Harper Sercombe
A further $63,599 has been spent on ongoing Hume council legal fees and related costs, new figures reveal.
At a council meeting on Monday, July 24, a report was tabled breaking down total costs incurred between October 1, 2022 and June of this year.
The report revealed council has spent $63,599 on legal fees and related costs during this period, on top of $216,478 spent between November 2020 and September 30, 2022, taking total costs to $280,077.
Included in the costs are 23 applications for internal arbitration from November 2020 to July 2022, totalling $65,673, of which 22 matters were brought by Cr Trevor Dance and one by Cr Carly Moore against Cr Dance.
Also included is a councillor conduct panel (CCP) hearing appointed by council to investigate whether Cr Dance had complied with the council’s internal arbitration process ($76,080).
The panel suspended Cr Dance for three months in April 2022, ruling that he had breached council’s internal arbitration process by failing to attend two arbitration hearings in June 2021, in relation to his allegations of misconduct against Cr Jack Medcraft.
Cr Dance had cited his mental health for refusing to attend the hearings, but the CCP concluded Cr Dance “did not attend the hearings because he chose not to attend in circumstances where no medical evidence to support his non-attendance was provided by him”.
Cr Dance served two weeks of his suspension before VCAT granted him a stay.
The CCP decision against Cr Dance was overturned by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) in December 2022, following an appeal by Cr Dance, which cost council $75,887.
VCAT president Justice Michelle Quigley found Cr Dance’s claims about his mental health should have been considered more seriously.
Council has appealed the VCAT decision to the Supreme Court. This has cost council $27,368 as of June 30, 2023.
Cr Dance has also made a complaint against an arbiter at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. Council has spent $35,069 as of June 30, 2023, to “insure” the arbiter.
