Mayor told: stay away

A MAJORITY of staff at the Derwent Valley Council have signed a letter complaining about the mayor’s behaviour.

The letter to council general manager Greg Winton was sent to all councillors yesterday.

Deputy mayor Jessica Cosgrove said it showed “staff morale is at an all-time low”, while Cr Paul Belcher said it was the first time “that a council’s staff has stood up to keep a mayor away from his place of work”.

Mayor Ben Shaw said he continued to enjoy the support of other councillors and he wanted to stay in the job.

THE Derwent Valley Council has been thrown into disarray with revelations a letter signed by 18 employees was sent to the general manager to complain about Mayor Ben Shaw.

It has prompted one councillor to call for the mayor to resign and another to say the letter was a sign of low morale among staff.

But Cr Shaw said he had the support of other councillors and wanted to stay in the role. General manager Greg Winton did not return the Mercury’ s call, but said in a statement he had received the letter on Thursday afternoon. Mr Winton said the letter had been provided to all councillors, including the mayor, yesterday afternoon.

Mr Winton said he was “acting as a conduit between staff and the councillors, including the mayor, to discuss what actions may be taken”.

Councillor Paul Belcher called for Cr Shaw to step down and said if that didn’t happen, the Local Government Minister “needs to step in and remove us all”.

“It’s the first time I’ve heard that a council’s staff has stood up to keep a mayor away from his place of work,’’ he said.

Deputy Mayor Jessica Cosgrove said the letter was “a pretty good indication that staff morale is at an all-time low”. She said it was regrettable parts of the conflict had been played out on social media.

Cr Shaw said a series of messages between him and another person about internal council staffing matters had been posted on Facebook and said he was seeking legal advice on the release of the messages.

“I spoke to somebody who I felt was trusted at the time,’’ he said.

“I certainly regret conversing with that person and will make sure that I don’t fall into that trap again.

“I feel for people that have been affected by the publication of these text messages but the majority of them are not in context and are snippets of longer conversations.”

It was reported this week Mr Winton had announced his intention to retire next year.

Last month, he stood down while a council-initiated independent investigation into the unauthorised culling of 14 geese, two ducks and several plovers was conducted.

In February last year, the council reappointed Mr Winton for a second term of three years, on a salary package of $211,000 a year. The reappointment came after Mr Winton and former mayor Martyn Evans were reprimanded by Local Government Director Alex Tay after Mr Winton loaned $7000 in council funds to Mr Evans without the wider approval of council members.