We received  the following email and it is printed below –

Some items of particular interest are: 
 
9.9   Fraud and Corruption Policy (This seeks to stop councillors from discussing fraud cases,  EVEN AFTER a case is proven in court. (and so already in the public domain).   
 
9.14 Racecourse Committee 
        1. The committee, as envisaged, is a blatant abuse of democratic process.
        2. It removes the rights of the majority of councillors from making decisions about the biggest single
            public asset in Glen Eira. Five Councillors, those who are not members of the committee, will have their
            rights to represent the Community of Glen Eira, completed removed. This is in breach of the
            provisions of the Local Government Act 1989 for transparency and accountability.
        3. It guarantees that everything will remain secret and under wraps, regardless of the public interest.
        4. It prevents a number of councillors from representing the community view, under the guise of potential
            ‘conflict of interest’
       .5..Members of the general public have no rights, and have no guarantees of access to the 
            committee meetings, for non-confidential items, unlike Council meetings which are – by law – held with
            open doors. . 
 
9.15 Council’s Response to Inspectorate (written by Peter Jones, Acting CEO
Briefly, this typical, sham ‘response’ to the inspectorate report,. is offered by Mr. Jones.
 
    1.  Mr. Jones wants councillors to conduct all their business using the official (ie ‘wire-tapped’) council email addresses. This is supposedly to ‘ensure all business communications are open and auditable’. Next we expect, the staff will want all conversations between councillors and ratepayers tape recorded as well..
 
   2.  Committee meetings (but apparently not the existing councillor, or council staff, committee meetings), should (in the future) have accurate recording of meetings. Apparently Mr. Newton’s administration has failed again. Why don’t they already have ‘accurate recordings’?  All decisions are supposed to be accurately minuted, by law. All other normal councils manage to do this, so what’s wrong with Glen Eira?
 
 3.  Peter Jones advises that councillors should not provide ‘unauthorized opinion on behalf of the council’.
Mr.Jones, they don’t. No Councillor can provide opinion on behalf of Council. That is the Mayors job, if she/he is up to it. Read your own Council Local Law, Mr. Jones..
 
This is all just tedious, kindergarten stuff. I am glad I am not a councilor.