Hepburn Shire Mayor, Tony Clark, has confirmed the reinstatement of five councillors who were this week cleared of criminal charges brought by a local businessman, after the Victorian DPP stepped in to bring the legal action to an end.
Mayor Clark and Councillors Don Henderson, Shirley Cornish, Pat Hockey and Lesley Hewitt were facing misuse of public office charges brought by local man, David Penman.
In accordance with the current Local Government Act, the private legal action forced the Councillors to stand down until the matters were dealt with, leaving just two serving Councillors and effectively shutting down the Council.
“I am pleased to confirm that the Councillors who were previously stood down have now been reinstated. We look forward to resuming Council business and making the decisions needed to keep projects and initiatives moving forward,” Mayor Clark said in a statement.
“Following the Director of Public Prosecutions’ dismissal of the private criminal charges this week, there is no evident need for the Minister for Local Government to appoint an administrator. This normally applies when a Council has fallen foul of its governance responsibilities, but our situation is unprecedented because Council and the administration did nothing wrong.”
With Councillors now returned and able to form a quorum at Council meetings, governance is restored in Hepburn Shire, said the Mayor.
He said, however, he remained disappointed that the Local Government Act 2020 did not afford Councillors protection from such private prosecutions.
“The standing down of Councillors in this way was an attack on democracy and governance in the local government sector. We look forward to amendments that protect against this type of action in the future.”Â
