Dubbo Council meeting cancelled after councillors no show

Another extraordinary meeting called to deal with issues plaguing a troubled council in western NSW - one which the mayor wants sacked - has been abandoned after less than 30 seconds.

The mayor of a troubled council in western NSW has hit back at allegations he is attempting to avoid scrutiny by changing meeting times and calling for the council’s sacking.

Dubbo mayor Ben Shields returned to his duties last week after he attempted to take his own life and spent more than a month in hospital recovering.

Dubbo mayor Ben Shields leaves council chambers after first day back at work.

Before the incident, a majority of councillors publicly called on Cr Shields to stand down after concerns were raised about his conduct in the role.

Deputy mayor Stephen Lawrence led the push and acted as mayor while Cr Shields was on leave.

In one of his last acts as acting mayor, Cr Lawrence called for an extraordinary meeting to be held on Saturday, May 15.

He intended to formally table a new policy he created which upon Cr Shields’s return to the top job would require council staff to listen in on official phone conversations, monitor official correspondence sent out by the mayor and accompany the mayor to official events and meetings.

The policy did not need to be tabled to have legal effect and it is currently in force, however when Cr Shields returned to the role he changed the meeting date to Monday, May 17.

Despite senior council staff, Cr Shields and his supporters - councillors Dayne Gumley and Greg Mohr - gathering in the council chambers on Monday for the meeting, it was abandoned due to a lack of quorum.

Dubbo councillors Dayne Gumley and Greg Mohr were the only councillors, in addition to the mayor, to turn up to a scheduled extraordinary council meeting on May 17. Picture: Ryan Young

Cr Lawrence’s proposed policy was not included on the proposed meeting agenda, which had no items on it.

“I consulted with all councillors before calling the meeting for Saturday, Ben undertook no consultation before calling the meeting for midday Monday during working hours,” Cr Lawrence told The Dubbo News.

“Council meetings invariably do not happen during business hours, they invariably happen outside business hours.

“It’s incumbent upon councillors who choose to treat council as a full time occupation to be mindful of the time constraints and work obligations of other councillors. Most councillors are gainfully employed because most councillors do council as a part time community service.”

While most councillors calling on Cr Shields to resign were unable to attend Monday’s meeting, they did attend an extraordinary meeting of council held on Monday, April 12 at noon, however the agenda for that meeting had items on it.

Dubbo’s deputy mayor Stephen Lawrence has led calls for mayor Ben Shields to stand down. Picture: Christian Gilles

Cr Lawrence claimed Cr Shields “stripped the business off the agenda” for the most recent extraordinary meeting which had to be abandoned.

“The reason there’s no agenda items is because the mayoral minute items I had filed have been abandoned,” he said.

Only the mayor and staff can list items on an agenda for extraordinary meetings and Cr Shields said he did not want to put forward policies proposed by Cr Lawrence.

“I think it’s important that if he’s drafted a motion he put his own name to it and own it,” Cr Shields said.

“I’m not going to own it.

“In the 22 years I’ve been a councillor, we have never held a meeting on a Saturday.

“Councillors all signed up for the job knowing meetings were held on a Monday.”

Responding to Cr Shields’s calls for the council to be sacked, Cr Lawrence suggested it was an attempt to create an impression of dysfunction and avoid scrutiny.

“I think most people in the community would find it quite bizarre for a mayor to return to duties and then immediately call for an administrator,” Cr Lawrence said.

“The large majority of councillors oppose an administrator and intend to do the job that we were elected and which we swore an oath to do.

“If Ben’s deliberate attempt to create an impression of dysfunction succeeds the majority of councillors will resolve, in my view, to challenge in the Supreme Court, any order from NSW Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock.”

Dubbo mayor Ben Shields (centre) with council’s environmental and development director Stephen Wallace and liveability director Skye Price after cancelling the extraordinary meeting. Picture: Ryan Young

Cr Shields has previously denied wrongdoing and he said the council had become “unworkable” and needed an administrator to take charge.

He denied the claim he was attempting to avoid scrutiny and said all complaints made against him would be investigated.

“A code of conduct investigation continues regardless of whether councillors are in office or not.

“The investigations we’ve got going on now continue regardless of whether I’m holding office or not. There is an independent investigation going on now so the appropriate course of action is taking place now.

“I don’t want to get into a slanging match with Stephen Lawrence, I think the public are over slanging matches.”

Cr Lawrence agreed complaints would continue to be investigated if the council was placed into administration, however he said an administrator could choose to keep details of investigation findings confidential.

“If certain complaints are found to be upheld by an investigator then a report, rather than coming to council, would come to the administrator,” Cr Lawrence said.

“Then the administrator, rather than council would determine what action should occur … that could include whether investigation reports are made public or not.”

Dubbo Regional Council was formed five years ago after the old Dubbo City and Wellington councils merged. Picture: Ryan Young

Responding to concerns raised by some members of the community who believe Cr Shields is being treated poorly, Cr Lawrence said he would not back down.

“I am trying to do the right thing in the public interest, that is not easy, I’m in possession of a lot of information and facts that people in the community are not.

“I ask the community to suspend judgement and wait until all the information is available to them.

“The suggestion that Ben is a victim in all of this is ironic and laughable. The solution to this problem is for Ben Shields to look inside himself and accept that his position is completely untenable … he has lost the support of almost all of his colleagues.”

Lifeline — 13 11 14

Beyond Blue — 1300 22 4636