Council cartel concerns

By Paul Dunlop
CARDINIA Shire mayor Bill Ronald has refuted concerns that the new power base on council could become a voting cartel.
Councillors Kate Lempriere, Doug Hamilton and Graeme Legge were all critical of the actions of the mayor and their colleagues at the first postelection council meeting.
The reelected councillors’ criticisms were prompted by the manner in which Cr Ronald and the new Cardinia Ratepayers and Residents Associationendorsed colleagues brought a number of surprises to the table during urgent business.
Councillors said they should have been forewarned of impending decisions regarding the Pakenham Golf Course and old outdoor pool.
Cr Kate Lempriere said she felt “bushwacked” while Cr Doug Hamilton labelled it an “ambush”.
“Sneaking up behind us and dropping (these issues) in our lap this was never done in the last council,” Cr Hamilton said.
Cr Lempriere was particularly angered by revelations that an email relating to the pool issue was shared between Cr Ronald and Crs Ed Chatwin, Brett Owen and Bill Pearson before the meeting but not sent to either herself or Crs Hamilton and Graeme Legge.
Cr Lempriere said she felt on the outer on the previous council because she did not belong to one faction or another and was concerned the new council would end up being a 43 bloc.
“I feel as if I’m being bushwacked here,” Cr Lempriere said.
“This is stacking the deck and playing unfair from the beginning.
“I’ve never been part of a cartel and I won’t be.”
Cr Hamilton said if Cr Ronald was to deliver on his pledge to provide a more open council then the tactics employed at last Monday’s meeting was not the way to do it.
But Cr Ronald said councillors were overreacting.
The mayor, who before the meeting repeated his previously stated hope for vigorous debate around the table, said he always encouraged councillors to express individual opinions.
“I don’t think they were ambushed at all,” Cr Ronald said.
“Everybody had a good chance to have their say and there is no pressure on anybody to vote a certain way.”
Cr Ronald said the end result of the pool debate Cr Pearson spoke against deciding the issue on Monday and led the move to discuss it again at a special meeting showed he and the new CRRA councillors were not voting as a team.
The new councillors shared common interests on certain issues but would not always agree, he said.
Politics was a numbers game, he said.
Cr Ronald said it was appropriate the pool and golf course issues were raised in urgent business, saying both warranted immediate attention.
CRRA president Gloria O’Connor supported the new mayor’s stance.
She said she did not believe accusations of a cartel could be made after just one meeting.
Mrs O’Connor said the majority of the motions passed last Monday were either unanimous endorsements of the shire officers’ recommendations, or decided by a mixed vote.