Southern Downs Mayor Vic Pennisi cans controversial mentoring committee after councillor, community backlash

Explosive backlash from fellow councillors over the group labelled secretive and anti-democratic has shut down the panel after only one confidential meeting.

Southern Downs Mayor Vic Pennisi has called off the plans for his private mentoring and dvelopment group after explosive backlash from fellow councillors. Picture: file

Southern Downs Mayor Vic Pennisi has pulled the plug on his attempt to create a personal mentoring and innovation group following intense backlash from fellow councillors and the community.

The proposed Southern Downs Mayoral Innovation and Development Mentoring Program was slammed as secretive and anti-democratic when its charter was tabled at the most recent council meeting.

The group would have consisted of six so-far unidentified members that would report to and be sponsored by Cr Pennisi, and was designed to assist or provide the mayor with advice on potential challenges, opportunities, or “other threats” in the region.

Originally approved as the Southern Downs Innovation and Development Committee by councillors in May, the confidential nature of the members and meetings sparked heated conflict when its relabelling was brought before representatives last week.

After hours of debate in during the August 25 meeting, it was eventually resolved that a decision on adopting the new charter would be postponed until Southern Downs Regional Council could obtain further legal advice.

It took just over a week for Cr Pennisi to make the final announcement that plans for the committee are officially binned.

He wrote in a statement that he brought the proposal to council meetings in “an effort to be transparent”, and he intended to disclose the identities of those involved once they’d officially agreed to participate.

“The intent of this program was to get a group of people together so that I could progress my own personal and professional development for the betterment of the community, and the organisation, in my role as Mayor,” he wrote.

“It’s not uncommon for mayors to have such a group and in fact the Local Government Act now allows some mayors to have personal advisors.

“Once that participation was agreed, councillors, council staff, and the community would have been informed about these highly knowledgeable and experienced people who had volunteered their service to our community.

“It is sad that I could not implement this powerful tool to improve your future and the future of our children and grandchildren, but I respect the democratic processes.”

It was revealed at the most recent SDRC meeting that the confidential group met once in July.