Burnside Council schedules special meeting to discuss ‘extraordinary action’ to protect staff from councillor Lance Bagster

BURNSIDE Council will hold a secret meeting on Tuesday night to discuss the extraordinary action taken to protect staff from a serving councillor.

BURNSIDE Council will hold a secret meeting on Tuesday night to discuss the extraordinary action taken to protect staff from a serving councillor.

Chief executive Paul Deb last week outlawed his staff from attending fortnightly meetings to protect them from the alleged antics of councillor Lance Bagster.

The Advertiser is aware three councillors frustrated by the impasse — which has seen mounting legal costs and delays dealing with council business — are considering resigning if the matter is not resolved quickly.

Mayor David Parkin called for the ‘Special Meeting’ to be held from 6pm behind closed doors.

Chief executive Paul Deb will speak to elected members over his fears for staff safety while dealing with elected member Lance Bagster.

Employees will not be permitted to attend the meeting or have any direct contact with the former army helicopter pilot who served two tours in Afghanistan.

Burnside councillor Lance Bagster.

The Advertiser can confirm SAPOL and WorkSafe SA have been made aware of allegations of bullying and harassment against Mr Bagster, which were raised by corporate services manager Martin Cooper.

The complaint includes that Mr Bagster, an engineering and logistics manager at the Department of Defence, has a ‘target list’.

It is also alleged he has made constant reference to the Leonardo DiCaprio revenge movie “The Revenant” which is an R-rated film ‘for strong frontier combat and violence including gory images’.”

Mr Bagster, who is pursuing a defamation action against Mr Deb, says all claims against him are “deliberately exaggerated” to deflect from his legal action against the chief executive.

He exclusively told The Advertiser he requested the meeting be put back 90 minutes as he will undergo minor surgery on Tuesday.

“I’m very keen to hear council’s plans and have asked for the meeting to be rescheduled” Mr Bagster said.

“I am presuming that Mr Deb and Mr Cooper won’t be permitted to attend as they have a material conflict of interest.

“But no doubt council and administration will want to cloak it all in confidence.”

Burnside Council chief executive Paul Deb.

Minutes of the meeting will not be available to the public for a minimum of five years.

Burnside Council has paid for two independent investigations — conducted by law firms Minter Ellison, and Griffins Lawyers — into allegations Mr Deb breached the code of conduct during e-mail correspondence in December where he questioned Mr Bagster’s mental health.

The Minter Ellison preliminary assessment report found Mr Deb’s behaviour contravened the local government code of conduct on two counts and failed to meet the standard expected by a chief executive.