By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
COUNCILLORS claim facilitators have been called in to help smooth Greater Dandenong mayor Angela Long’s “dictatorial” leadership style at briefing sessions.
Councillors have complained that Cr Long has stifled off-the-cuff questions and free-flow discussions at the information meetings between council officers and councillors, held a week ahead of the council’s fortnightly public meetings.
But the council’s chief executive John Bennie said bringing in consultants — former Port Phillip councillor and Victorian Local Governance Association officer Darren Ray and VLGA governance adviser Ron Exiner — was just “a matter of course”.
It was to help settle in the councillors, elected last November, and part of the council’s desire for “continuous improvement”, Mr Bennie told the Journal.
“When you’ve got 11 councillors and three of them are new ones just voted in by their constituents, you’re only together for four years — the question is what’s the quickest way we can get aligned,” he said. “There’s nothing unusual in what’s happening.”
After the 2008 elections, no facilitator was called in because only two new faces — including Cr Long, who had been a councillor — were elected, he said.
Cr Long said it was not the first time a facilitator had been called in to help make meetings “move smoother”.
She brushed off the notion of significant tensions between her and other councillors.
“We’re 11 individuals and we’ve all got our own opinions,” she said. “We’re not going to agree all the time.”
However, Cr Maria Sampey said the workshops were prompted by councillors concerned by mayor Long’s “dictatorial” style.
“It’s a waste of ratepayers’ money. Why do we have to have a workshop for her to understand not to be so regimental?
“I can’t believe somebody can be such an army sergeant.”
Cr Peter Brown said briefing sessions were “far too formal”, compared to under previous mayors.
“It had got to the stage that every question had to go through the mayor.
“If there’s a question in the natural flow of discussion, she says: ‘Don’t interrupt. Get in the queue’.”
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