By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
GEELONG’S council has split with Committee for Geelong, finally ending a meddling and fractious relationship, according to former mayor Barbara Abley.
Council decided this week to allow its membership of the comittee to lapse, citing the committee’s new corporate structure as a public company.
City Hall was a foundation member of the lobby group in 2001 at an annual cost of around $20,000.
The membership lapsed on 14 November. The financial membership was a long-running contentious issue, with a number of councillors opposed to paying the annual fee.
Ms Abley as a councillor unsuccessfully raised several notices of motion seeking immediate termination of the membership on grounds the committee interfered in council processes.
In September last year, during her final term on council, she asked City Hall to seek urgent legal advice on alleged misuse of a committee database in the mayoral election and urged the council to resign immediately.
Ms Abley this week still “firmly believed” spending ratepayers’ money on membership of an organisation that lobbied council over developments and investments linked to other committee members created a “real conflict of interest”.
“In my view, and in the view of members of our wider community, the line was often crossed by this organisation, using its power and influence to actively involve itself in council matters, conflicting with its stated brief,” she said.
“The committee made a conscious decision to involve itself in the politics of local elections by publicly backing certain candidates.
“Over the years, the committee has publicly used its power to often and unfairly denigrate council and City of Greater Geelong when it suited its own purposes.
“The committee’s counterparts in other cities work collaboratively with all governments to achieve common good without embroiling their organisations in the legitimate business of any of the three tiers of government, including the City.”
The committee’s new structure proposes a local government member category available to City of Greater Geelong, Surf Coast and Golden Plains shires and Borough of Queenscliffe at a cost of $12,100.
The committee announced a new chairperson the morning after council formally wound up its membership on Tuesday night, with lawyer Dan Simmonds replacing accountant Michael Betts.
Mr Simmonds and committee executive officer Rebecca Casson had not returned the Independent’s requests for comment before the paper went to press.
