A Victorian council on the brink of suspension has rocked the boat again, appointing a new Chief Executive Officer a week after dumping the former CEO, whose contract was due to end in June.
Bryan Sword is now South Gippsland Shire Council's acting CEO for the next 12 months — if the Victorian Government does not suspend the council and appoint an administrator before that time is up.
One councillor said the candidates for CEO were only disclosed to the councillors an hour before the vote.
"I don't see how any councillor could be expected to make such a large decision in such a short period of time," Councillor Aaron Brown said.
In an emergency meeting, councillors voted to 'endorse the intent' of a good governance action plan and request the CEO prepare a training program to implement the plan.
It was a last-ditch effort to prove to Victorian Minister for Local Government, Adem Somyurek, why the embattled council should not be suspended.
A municipal monitor was appointed in June last year and a report from the monitor last month, found South Gippsland Shire Council performed poorly in terms of leadership, culture and decision-making.
Council has until Thursday May 9th to make its submission to the Minister, but Mayor Don Hill is confident the council will not be suspended.
"We welcome both of those reports being made public," he said.
"We don't believe there's anything that warrants a suspension of this council.
"Councils have done far worse things such as malfeasance, bullying, corruption … and some of those have not been sacked or suspended and we've done none of those."
Plagued with problems
In the space of six months, five councillors have quit the South Gippsland Shire Council.
Four said they had suffered bullying and dysfunction in their workplace, some that even extended to harassment at their homes.
The fifth, Jeremy Rich, quit to "vigorously defend" himself against drug and firearm charges, after cannabis and cocaine were allegedly found at his family's Walkerville property.
James Fawcett said it only took a matter of months before he decided to leave.
"If you are of a mind not to accept the view that some put, it is a toxic workplace," he said.
Mr Fawcett said he had witnessed poor governance and councillors ignoring conflicts of interest.
"I'm surprised at the resilience of some of the councillors who have stayed there for the full term," he said.
Another former councillor, Meg Edwards, said she has installed security cameras at her home after ongoing harassment.
"Is that the way you want your elected representatives to live; that they're frightened?" she said.
"I brought this to the attention of the first mayor in the first few months and he chose not to act.
"Everybody is entitled to a view, we don't get good policy without good debate."
But Mr Hill, the Mayor, strongly denied these allegations.
"The monitor was here for nine months and didn't identify one case of bullying," he said.
