By Laura Michell
The number of issues being considered by Whittlesea council behind closed doors has fallen.
Whittlesea council data reveals 41.27 per cent of issues discussed between January, 2016, and October, 2017, were assessed in meetings closed to the public.
Mayor Lawrie Cox said the number of confidential items considered by council fell to 13.18 per cent between November, 2017, and April, 2019.
He said that as mayor, he’d made a concerted effort to ensure as many council decisions as possible were made in public.
“When we’ve had contracts to consider, we’ve been ensuring that the topic is discussed in an open meeting and then just the financials are reserved for confidential – for commercial-in-confidence reasons,” Cr Cox said.
“I’m proud that decisions are being made in a public and transparent manner.
“We take our decision-making role seriously and are making decisions that are seeing some great projects come to fruition.”
The council has moved to declassify a number of documents and reports considered confidential in the past year, including a probity auditor report and independent investigation report into a complaint against chief executive Simon Overland and a WorkSafe investigation into allegations of bullying at the council.
Cr Cox has previously said such items should be made available to the community as they are in the public’s interest, adding that the council is accused of secrecy “too much”.
Earlier data, published on the state government’s Know Your Council website, showed Whittlesea made 38 per cent of its decisions behind closed doors in 2015-16
– more than any other Victorian council in that period.
