A call to stand down Warrnambool City councillors and bring in an independent monitor in the wake of the CEO's sacking has been rejected.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Following the four-three vote of councillors to remove Peter Schneider, MP Bev McArthur made the call on Friday and it won the backing of mayor Tony Herbert and Crs Robert Anderson and Peter Sycopoulis.
But Cr Mike Neoh said councillors should "definitely not" stand down or be stood down and a monitor brought in - a stance that had the backing of Crs Kylie Gaston and Sue Cassidy.
"Whether it's one councillor, or two or three councillors, just because the vote hasn't gone your way, don't try to bring the council down," Cr Neoh said.
"You don't take your bat and go home. You don't try and close shop and say we shouldn't be governing anymore.
"That's pretty immature in my mind."
He said councillors had a responsibility to implement decisions, and with council elections just weeks away, councillors had to maximise their time.
"Maybe they need to look at whether they've got the capacity to be productive in the next three months," he said.
"I'm certainly going to be productive. I'm certainly going to contribute. I'm certainly going to focus on delivering services and the council plan.
"I've got projects that I want to push before the end of this term."
Cr Neoh said the local government minister had said it's the council's responsibility to hire and fire a CEO that they believed was "appropriate for the community and the organisation".
"We've made a tough decision in the best interests of the community. It happens all the time. It doesn't matter whether it's a private organisation or a government organisation," he said.
"The local government minister was sacked but they didn't put a monitor on the state government."
Crs Kylie Gaston, Mike Neoh, David Owen and Sue Cassidy cited the poor showing in recent community and staff surveys as justification for their decision as well as neglect of council's 2040 plan.
He said he was "miffed" confidential details had been released by a number of councillors in relation to a staffing matter.
"I wouldn't imagine Bev McArthur or Roma Britnell would be privy to all the confidential information that we're privy to," he said.
"I don't know how people can make judgement from the outside when they're not privy to information unless they've been receiving leaked information."
Cr Neoh said now wasn't the time to be looking back. "There's an obsessiveness to looking back. If you keep looking back it just shows that there's no vision there," he said.
"Get on with the job, be a leader, let's move forward. Forget about the white noise.
"Too many people are touchy about criticism. You will be paralysed if you worry about criticism all the time. There will be people for and against things.
"Leadership is about knowing what you believe is right and going for it and not flip flopping because of the white noise."
Cr Gaston said the council continued to be "very functional" and Monday night's councillor briefing, the first since the CEO sacking, was very respectful and cordial.
"I'm more than ready to continue working together until the end of our term," she said.
Cr Cassidy said she didn't believe councillors needed to stand down because they had made what they believed was the right decision.
"We're an elected council that's what we're put in there to do," she said.
Cr Owen said that a majority of councillors had voted on it and it was now time to move forward.
Cr Anderson said last week that he would continue to do the job that he was elected to do, and Cr Herbert said he was keen to continue working on a number of big projects for the city including the Princes Highway upgrade and breakwater works.
Cr Sycopoulis said he had always taken his role as a councillor very seriously and remained committed to his councillor duties.
"I believe that the relationships within the entire organisation are already showing signs of strain due to a lack of trust as a result of the contempt and the complete lack of humanity displayed by four of my fellow councillors," he said.
"There is something inherently wrong when they recklessly planned to terminate the contract of the CEO and give no reason and deny natural justice.
"It is no wonder that many, including myself, have questioned the motivation behind it."
Read more:
Our COVID-19 news articles relating to public health and safety are free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.
