BY REBECCA THISTLETON rebecca.thistleton@fairfaxmedia.com.au
GLEN Eira Council has come under fire from residents over its refusal to answer questions about a legal stoush between one of its councillors and its chief executive. Residents say the council has sought legal advice concerning allegations that Councillor Frank Penhalluriack bullied council chief executive Andrew Newton.
Rosetta Manaszewicz of McKinnon has asked the council to provide a total figure for legal costs in relation to Cr Penhalluriack. But the council has rejected the request, and refused to reveal whether it has consulted lawyers.
Acting mayor Jamie Hyams said public questions have gone unanswered because they were inappropriate or would breach privacy laws outlined in the Local Government Act. He said he could not acknowledge there was an investigation into bullying and harassment claims, as Ms Manaszewicz had implied in her question. Nor could he comment on whether the council had
incurred any legal costs.
Cr Penhalluriack said although he supported transparency in council dealings, he was unable to comment. “My hands are tied,” he said.
Ms Manaszewicz said she was also waiting for answers to questions about council expenditure on consultants and legal advice for the Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre. Council officers were still compiling a response to her questions last week. The council had 10 working days to provide an answer. The deadline expired on August 2.
The latest controversy follows an investigation by the local government watchdog last year which found the council needed to improve its transparency. The Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate launched the investigation after receiving 43 complaints against the council. It recommended in September last year that councillors receive training in council practices and note takers attend all councillor meetings.
Cr Hyams said the council had worked to meet the recommendations.
Glen Eira Residents Association president Don Dunstan said a lack of transparency had plagued the council for the past 15 years. ‘‘I blame the administration, not the councillors.” He said the community had little faith in the council’s openness about how ratepayers’ money was spent.
Glen Eira Debates 
August 8, 2011 at 12:37 PM
It’s a bit rich for Hyams to claim privacy when the question as printed in this blog had nothing to do with privacy. It was pure and simple a question about money and how much it’s costing us. My view is that residents are certainly entitled to know how much money is spent and why and who decides to spend this money on what is likely to be a wild goose chase. Then there’s the other point that Thisleton makes about the time it takes to answer public questions. The record now is over two months. That’s not on as far as I’m concerned. If an organisation was well run questions about money should be at their fingertips. Literally a couple of strokes on a computer should bring up all invoices and money spent. If this can’t be done then its not a great system. But I suspect that this is merely a delaying tactic and they don’t want to answer the questions.
August 8, 2011 at 2:17 PM
They never want to answer public questions. That’s the whole point about the Local Law committees recommendation to remove public questions from this and create water tight guidelines that will make every question unaccpetable. This is a rotten rotten council that manipulates every damn thing so that public access to rightful information is never let out. They should all be hung drawn and quartered.
August 8, 2011 at 6:36 PM
Don Dunstan needs to answer questions about his relationship with a certain Councillor and whether that Councillor has ever contributed to Avertisments run by GERA in the Local Paper. Answer this Don otherwise you, in my opinion have no integrity.I will make the question very specific so even Don will understand it. Who recently contributed to GERA’s recent Leader Advertisments and was this person a Councillor.
August 8, 2011 at 7:40 PM
At least Don has the guts to put his name on his opinions. You sit in your shop and ask Don to be accountable. Give us a break. Nobody beleives that Don spends much time worrying about the opinion of an anonymous blogger.