Whittlesea deputy mayor says council officers not serving ratepayers

Whittlesea Deputy Mayor Tom Joseph has hit out at his workplace, saying the council makes it hard to help ratepayers.

Whittlesea Deputy Mayor Tom Joseph has slammed council officers.

The deputy mayor of Whittlesea has hit out at his own workplace, saying the council is becoming a law unto itself.

In a statement, Cr Tom Joseph said he was unable to make representations on behalf of “aggrieved ratepayers” because council officers were not providing councillors with information they were “rightfully entitled to”.

Cr Joseph also said councillor briefing sessions had become “a joke” because council officers expected decisions to be rubber stamped, and councillors were not receiving advice to write alternative motions to a proper legal standard, as had previously been the case.

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“Councillors are neither lawyers nor legally trained,” he said.

“We often require assistance to ensure that the motions or alternate recommendations we put up at the council meet the proper legal standard.”

Whittlesea Mayor Lawrie Cox.

The administration was “becoming a law unto themselves” by not providing councillors with the information and support they were entitled to under the Local Government Act, Cr Joseph said.

But Whittlesea Mayor Lawrie Cox said he had the “utmost confidence” the council’s chief executive Simon Overland and the council administration provided assistance to all councillors consistently.

“Administrative support is available to councillors in the construction of alternate resolutions for council meetings,” Cr Cox said.

Councillors could not legally direct council officers, something which sometimes led to conflict, he said.