Minister considers councillor request

Ararat Rural City Council’s governance status will continue unchanged in the short term despite a councillor urging Local Government Minister Marlene Kairouz to call in administrators.

Ms Kairouz said she would ‘carefully’ consider correspondence from Cr Peter Beales as well as the views of municipal monitor Janet Dore before determining whether the government needed to take further action.

“We are well aware of the challenges facing Ararat council. That’s why a monitor has been appointed to keep an eye on the council and assist where possible,” she said.

“This process needs to run its course before any further action is taken by the government.”

Government staff members confirmed that Ms Kairouz had received a letter from Cr Beales and that she would respond to him in due course.

Staff added the government focus remained on ‘ensuring the council met its obligation in implementing Commission of Inquiry recommendations’.

Cr Beales announced at last week’s Ararat council meeting he had written to the minister and had offered his resignation if it helped in getting ‘transparent, honest government’.

The government appointed municipal monitor Dore to oversee Ararat council operations as part of its response to a Commission of Inquiry based on the council’s handling of community rate-sharing plans in the municipality.

The council had voted to scrap a rating differential system, designed to establish equality across a rate base between urban and farming land, a decision the State Government overturned.

The issue led to the resignation of former mayor Paul Hooper.