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THE P RO PE R TY INSI G HTS SITE
Wednesday 13 February 2019
5974 9000 or email: team@baysidenews.com.au www.baysidenews.com.au
Fun at festival The Street Eatz food truck fesitival rolled through Bicentennial Park in Chelsea on 29 January, with youngsters Tomás and Conor enjoying a bite to eat. Picture: Gary Sissons
Trial on trail called off by divided council Brodie Cowburn brodie@baysidenews.com.au AN ugly clash between Kingston councillors over the Bay Trail has seen a special council meeting called to rescind a move to refer the matter to Victoria’s peak anti-corruption body for investigation. Four councillors stormed out of the meeting after a vote passed to call off a push for an IBAC investigation. The meeting was also interrupted on numerous occasions by vocal members of the public gallery who are opposed to a Bay Trail development which will see trees planted along Beach Road.
Councillors Ron Brownlees, Geoff Gledhill, Tamsin Bearsley, and George Hua all left the room at the 11 February meeting before it had concluded. They were the same councillors who voted on 29 January to refer the Bay Trail matter to IBAC. Cr Steve Staikos said a special meeting of council and rescission motion were necessary because “two councillors were absent from the meeting, therefore it was not an accurate reflection on the feeling of all councillors.” Cr Geoff Gledhill, who moved the original motion for an IBAC investigation, said “councillors took offence that they had done something wrong. This came up because people came to
me because they weren’t happy with the process we as a council had followed. It was all about process, they felt that they as residents had been ignored by this council, and other bodies. I think they had fair grounds.” “This simply comes down to do we want to do the right thing by our residents? Do we want to ignore them, thumb your nose at them, and make inappropriate remarks regarding their motives? I haven’t seen a process that’s been conducted in this manner, the least we could do is give people some comfort in that process, while they might not agree with the outcome, at least they can have comfort that the process was fair and reason-
able,” he said. “If this [rescission] is successful tonight, people will take matters into their own hands.” The absence of Cr David Eden due to illness at the first meeting proved to be the difference. He attended the hastily called follow up meeting to cast his vote to rescind the call for an investigation. Crs Staikos, Rosemary West, and Georgina Oxley were opposed to the original motion on 29 January, and instead took aim at Cr Gledhill, alleging he held a conflict of interest. They unsuccessfully tried to amend that motion to refer Cr Gledhill to IBAC. Cr Eden said he would support a re-
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scission, partly because there were no guidelines stating an IBAC investigation must be called by a council, rather than by an individual. “We have confirmation that a complaint doesn’t have to come to a council chamber. They can do it from home if they’ve got that evidence, as long as you be clear on who you are complaining about, and what you are complaining about,” he said. “I’ve seen no actual evidence, just a list of grievances that people have with a particular project. A lot of people don’t like a project so they want to fling mud.” Continued Page 3