TENSIONS appear to be growing between some Frankston councillors, with a lengthy debate at last week’s public meeting prompting the mayor to warn councillors to behave.
After a frosty meeting last week, The Times understands that Frankston mayor Nathan Conroy sent a memo to all councillors on the topic of their conduct. The central issue at the meeting was a notice of motion on the planned funding cut to the Frankston Toy Library.
In a lengthy social media post, Cr Steven Hughes called out the mayor for sending the memo. He said that he believed the message targeted him and his son Cr Liam Hughes, a fellow first-term councillor. “The mayor suggested that we needed to ‘work harder as councillors to make sure we don’t leave residents feeling distressed or concerned with the behaviour of councillors’ and that while up to now he has been ‘reasonable, impartial and fair’ that he will not tolerate last night’s behaviour going forward”, Hughes wrote. “The allegations made above, against myself and Cr Liam Hughes, are grossly unjust and do not constitute poor behaviour. It is our job as councillors to represent Frankston residents and community groups and advocate for their needs.”
In his social media post, Hughes said he worried actions may be taken going forward “including having councillors removed from meetings all the way to misconduct allegations, which could potentially lead to a councillor being suspended.”
The conduct of Steven Hughes during this term has brought him into conflict with other councillors on multiple occasions. He was handed a one-month suspension last year after making Facebook posts comparing council’s local laws to those in the Soviet Union and North Korea (“Rebel councillor suspended over Facebook posts” The Times 31/8/21).
The Times asked the mayor questions about the contents of the memo and if he believed council had a behaviour issue. He said that he had recently “reminded” councillors of the need to follow council’s governance rules.
“Frankston City Council’s meetings are conducted in accordance with council’s governance rules. It is imperative that all councillors adhere to the governance rules for the efficient operation of council meetings,” Conroy said. “I recently took the opportunity to remind councillors of this important matter as we continue to deliver for residents. Further, I am dedicated to ensuring a unified approach to exemplary leadership and governance in the best interests of Frankston City residents and ratepayers.”
The behaviour of the previous Frankston Council which served from 2016-2020 reached the point of state government intervention. A monitor was appointed to oversee the council at a cost of more than $111,000 to ratepayers. Just one Frankston councillor was re-elected at the 2020 local government elections.