There have been extraordinary scenes in recent council meetings, with two councillors refusing to participate in mayoral elections.
Cr Chris Raeburn and Cr Sally Hayes-Burke had already been in an almost four-hour council meeting on Tuesday, November 21, when they excused themselves and left.
In announcing his departure from the chamber, Cr Raeburn said he would like to abstain from the evening’s mayoral elections for a number of reasons.
“I cannot support the appointment of a new mayor in the current environment of Strathbogie Shire,” he told the meeting.
“In the past few weeks, we have seen significant breaches in confidentiality.
“And I do not want to waste my time, or the community’s time, by pretending we are functional.”
Cr Hayes-Burke only spoke to confirm she felt the same way before also exiting the chamber.
The meeting was subsequently rescheduled for November 28; however, prior to that, Crs Raeburn and Hayes-Burke released a statement saying they would not attend.
“We believe the governance of our council is irredeemably damaged, and the appointment of a new mayor would be even more damaging,” the statement read.
“We are hopeful the minister will act quickly and announce an outcome of the recent municipal monitor’s report.”
The minister in question is Victorian Local Government Minister Melissa Horne.
On November 29, Mayor Laura Binks released a statement also calling on the minister to intervene.
“Our greatest challenge has remained the one of councillors comprehending and understanding their role, the role of the CEO and council officers and the importance of governance and following the Local Government Act 2020 and our policies, plans, charters and codes we adopted and signed up to,” Cr Binks said.
“We are experiencing multiple code-of-conduct breaches and regular unacceptable behaviour towards each other, the CEO and the council officers. It is awful.
“The failure to uphold these standards of conduct has led to a disrespectful and unsafe workplace and a failure of governance.”
Cr Binks asked Ms Horne to release the municipal monitor’s report immediately.
“I am committed to creating a respectful decision-making environment, and I call on Minister Horne to assist me in achieving this,” she said.
“Everyone deserves better. Our community deserves better. Our CEO deserves better. Strathbogie Shire Council officers deserve better. My fellow councillors deserve better.”
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