“Mr Mayor, you are deluded”: Cr Fawcett
Conflict between the councillors of South Gippsland Shire Council reached a new level at this afternoon’s meeting, when outgoing councillor Jim Fawcett told mayor Cr Don Hill he was “deluded”.
The comment was made in response to the mayor approving an amendment Cr Ray Argento made to a motion by Cr Fawcett.
Cr Fawcett had called for council CEO Tim Tamlin to “provide a suitable summary document of the findings and recommendations of the Councillor Expenditure and Code of Conduct Review and make the summary document public.” The findings of that review are confidential.
Cr Argento – with the backing of all councillors bar Cr Lorraine Brunt (Cr Aaron Brown was absent) – amended the motion to refer to all confidential documents instead.
After the mayor said the amendment made Cr Fawcett’s motion more consistent, Cr Fawcett said, “Mr Mayor, you are deluded.”
Cr Fawcett said the amendment was made to suppress the release of information showing councillors were treating expenditure reimbursement as income and making inappropriate claims.
Cr Fawcett and Cr Brunt attended their last council meeting today, ahead of their resignations, effective from Monday.
They were not permitted to give a final speech as Cr Argento, with council’s backing, called for councillor reports to be skipped to allow council to discuss a major item in a closed session.
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