Send supervisors home

Mayor says council has proven it’s up to the job, so it’s time to …

MAYOR Bruce Harwood says the Geelong council has proven there is no need for the ongoing presence of monitors to oversee its work.

The monitors were appointed by the State Government in 2017 to keep a watchful eye over the council after a damning Commission of Inquiry report found there was rampant bullying and dysfunction under the previous council led by former mayor Darryn Lyons.

Cr Harwood, pictured, is waiting to meet new Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek, where it is understood he will raise the issue of the monitors.

Ratepayers are paying about $160,000 a year for the two monitors — Peter Dorling and Jude Munro — who are to remain in place until the 2020 general council elections.

While Cr Harwood acknowledged the decision was the State Government’s, he said he was confident they were no longer necessary.

“I believe that as a council we needed to demonstrate through our actions that the monitors are no longer needed in Geelong, and give the State Government a strong evidence-based reason to withdraw the monitors. And I think we have done that,” he said.

Fellow councillor Eddy Kontelj first raised the issue at a council meeting last month and last week told the Geelong Advertiser it was time for the monitors to use their expertise elsewhere.

“We’ve now got an amended and adopted code of conduct, a new CEO in place and a new executive team,” Cr Kontelj said.

“Personally, I feel we’re working well as a team.

“With the added pressures we’ve got with rate capping, there’s no doubt the money we’re paying to them … could be used in other areas.

“Just like any professional organisation, we’ve also got a conduct management plan within our code of conduct, so things are in place to allow people to deal with behaviour and conduct that is inappropriate.”

A spokesman for Mr Somyurek said meeting with Geelong council was a “high priority”, but he declined to be drawn on the future of the monitors.

“It would be inappropriate to comment further until that meeting has taken place,” the spokesman said.