By Alesha Capone
Three Wyndham councillors have been unsuccessful in their bid to have Cr Peter Maynard temporarily step down from his role as deputy mayor, after an incident of “alleged misconduct”.
Crs Josh Gilligan, Mia Shaw and Heather Marcus penned a letter to the council’s acting chief executive, which was made public during a meeting last week, calling for Cr Maynard to step down after he allegedly “verbally abused” a community member.
The letter requested that Wyndham’s other councillors endorse the call for Cr Maynard to step down as deputy mayor until an investigation into the alleged misconduct presented its findings.
Prior to the meeting, mayor Adele Hegedich lodged an application of alleged misconduct, through the council’s internal arbitration process, after receiving material in relation to Cr Maynard’s conduct.
Although the exact nature of the alleged misconduct was not detailed at the council meeting, Cr Gilligan said the allegations have been “supported by one of Australia’s most reputable public health organisations”.
Despite this, a majority of councillors did not support the call for Cr Maynard to step down until the investigation concluded.
Some councillors engaged in a fiery debate on the topic, during which Cr Hegdich interjected to say that she was “in charge of this meeting tonight” and “you all need to stop”.
Cr Robert Szatkowski said he believed an apology from Cr Maynard to his alleged victim would be “sufficient resolution” for the matter, if the arbitration process found this was needed.
Cr Szatkowski rejected that that Cr Maynard should step down as deputy mayor.
He described Cr Maynard’s alleged misconduct as “stamina in the face of a blatant attack on a highly sensitive and personal scar”.
When contacted for comment, Cr Maynard said he would be willing to speak more about the matter, if he was permitted to following the council’s investigation.
“There’s a process in place and I have to respect that process, and there is a process in place because I requested it,” Cr Maynard said.
