From Agenda items for Tuesday’s Council Meeting:
“Cr Whiteside’s submitted a three page letter of resignation. Councillors have been provided with a copy of her letter. Her resignation took effect on Friday 30 July” 2010.”
AND
“Determine whether to publicly release former Cr Whiteside’s letter of resignation with any redactions as may be deemed necessary pursuant to S77(2) of the Local Government Act 1989.”
Once more there is plenty of scope for speculation. Did Whiteside spit the dummy over policy issues? If so, then surely the community has every right to know the bases of such policy disagreements. Only when issues are out in the open, and individuals given the opportunity to mount their case will residents receive the kind of council they expect. The cloak of silence is anathema to good governance.
Or, did Whiteside’s letter denigrate officers/councillors? If so, then this still is no excuse for secrecy. Both Councillors and officers are afforded the opportunity under Local Law to engage their ‘Right of Reply’. This has been done numerous times in the past.
Or, was the Municipal Inspector’s involvement the catalyst for this final spitting of the dummy? Who knows?
One thing is clear – Whiteside could have announced her retirement at next week’s council meeting. She chose not to. Three typed pages also does not suggest an amicable departure. Nor does the potential gag of the ‘confidentiality clause’ fill residents with confidence. The test now is to see what individual councillors decide and their ‘reasons’ for such decisions.
Glen Eira Debates 
August 6, 2010 at 7:32 PM
It was no coincidence that Cr Whiteside resigned after the panel report supporting the high rise development on public reserve at Caulfield Racecourse, especially after the weak representation provided by Council. She solidly represented her constituents and will be sadly missed.
August 6, 2010 at 10:14 PM
The question is whether Whiteside has the guts to release her resignation letter.The letter is hers not the Councillors and as long as no Law is broken she must release it.She owes that to the many who supported her.
August 6, 2010 at 10:19 PM
Obviously Helen Whiteside has quit before the entire Council is sacked. She has integrity. Note that Tang is Mayor and Hyams and Esakoff, both responsible for the previous Councils sacking are at it again.
August 6, 2010 at 11:55 PM
Whiteside’s resignation is only one item in a very busy agenda. This in itself needs to be questioned. I would think that when there are so many vital policies to debate, discuss, and consider that they would not all be lumped together into one council meeting. This next council meeting is supposed to do justice to the planning review, bicycle strategy, toilet strategy, old age strategy and the quarterly report. it’s a joke. But one must also query why we have such a crowded agenda. Reckon it’s the last ditch attempt to ram through policy before the selection of the new councillor and the possibility that Newton won’t have the numbers. We must also remember that Pilling is on leave, so he won’t be there to vote, and Whiteside is now gone. That leaves 7 individuals to shape the long term future of this council. Without discussion, without debate, and without due process.
August 10, 2010 at 10:34 AM
today’s Caulfield Leader (front page)
Deputy mayor quits Other councillors’ behaviour blasted
DEPUTY Mayor Helen Whiteside has quit because of an ‘‘intolerable situation’’ at Glen Eira Council.
And Cr Jim Magee has revealed he has thought about resigning too.
Mrs Whiteside said the continuing investigation by the Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate, the reappointment of chief executive Andrew Newton and some councillors’ ‘‘unacceptable behaviour’’ helped her decision to quit on July 30. The Camden Ward councillor and former mayor said she wanted to see out the term but ‘‘it’s too hard to continue under these circumstances’’.
‘‘I’m not a quitter but there has been some behaviour that I find unacceptable among the councillors,’’ Mrs Whiteside said. ‘‘I can’t be party to it.’’
Cr Magee, who had considered quitting, said: ‘‘ All councillors should comply with the municipal inspector’s requests’’. He wouldn’t say why he considered resigning.
Chief municipal inspector David Wolf confirmed the investigation for potential breaches of the Local Government Act in April.
Mrs Whiteside said she could not comment further during the investigation, but there had been decisions made ‘‘leading to bad governance’’. Mayor Steven Tang said Mrs Whiteside’s comments were ‘‘unfair’’.
‘‘ I’m confident the remaining councillors will work in a united way,’’ Cr Tang said.
The Victorian Electoral Commission will do a countback of votes from the 2008 election to find Mrs Whiteside’s replacement.
The beleaguered council was sacked in 2005 for chronic infighting, misuse of resources, harassment and bad governance.
August 10, 2010 at 11:27 AM
Looks like the sham is well and truly over. A divided council under a CEO who must now bear the fruits of his divisive strategies. The victims are again, us poor buggers.
August 10, 2010 at 3:22 PM
Whitesides dummy spit at least has answered a couple of questions – such as who was responsible for bringing in the inspector (she and Magee?)and that the whole affair is strongly connected to the lousy decision to reappoint Newton. As someone else has previously said – councillors stuffed up good and proper. However it is not too late to simply fire him and pay out his contract. There is so much waste happening anyway in this municipality that another 500,000 – 600,000 will simply be a drop in the ocean compared to keeping him on for another two years.
August 10, 2010 at 9:53 PM
shades of 2005 debacle when 2 councillors complained, the officers and administration were ‘whitewashed’ but councillors sacked. now it seems another lot of councillors complained but one of them could not stand the heat and resigned. wonder what the inspector’s report will reveal. are we moving forward?
August 11, 2010 at 3:49 PM
Last night’s performance by councillors deserves an academy award for hypocrisy. There was Lipshutz getting the ball rolling with a prepared speech announcing that Whiteside was not a ‘team player’, and that ‘you win some and lose some’, etc. etc. Everyone else then had a go – including Magee. Of course he was ‘misquoted’ and misunderstood by the Leader article and of course he had/has no intention of resigning, and of course the overall intention of everyone was to present a ‘united front’ – councillors all speaking with one voice. The show and the pretense goes on and on and on. If Whiteside hears of any of this I hope she has the guts to publish her letter!