IBAC clears council of illegal meeting claim

The Independent Broadbased Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) has cleared Baw Baw Shire council over a complaint that it held an illegal ordinary meeting.

Warragul resident Don McLean submitted a complaint to the Local Government Inspectorate, who referred the matter to IBAC.

Mr McLean claimed council failed to give notice of an ordinary meeting, conducted an illegal meeting and confirmed minutes of an illegal meeting.

The issue related to mayor Annemarie McCabe taking leave of absence from council duties in January after nominating to stand for state parliament to contest the deferred election for the seat of Narracan.

Mr McLean claimed the meeting that approved Cr McCabe’s leave was illegal because it was held sooner than the seven days’ notice required for ordinary council meetings.

In a letter to Mr McLean IBAC said it determined the complaint as a “public interest disclosure, not a public interest complaint”.

“Whilst there is information to support the facts of the alleged conduct, that is, that an ordinary meeting of Baw Baw Shire council took place without the requisite seven days notice, there was insufficient information to show or tend to show that improper conduct occurred.”

After receiving the IBAC decision, Mr Mclean has again referred the matter to the Local Government Inspectorate to address the two issues not addressed in the IBAC finding.

These include his allegations that council breached governance rules, claiming the shire chief executive officer arranged a meeting for which he had no authority and failure to advertise the meeting in a newspaper circulating in the area.

The day before the deferred Narracan election was held in January, Mr McLean questioned council by email about whether the Local Government Act was complied with and whether chief executive officer Mark Dupe was notified before Cr McCabe nominated for the election. He also questioned if the meeting should have been held before Cr McCabe nominated and were all timeframes legally met.

A response provided by the shire rejected any wrongdoing stating that taking leave of absence was not required in such situations but was common practice and recommended by the Municipal Association of Victoria, that Cr McCabe complied with the practice and all time frames were legally met.

The response also pointed out there was “no section of the Act that precludes a leave of absence being granted retrospectively.”