Bruce Devereaux, Hilary Smerdon speak on ‘protest’ claim over council vote

Councillors who chose to leave an ordinary meeting last week ahead of a vote on a ‘councillor disciplinary matter’ have spoken up about claims it was an orchestrated walkout.

Five Gympie councillors who left the June meeting ahead of a vote on a “councillor disciplinary matter” have rejected claims the exodus was an organised “protest”.

Councillors were expected to vote on a “councillor disciplinary matter” as part of Tuesday’s June 28 meeting, with the item to be discussed behind closed doors.

However, it was unable to form a quorum at the meeting after Mayor Glen Hartwig, deputy mayor Hilary Smerdon, and councillors Dolly Jensen, Bruce Devereaux and Shane Waldock declared conflicts of interest and left the room.

With more than half the councillors removed, the council was unable to vote on whether to close the doors to the public and move into committee.

Dan Stewart, Jess Milne, Bob Fredman and Warren Polley agreed to ask the Local Government Minister for advice.

Mayor Glen Hartwig, deputy mayor Hilary Smerdon, and councillors Shane Waldock, Dolly Jensen and Bruce Devereaux have each rejected suggestions their exit from a meeting ahead of a vote on a disciplinary was orchestrated to stifle debate.

The turn of events sparked claims on social media that the five departures were an organised ploy to prevent the matter from being debated.

Mr Devereaux refuted these claims in a Facebook post on Saturday.

“The reasons the five individuals chose to leave the room could be entirely unrelated to each other,” Mr Devereaux said.

“I myself don’t actually know the reasons all of the others left.

“This might be an unusual occurrence in actual fact it should be applauded because it means these councillors did what is expected of them and therefore (the) council can‘t be accused of serious breaches in the consideration of a serious item: a disciplinary matter involving a peer or peers.”

Mr Smerdon said there was “no truth whatsoever” to the claims.

“There was no discussion with other councillors,” Mr Smerdon said.

Mrs Jensen said she had first checked with the Local Government Association of Queensland to clarify if she had a conflict, and her exit followed from those inquiries.

Mr Hartwig said it was up to individual councillors to determine if they had a conflict on the matter.

“This highlights a breakdown in the process,” Mr Hartwig said.

“I look forward to the discussions with the Minister … to find a more streamlined way to deal with these matters.”

Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon said there was “no truth whatsoever” to the claims of an organised protest.

Acting CEO David Lewis told the remaining councillors at Tuesday’s meeting they had four options given the exodus.

Two of these – delegating the decision to the mayor or delaying the matter to a later meeting – were non-starters as the conflict of interest problems would remain.

Instead, they could either vote to take no further action on the matter, or write to the Local Government Minister as ask for directions on how it should be handled.

“It’s one of the most intriguing decisions I’ve seen in my life,” Mr Fredman, a 40-year veteran of Local Government, said.

He initially moved no further action be taken, but none of the remaining councillors backed the motion.

Mr Stewart then moved to ask the State for help, saying he was “uncomfortable” with the quarter making a decision on behalf of the entire council.

He was unanimously supported.

The details of the matter, and whom it is against, have not been revealed to date.

Originally published as Bruce Devereaux, Hilary Smerdon speak on ‘protest’ claim over council vote