Sutcliffe submission an “oversight” by councillor

A submission proposing the McMillan electorate be renamed Sutcliffe was mistakenly submitted by Cr Keith Cook from a Baw Baw Shire email address, according to chief executive officer Alison Leighton.

Cr Cook’s submission on the renaming of McMillan to the Australian Electoral Commission was sent from his council email address.

As a result, the submission carried the shire signature line of “Cr Keith Cook, councillor west ward.”

The submission put forward an alternative to the name of Monash, recommending the electorate be named Sutcliffe – after John Sutcliffe who was a pioneer to the area and involved in “positive change for more than 30 years” throughout the electorate.

But the submission was not a submission supported by council.

Explaining the “oversight,” Ms Leighton said Cr Cook used his council email address to send in the submission.

“It was a minor oversight on his behalf. He had no intention to submit it as a councillor,” she said.

Ms Leighton said council did not take a position on the proposed renaming, saying council felt it was not a local government matter.

“He (Cr Cook) was aware council did not have a position on the matter,” she said.

Ms Leighton said it had been brought to Cr Cook’s attention that the councillor code of conduct required councillors to declare any views that may be their own and not the view of council.

“It is a minor oversight but the code does stipulate they have to declare it’s not the views of council. In those cases it needs to include a disclaimer,” she said.

Cr Cook could not be contacted for comment. • 17-inch alloy wheels • Satellite Navigation • Bluetooth® + more