Former Manly Mayor Jean Hay stands by Whistler St carpark redevelopment decision
The former mayor of Manly has said proper procedures were followed when development deeds were signed off on Whistler St and Manly Oval car parks, which is the subject of a $74m lawsuit.
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The former mayor of Manly has said proper procedures were followed when development deeds were signed off on Whistler St and Manly Oval car parks.
Jean Hay said she had no doubt the council was in full open session when the Liberal bloc voted five to four on the controversial schemes.
Her comments come in response to the Manly Daily’s article on Wednesday which revealed an audio recording of the April 2016 meeting appears to prove council was in a committee of the whole rather than an open meeting when the decision was made.
The decision, which is the subject of a $74 million lawsuit, could only be made if the meeting was back in open session.
Ms Hay and her fellow four Liberal councillors approved minutes which stated the meeting was in open session for the decision.
The other four councillors disputed the minutes and voted against accepting them as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
Ms Hay said they were “playing politics,” adding: “I conducted that meeting, which was in very difficult circumstances, as I conducted any other meeting.”
Asked if that meant they had returned to a full open meeting when the decision was made, she said: “Yes, absolutely.”
The councillors were voting to put out tenders for the building of a car park under Manly Oval and the redevelopment of the Whistler St car park.
The other four Liberal councillors who accepted the minutes from the April 2016 meeting were James Griffin, now Manly MP, Adele Heasman, Alan Le Surf and Steve Pickering.
“As far as I’m concerned those minutes were accurate,” Mr Pickering said.
Mr Le Surf also said he was satisfied he signed off accurate minutes. He questions the authenticity of the recording which will form part of Northern Beaches Council’s defence in its lawsuit with dumped developers Built Development and Athas Holdings.
“How do you know that has not been tampered with?” Mr Le Surf said.
Ms Hay said the recording held no weight with her as it had come from an anonymous source.
“I’m not prepared to take much notice of it. If somebody sends me something anonymously I just throw it away.”
Both Ms Heasman and Mr Griffin declined to comment. Candy Bingham, Hugh Burns, Cathy Griffin and Barbara Aird all voted against approving the minutes of that meeting.
Ms Bingham put forward an amendment for revised meeting minutes but this was voted down by the Liberal councillors.
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