Oversight efforts will continue for City of Greater Geelong Council, with Victoria Local Government Minister, Melissa Horne today appointing Peter Dorling and Mark Davies as municipal monitors to the Council until the end of 2024.
Mr Dorling and Prue Digby were initially appointed as monitors to the council from January 2023 for 12 months, following advice from both Local Government Victoria and the Chief Municipal Inspector.
The final report from Mr Dorling and Ms Digby notes that although the Council has made progress, work is still required to improve its governance policies, processes and practices, Minister for Local Government, Melissa Horne said today.
“I thank Mr Dorling and Ms Digby for their work as monitors to Geelong City Council last year,” said Minister Horne.
“Their report shows that work still needs to be done to improve governance practices at the council, and the appointment of Mr Dorling and Mr Davies as municipal monitors will support that work.”
She said the monitors will work closely with the Geelong City Council CEO, Ali Wastie (pictured), to ensure governance improvements are fully implemented, and will ensure stability at the Council during the election of a new mayor following the October 2024 elections.
The Government will introduce new legislation before the local government elections in October 2024 to elevate governance and integrity standards in Victoria’s 79 councils, encouraging quality candidates to put themselves forward.
Reforms will introduce mandatory training for elected representatives, a uniform councillor code of conduct and strengthened powers for the Minister to address councillor conduct.