Colac Otway Shire boss Anne Howard and Tosh-Jake Finnigan clash over crash claims

A former councillor and a local government boss have clashed over an alleged accident involving a car and a student during an explosive meeting that has since been removed online.

Colac Otways Shire chief executive Anne Howard pictured with former councillor Tosh-Jake Finnigan. Picture: Colac Otway Shire Council.

A former councillor and a local government boss have clashed over an alleged accident involving a car and a school student during an explosive council meeting.

Tosh-Jake Finnigan, who resigned from their role as a Colac Otway Shire councillor in October last year, used public question time on Tuesday to accuse its chief executive, Anne Howard, of “running over a child” and not reporting it.

Ms Howard denied Finnigan’s allegation.

It comes as the council confirmed it had removed online access to the meeting’s video stream as it seeks advice on “defamation risk”.

The alleged accident occurred on August 15 last year – when Finnigan was still a councillor – and involved the car Ms Howard was driving and a secondary school student as she was leaving the Rae St car park.

Finnigan claimed “the CEO left the scene of the collision without calling police” before he was stopped by Mayor Jason Schram.

“Just be very careful about defamation and things … anything you say here, there is no protection like parliamentary privilege or anything like that,” Mr Schram said.

Finnigan replied “I understand that” before claiming “around this time” Ms Howard was aware councillors were conducting performance appraisals of her position.

“Despite this, as well as the reputational and organisational risks which could flow from the CEO running over a child as they were leaving the council office, the CEO failed to inform councillors of the incident,” they alleged.

Colac Otways Shire council building. Photo: Facebook.

Mr Schram again intervened: “You are straying into grounds that probably doesn’t need to be spoken about publicly, I don’t mean to be offensive and cut you off.”

Ms Howard was strong in her response to the accusation, saying “the story you are telling doesn’t reflect the facts”.

“Firstly, I just want to clear up that I have never run over a child leaving the Rae St car park despite your allegations here today, and over many weeks that I am aware of,” she said.

She told the meeting her car “was virtually stationary across the footpath” when a student “rode into the side of my car.”

“On a bike, on a footpath, this was after school … at a pace where they did not see my car in time to stop,” she said.

Ms Howard said the parent of the student was called and it was reported immediately through the appropriate health and safety channels within the council.

“That process determines who else needs to know,” she said.

Ms Howard said she had spoken to police, who informed her she did not need to give a statement.

Victoria Police have been contacted for comment.

Finnigan joined council in January 2023 following a countback brought about by the resignation of Joe McCracken after his election to Victoria’s upper house at the 2022 state election.

Finnigan was unsuccessful in their bid for re-election last year after receiving 814 primary votes, or 5.9 per cent.

Colac Otway council has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as Colac Otway Shire boss Anne Howard and Tosh-Jake Finnigan clash over crash claims