Wrong number

By Nicole Williams
PINAR Yesil’s controversial ousting from council may have uncovered Greater Dandenong Council contravening the charter she put in place during her time as mayor.
An allegation from a council source that Ms Yesil had racked up a large bill on her council phone during her family trip to Turkey led the Star to uncover that councillors’ expenses had not been updated since February this year.
In 2009, she implemented the Accessibility, Transparency and Accountability (ATA) Reform Charter in response to claims she was not performing her mayoral duties.
Under the charter, Greater Dandenong is required to publish the attendance of mayors and councillors at council meetings and briefing meetings fortnightly, and make mayor and councillors’ expenses public monthly.
Greater Dandenong CEO John Bennie said expenses were detailed online as the figures become complete.
“Council remains committed to the ATA charter, but there are ongoing challenges for timely updating,” he said.
Mr Bennie said council’s ‘Councillor Support and Reimbursement Policy’ sought to ensure that business related expenses were supported and personal call costs were reimbursed to council.
“Councillors need to be given an appropriate amount of time to respond to the opportunity to detail their personal call costs and reimburse council,” he said.
The allegation of Ms Yesil’s phone bill has not been proven and her council phone was disconnected on Monday.
“Billing information has not yet been received,” Mr Bennie said.
“Any personal expenses incurred on council phones are required to be reimbursed.”