SURF Coast Shire councillor Heather Wellington will step away from the council for three months, saying officers are denying her access to important information.<\/p>\n
At last month\u2019s council meeting, Cr Wellington\u2019s application to take leave from her duties as a Winchelsea Ward councillor from Wednesday, December 12 to March 18 was accepted.<\/p>\n
In a statement emailed to this newspaper beforehand, Cr Wellington said she had worked hard to represent residents and contribute to the good governance of the shire over the past six years, \u201cbut to do my job well I need reasonable access to information\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said a new shire protocol stated that \u201ccouncillors should not request access to documents or copies of documents that relate to operational matters or decisions made by officers under their delegated authorities\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe shire is applying the prohibition to all requests by councillors for information, even when access to specific documents is not requested. Consequently, a lot of information held by the shire is inaccessible to individual councillors without CEO or majority councillor support, other than via prolonged and limited Freedom of Information (FOI) processes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she had been unable to get access to information on four recent issues, including legal advice on which the shire relied to refuse a resident access to documents under FOI, the lease and market valuations for the Winchelsea Shire Hall, and the breakdown of planned expenditure of $150,000 allocated by the council to improve roads maintenance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot meet standards of good governance and I cannot properly represent the people who elected me under these circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking at the council meeting, shire chief executive officer Keith Baillie said the shire\u2019s officers were \u201ccommitted to supporting councillors to fulfil their role under our system of local government, including their ability to represent the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis role is when councillors come together as the council and we provide extensive opportunities for councillors to be fully informed when they make decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Local Government Act outlines that operational matters are the responsibility of the organisation and this includes decisions made by officers under delegation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SURF Coast Shire councillor Heather Wellington will step away from the council for three months, saying officers are denying her access to important information. At last month\u2019s council meeting, Cr Wellington\u2019s application to take leave from her duties as a Winchelsea Ward councillor from Wednesday, December 12 to March 18 was accepted. In a statement […]<\/p>\n