Mayor Perkins must apologise and rein in childish councillors

Media Release Thursday 24th November 2016: Meander Area Residents and Ratepayers Association Inc. (MARRA)

MARRA President Ms Bodhi McSweeney today called on the Mayor of Meander Valley to apologise to the community for the governance failure under his watch, which led to the minuting of offensive abuse of constituents by out-of-control Councillors.

“Mayor Perkins has allowed the Meander Valley Council to become an unrepresentative body with serious governance failure by allowing the use of Council minutes to prosecute an offensive personal political campaign against anyone who disagrees with them”

“Mayor Perkins should apologise to the community for the irrelevant, childish and untrue statements made by Councillor Tanya King that have now also been published in local media,” she said.

“One can only wonder if Cr King has the same concerns regarding costs incurred by Council with its throw-away survey of the Meander community. Does she (Cr King) believe that the cost, documented as between $5500 and $7500, was justified when over half of the respondents could see no community benefit in the use of the old school as a drug rehabilitation centre?”

“Can that cost be justified when the survey results were completely disregarded without any due consideration at the Council table?”

“The Mayor’s failure to represent the community, by handing over our school to Teen Challenge for its non-medical rehabilitation program, has directly led to this unpleasant situation and he must now accept responsibility”

“MARRA is committed to working for all Meander residents and to regaining use of the school for community purposes. We reject the unpleasant and provocative remarks made by Cr King, which appear to be inconsistent with the Council’s Code of Conduct. Mayor Perkins allowed this to happen and we believe that both he and Cr King should make a public apology. “

Three attachments follow: Council Minutes, Code of Conduct and Examiner article

Attachment 1: Excerpt from Meander Valley Council’s November 2016 Meeting Minutes, Councillor questions without notice:

Attachment 2: Excerpts from Meander Valley Council’s Code of Conduct:

20161123_Attachment3_TheExaminer_Protest_costs_council_6500.pdf
Karen Hillman Secretary, MARRA Inc.