Ratepayers to foot bill to teach councillor how to show respect

A Latrobe councillor has been ordered to complete an emotional intelligence course after it was found she failed to treat council staff with “dignity, courtesy and respect”.

Latrobe City Council mayor Sharon Gibson has been ordered to complete an emotional intelligence course.

A Latrobe councillor has been ordered to complete a one-day emotional intelligence course after the arbiter found she had breached the councillor code of conduct.

An independent arbiter has found Latrobe City councillor Sharon Gibson failed to treat council staff with “dignity, fairness, objectivity, courtesy, and respect”, after a closed-doors council briefing session in July.

The arbiter examined allegations Ms Gibson stated the briefing paper “contained lies”.

Ms Gibson also said that failing to follow a council decision “used to be a sackable offence”, which was directed at the council’s former general manager Suzanne Miller.

“What followed was an unfortunate and very heated 7½ minutes in the virtual meeting room,” the arbiter said.

Ms Miller resigned last month, claiming it had become an unsafe work environment after the fiery meeting.

Ms Gibson must now complete a one-day emotional intelligence course, which is run by Swinburne University and will cost ratepayers $800.

At a council meeting this week, councillors accepted the internal arbitration report.

It comes after a panel last month found councillor Melissa Ferguson, had engaged in misconduct at the same meeting and on other occasions, allegedly making “abusive” and “threatening” statements to a council officer last year.

Originally published as Ratepayers to foot bill to teach councillor how to show respect