Councillors had been due to talk about “Centenary Park Golf Course expression of interest” listed in the confidential section of the 23 April meeting agenda.
The confidential part of the meeting is held after the meeting open to the public and press.
At the start of the meeting, before reading the petition at the public meeting, Cr Cunial declared an interest in the Centenary Park Golf Course matter, as council’s representative of the board of Peninsula Leisure Pty Ltd.
“I have sought advice and it doesn’t exclude me from the vote,” he said.
Peninsula Leisure was established by Frankston Council to manage the Peninsula Aquatic Recreation Centre (PARC) in 2012.
A councillor or mayor of the day sits on the board as a non-voting member of the Peninsula Leisure board.
A majority of councillors voted in May last year to stop any expansion plans by Peninsula Leisure without councillors’ input after it emerged the council-owned company showed interest in managing neighbouring Mornington Peninsula Shire council’s sports centres.
Five of the shire’s sports and swim centres were subsequently outsourced to private operator Belgravia Leisure late last year.
When asked about the Centenary Park Golf Course expression of interest matter last week, council corporate development director Tim Frederico said the matter was “commercial in confidence” so no comment could be made by council.
Peninsula Leisure CEO Tim Gledhill also declined to comment.
“As a regional expert in sport, recreation and leisure, Peninsula Leisure’s focus remains on continuing to add value to the Frankston community,” he said in a statement.
“At this stage, we have no further comment.”
The mayor said he is no longer a member of Centenary Park Golf Club when asked by The Times after the meeting.
Cr Hampton had previously declared an “interest in common” at a public council meeting in January last year when plans to build a $14 million tennis centre at Centenary Park was discussed by councillors.
Monitor Prue Digby, understood to be on leave, was not at the latest public council meeting.
The monitor was sent to council by the Labor state government to assess “governance concerns” raised by the CEO and Cr Cunial when mayor last year.
