Wyndham council has been rocked by “serious misconduct“ allegations leveled at deputy mayor Jasmine Hill.
The allegations came to light during a heated council meeting on Tuesday night (27 September) after councillor Josh Gilligan publicly named Cr Hill in a notice of motion alleging “serious misconduct“.
In an “unusual move”, Cr Hill subsequently raised her own motion and voted to have the CEO provide her fellow councillors with the “full allegations” against her.
“It’s pretty clear I don’t believe I (did) anything wrong,” Cr Hill said, adding she believes she is “well-loved and respected by the community and many council staff”.
“But if I do, I am very willing to make changes and to improve myself. As deputy mayor of a city I am responsible for my actions, for my words.
“I feel that the notice of motion by Cr Gilligan was defamatory and was intended to harm me.
“There is no evidence to support the allegations and speculations as this is a confidential report.”
In documents seen by Star Weekly, Wyndham council chief executive Stephen Wall wrote to the local government minister in July seeking advice about the behaviour of some councillors, although no specific councillors were named.
“A number of employees at council have raised concerns about their dealings with some of the Wyndham City councillors, and specifically some poor interactions that have occurred,” Mr Wall wrote.
Mr Wall also commissioned a report that “collected the perceptions of several staff and their dealings with councillors”.
“The matters raised in the report include aggressive and combative arguments over the phone, councillors seeking to direct employees, councillors swearing at employees, and consistent and persistent interactions about matters without councillors being accepting of the proposed resolution or officer advice,” Mr Wall wrote.
In response Local Government Minister Melissa Horne said she took the allegations seriously and asked council to make a commitment to staff safety and outline actions it would take to address staff concerns.
A councillor briefing session was held in August where those in attendance agreed to a “reset“ and committed to “genuinely take part in a new unified direction“.
Cr Gilligan on Tuesday night said Cr Hill’s “noble“ move would allow the matter to be referred to a Councillor Conduct Panel.
Cr Hegedich supported the “unusual move” by Cr Hill and, along with Crs Sahana Ramesh, Peter Maynard and Jennie Barrera, denied being named in the report.
Cr Marcel Mahfoud is currently overseas and did not attend the meeting, but told Star Weekly he was also not mentioned in the report.
Cr Heather Marcus admitted she was one of the councillors named, prompting Cr Barrera to thank Cr Marcus for her honesty.
“I think it’s a really brave thing to do, to face up to these kinds of things, it’s a shame others are not prepared to do that,” Cr Barrera said.
