Whittlesea Councillor’s poor attendance record revealed
An investigation of Whittlesea Council attendance records has revealed some councillors have missed more than half of all meetings since October 2017 as plans for the Mernda town centre were again delayed.
Leader
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Mernda Town Centre’s approval has been delayed for a third time in as many months because not enough councillors turned up to vote for the project.
Frustrated residents have taken to social media calling for councillors to “stand down” after a decision on the final plans for the town centre was again put off due to a lack of a quorum.
A Facebook page called “City of Whittlesea needs to hold an election now” was created the day after the failed meeting, with many vowing to vote out those not seen to be doing their job.
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It comes as a Leader analysis of council attendance records since October 2017, when Cr Tom Joesph was elected via countback to replace the late Cr John Butler, showed some councillors have missed more than half of the council meetings during this time.
Of the 32 scheduled meetings, Cr Mary Lalios has attended just 12, while Cr Alahna Desiato has been to 18 meetings, Crs Norm Kelly and Ricky Kirkham have attended 20 and Cr Caz Monteleone has been to 23. Crs Lalios, Desiato and Monteleone were present at last week’s meeting but left before the town centre plans were heard.
Crs Joseph and Emilia Sterjova have attended 26 meetings and Crs Kris Pavlidis, Sam Alessi and Stevan Kozmevski have attended 30 meetings.
Cr Lawrie Cox has attended 31 meetings.
Plans for the 24.9ha centre, first touted in 2009, include a medical centre, retail precinct with Woolworths and Coles, food and drink businesses, car and bicycle parking and a pedestrian area linking to the Mernda railway station. But work cannot start until the plans are approved.
Social media user Michelle Rudd described the lack of attendance at meetings as “an absolute joke”.
“We need a list of names of those that can’t be bothered so we can vote against them next election,” Ms Rudd said.
Cr Cox said he was “embarrassed on behalf of the community” over the ongoing lack of attendance by some councillors.
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