Hume mayor Carly Moore says she would like to see councillor complaints dealt with internally to avoid exorbitant legal fees, which have now cost more than $142,000, council documents revealed.
Speaking to ABC Melbourne on Tuesday, June 21, Cr Moore said she would prefer if costs of arbitration processes dealing with council in-fighting were not “formalised in initial stages”.
“I’m an accountant, so I always think about the numbers, and $142,000 is really the equivalent of 70 households’ rates for an entire year,” Cr Moore said.
She urged councillors to engage with each other in-person, because it was about “understanding differences and respecting those differences”.
“It’s okay to have a difference of opinion. There’s 11 councillors, we’re not going to agree all of the time,” Cr Moore said.
“But we do need to work together to achieve great outcomes for our community, and that’s certainly my focus and the focus of most of the councillors on our council.”
The discussion followed the release of previously confidential details and costs of councillor complaints against each other, revealed during a June 14 council meeting.
Documents show council has spent $142,898 on complaints, including at least $48,583 on 21 internal arbitration matters brought by Cr Trevor Dance – one so far has found a breach of the councillor code of conduct.
The most costly arbitration case was brought by a group of councillors represented by Cr Moore against Cr Dance, totalling $16,987 – in this case Cr Dance had eight breaches found against him.
Cr Moore told ABC once councillors raise a complaint, the organisation was “obligated to follow proper process that it mandated through the Local Government Act”.
Responding to Cr Moore’s interview on ABC Melbourne, Cr Dance told Star Weekly the internal process was “flawed”, and said the act was the “only avenue” available for complaints about conduct.
He said some complaints came from residents, which he felt compelled to follow-up formally.
Sunbury Residents Association president Graham Williams said while the organisation supports the view that all elected officials adhere to the highest conduct, the cost was unfortunate and potentially avoidable.
“Having to resort to resolutions that involve external, paid, and expensive arbitration services is in our view an unnecessary and avoidable drain on council’s funds – effectively the money that we the residents expect to see invested back into our community,” Mr Williams said.
“The money paid out as reported is only a part of the total cost – the loss of staff hours and productivity is also a significant cost.
“It is a considerable disappointment that this has occurred in the first case and is still ongoing through various other arbitration processes.”
Cr Moore reiterated to Star Weekly she felt disappointed the council hasn’t been able to “utilise informal mechanisms through the councillor code of conduct to resolve issues that would significantly reduce costs”.
