THREE members of the public were evicted from an unscheduled meeting convened by mayor Tony Nicholson at the end of tonight's Derwent Valley Council meeting. New Norfolk journalist Damian Bester and two Bushy Park residents were in conversation in the public gallery when mayor Tony Nicholson asked them to leave.
Councillor Nicholson had called councillors back to the council table some time after declaring the meeting closed. After being asked to leave, Mr Bester asked the mayor what section of the Local Government Act applied to the new meeting. Cr Nicholson said it was a private meeting and again asked the three people to leave. While the Bushy Park residents took their leave, Mr Bester remained seated in the public gallery and repeated his question about the legality of the new meeting.
Cr Nicholson refused to state under what section of the Local Government Act he was ordering Mr Bester to leave and repeated his demand that Mr Bester remove himself from the chamber. Mr Bester remarked that the mayor had not answered his question and then left the forum.
Valley Vision project officer Ian Brown was also present and was not asked to leave the gathering at the same time as the other members of the public.
Well this is just another example of the Mayor making up the rules as he goes along, just as he did at the AGM of the Willow Court Redevelopment committee
ReplyDeleteWish I had been there!!!
ReplyDeleteWell it's certainly time for a change when the Mayor is pulling this sort of stunt! And why wouldn't the other Councillors simply insist the Mayor answer the simple question or get up and leave themselves? Stick to your guns Mr Bester we need people like you asking the questions on our behalf. You have my and my family's vote if you choose to stand at the next election - bring it on!!
ReplyDeleteGaye D
If members of the public weren't able to be involved in the post council meeting meeting - why was Ian Brown there? Surely anything he had to say could be said infront of rate payers? Why didn't the Mayor know the answers to councillors questions - surely he would have expected someone to ask something at the meeting, or does he only share the information he wants to?
ReplyDeleteTime to give them the sack I think. This is the sort of nonsense that the Minister should be aware of. Many years ago the Council was given the flick by the Government of the day for a lot less than all the rubbish going on now.
ReplyDeleteJeff
Well done Mate, if there wasn't for a few people like you god knows what would happen up there. Like a lot of people have already stated their needs to be change and it needs to happen sooner than later!
ReplyDelete