Huon Valley Council, at its meeting on 27 January, 2016, voted 5-4 in support of Cr Ian Mackintosh’s motion requesting preparation of a report on all credit card payments made by the General Manager, Mayor and Acting Mayor over the past four years.
Mayor Peter Coad said the General Manager would prepare the report and present it for consideration at the April ordinary meeting of Council.
Cr Mackintosh said approval of his motion would ensure that Council was complying with section 28(2) (e) of the Local Government Act 1993, which requires it to review its resource allocations and expenditure activities.
The motion called for the report to “include all bank statements, details of each transaction and the purposes of the acquisitions made by the credit card payments”.
Mayor Coad said he had endeavoured to obtain the credit card information from the General Manager, but had been denied, the GM arguing that it was not within the role or functions of the Mayor to obtain this information.
He said approval of Cr Mackintosh’s motion was a positive step by Council towards becoming more open and transparent.
It was not about whether things had been done inappropriately, he said. Rather, it was about Council meeting its fiduciary responsibilities under the Act.
Cr Mackintosh’s motion was supported by Mayor Coad and Crs Lydia Eastley, Bruce Heron and Liz Smith.
Deputy Mayor Ian Paul and Crs Pav Ruzicka, Ken Studley and Mike Wilson voted against the motion.
