FRANKSTON Council has knocked back a request to pump more money into South East Water’s new headquarters being built besides Kananook Creek. The Times can reveal the water utility company asked council to contribute about $700,000 to help “beautify” a promenade area on the banks of Creek outside South East Water’s new building between Wells and Playne streets. South East Water has leased land around the building site, including the promenade area at the creek’s edge, from council to move heavy machinery in and out of the site while the 38-metre tall building is constructed and must return the area…
Author: Neil Walker
COMMENT BULLYING. It’s an emotive word in the modern workplace. Is it a word sometimes bandied about by underperformers or is it now a workplace problem ignored in years gone by? Do managers see it as a serious issue? Over the past four weeks The Times has been seeking answers from Frankston Council about bullying allegations between councillors and, in one instance, a councillor and a staff member. Few answers have been forthcoming. Does the council have a culture of bullying? We simply do not know because it refuses to answer such questions as confirmation of the number of bullying…
THE fallout from “bullying” allegations between Frankston councillors aired at last month’s council meeting continues to reverberate around council chambers. Ill feeling between councillors has prompted Cr Glenn Aitken to write to Victorian Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins seeking a change to the Local Government Act to “ensure a minimum level of input from councillors elected to office”. At January’s council meeting Cr Aitken accused some councillors of trying to “freeload or piggyback on this city”, sparking angry exchanges between councillors and “bullying” accusations. He was more circumspect at this month’s council meeting, aiming his criticisms at councils across Victoria…
A CLASH between two councillors at a council briefing four months ago has shed some light on complaints about some councillors’ behaviour in the wake of “bullying” claims between councillors at last month’s council meeting. Cr Michael O’Reilly said “longer term councillors get pretty nasty” if first-term councillors “disagree … not so much in the chamber but in briefings”. He said “intimidating behaviour” often occurs during briefings. “I’ve actually been in the situation where I’ve disagreed with Cr [Glenn] Aitken and the CEO has had to take the officers out of the room because he was screaming and swearing at…
A GLOBAL campaign to lobby banks to not invest in fossil fuels is coming to Frankston. Global Divestment Day, a movement to try to “weaken the political power of the fossil fuel industry”, will hold its first day of action on Saturday 14 February. The Frankston event, to be held at White St Mall, will be one of 300 around the world. The day has been organised by 350.org, “a grassroots movement to take on the fossil fuel industry and solve the climate crisis”. Frankston activists Claire Dawson and Alison Bennett are inviting Frankston and Mornington Peninsula residents concerned about…