Councillors Sonia Wright and Mark Arians resigned on Monday and released a three-page statement claiming council had “introduced a system of secrecy that enables them (council) to make decisions behind closed doors”.
The resignations come after Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh called for an investigation into bullying at Gannawarra Shire in October.
The call came about due to concerns surrounding more than $2 million in Federal Government funding for the Cohuna Aviation Club to improve the Cohuna Aerodrome, which allegedly saw letters from Gannawarra Shire Mayor Lorraine Learmonth and chief executive Tom O’Reilly written to state and federal members questioning the funding.
Ms Wright and Mr Arians also cited the ongoing debate surrounding the Cohuna Pool and said they would continue to work with the community “without the hamstrings introduced by this current council”.
“We are concerned that council has adopted a culture that intimidates, isolates and bullies councillors who actively engage with the community,” the statement said.
“(We) share grave concerns about poor governance … council has lost the communities (sic) confidence.
“(We) acknowledge that council staff are hard-working and committed people. We are concerned that only one member of the executive team lives and works in the shire.
“We believe that this situation has broadened the gap between the community and council.”
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Ms Wright said the pair had attempted to resolve problems internally, “working hard to address” the issues.
“No-one takes responsibility for councillors’ wellbeing. We need the local government minister to look at the state of trust in local government,” she said.
In his parliamentary address in October, Peter Walsh said the communities of Gannawarra Shire “deserve and expect better leadership from their council”.
“Council appears to be unable to take the actions that are required to lead that council because they will not take the systematic bullying of some of the councillors there seriously,” Mr Walsh said in October.
“This is placing at risk decision-making by council, and the community will lose investment and jobs coming into this region unless that is corrected.”
In a statement on Monday, Gannawarra Shire chief executive Tom O’Reilly acknowledged the immediate resignation of the two councillors.
“The resignations of former councillors Arians and Wright create extraordinary vacancies in the Patchell and Yarran wards,” he said.
“As the next local government elections, scheduled to occur in October 2020, are more than six months away, these vacancies will need to be filled.
“Former councillors Arians and Wright were, prior to their resignation, facing proceedings in relation to alleged breaches of council’s Code of Conduct and Values for Elected Members and also the Local Government Act 1989.
“As a result of their resignations, these proceedings are unable to continue and are effectively abandoned.”
It is believed that one of those breaches was against Ms Wright for the public support of Mr Walsh’s call for an investigation.
“The community will have its chance to voice (its) opinion at the next council elections this October,” Mr Arians and Ms Wright said.
“(We) encourage people to seek change and support candidates with a vision, are results driven and have proven record of their commitment to community.
“We should be a small rural council motivated by results and positive outcomes. Gannawarra deserves nothing less.”
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