Glen Eira Council blows $17k to solve councillor infighting
GLEN Eira Council has forked out $17,760 in its latest investigation into councillor infighting but the findings will be discussed behind closed doors.
Earlier this year barrister Frances O’Brien QC was appointed an as independent arbiter by mayor Neil Pilling following a tumultuous four-year council term, which came to a head at a citizenship ceremony in April.
Her findings, received by council early last week, will be kept secret until the July 19 council meeting and it is unclear if they will be released publicly.
“It will be considered as a confidential item (on July 19) as it pertains to privileged legal advice,” Glen Eira chief executive Rebecca McKenzie said.
“At the meeting the council will consider the report and determine what, if any, further action will be taken.”
Ms McKenzie said Glen Eira mayor Neil Pilling would make a public statement once the council passed a resolution on the matter.
In May, a council insider alleged Ms O’Brien was appointed to investigate a culture of bullying and intimidation among councillors.
Glen Eira’s latest expensive inquiry into councillor conduct follows a failed $27,000 bid in 2013 to reprimand Cr Oscar Lobo at a conduct panel.
Some of the incidents which could have come under investigation by Ms O’Brien include: Cr Jamie Hyams calling Cr Oscar Lobo a “f**kwit” at a citizenship ceremony in April attended by 200 people; Cr Lobo’s allegedly anti-Semitic slur at a December council meeting and a 2010 email councillor Michael Lipshutz sent to Cr Lobo asking him if he had worked for a bank linked to terrorists.
Ms O’Brien, a senior barrister with extensive experience in employment law and forensic examination of evidence, was one of three members of a commission established to examine workplace culture at Geelong Council earlier this year. The council was sacked in April.
Glen Eira Debates 
July 8, 2016 at 4:45 PM
Looking into my crystal ball I predict that the Hyams Lipshutz Esakoff Pillings and Hos of this world will do everything in their power to keep the report confidential and out of the public eye.
July 8, 2016 at 5:19 PM
Time to add Cr. Ho’s homophobic online rantings into the mix as well.
What next, you can only wonder with this pack of donkeys
July 11, 2016 at 10:31 PM
Cr Ho should be instantly removed from office. His ignorant ranting on an online Chinese language forum linking same-sex marriage and bestiality is insulting to all decent people. His apology is once again only offered because he was caught out. Help us if he ever gets to a higher position in any government position.
July 8, 2016 at 5:54 PM
I don’t believe this cost $17k. She gets $450 per hour. Penhalluriack’s kangaroo court cost three times this much and it wasn’t a QC.
July 8, 2016 at 6:16 PM
I had high hopes that with a new ceo she would put a complete stop to this kind of rubbish and haul the bastards into line. Looks like she’s failed.
July 8, 2016 at 7:07 PM
This is outrageous if the report stays secret. Public funds have paid for it and the public interest needs to be served several months out from an election. If Lobo is racist then that needs to be out in public. If Hyams is the nasty nasty character that ignores the code of conduct repeatedly then that should be confirmed to. Better yet – they all should be sacked immediately.
July 8, 2016 at 10:09 PM
Polling and Smoothness have beyond doubt worsend the image of the Greens party clearly endorsing that greens are a self righteous people and that is why we do not have any Green or federal MP in Glen Eira. Greens in the Council are not only helping destroy our leafy suburbs and they seen agreeing to cutting of the trees in parks like Caulfield, destroying our Conservatory and trees are cut for their own purposes. We the (MODERATORS:phrase deleted) residents in Caulfield are despised by the block of 4 liberal Councillors with the help of the two Councillors.
July 9, 2016 at 9:43 AM
Pilling resigned from the Greens years ago, and joined the Liberals so that explains him as a turncoat traitor, He went for the cash with both hands. He pretends to be Bob Brown on the outside whilst being Lipshutz and Hyams on the inside. Without the Greens behind him he would hardly get a vote
The other Greens man did vote to keep the conservatory although no development is too big or too ugly, he’s a rubber stamper of a councillor that way he doesn’t have to think. He will battle to get reelected I suppose.
Not all residents are despised in Nth Caulfield, just some.
July 9, 2016 at 1:04 PM
The Lobo/Hyams strife is merely the latest in a long, long line of internal disputes between councillors and councillors versus the administration. There is a new administration and this must be accompanied by a complete set of new councillors. Governance has failed repeatedly in Glen Eira. The solution as I see it is to elect community minded people rather than ambitious political hacks who will do anything to maintain their power and control over others. The last thing we need is more political grandstanding whether this be lib, labor or green.
July 9, 2016 at 10:43 PM
D.Evans You are damn right in every thing you say. It is now crystal clear that the block hate whoever stands up for right things. Two councillors Lobo and before him apparently there was another Councillor who was also
censured with the help of other Councillors.
July 10, 2016 at 1:07 PM
Suck up and vote like Pilling and Magee, the wheeler dealer and the 4 liberals will adore you.
Was is not that Lobo that made this fella a Mayor for the second term? Now the tables turned?
Perhaps Karma is around the cr.
July 14, 2016 at 9:38 AM
What a mess!