By Laura Michell
Whittlesea council won’t be re-joining the Municipal Association of Victoria this year, citing concerns about the governance of the organisation.
The council has also decided to not become members of the Victorian Local Governance Association, pending a review of the association’s constitution.
In June, the council decided to review its membership to both organisations to ensure they were beneficial and there were no duplication of services.
MAV chief executive Kerry Thompson and VLGA chief executive Kathryn Arndt were invited to make a presentation to the council outlining the benefits of membership to their organisation, after council officers found there was “little” duplication of services.
But at last week’s council meeting, councillors voted to not participate in either organisation. They will review their decision as part of the 2019-20 budget. The membership fee for the MAV is $55,628 annually, while the VLGA fee is $37,760. Cr Sam Alessi said there were a number of issues that needed to be addressed before the council would rejoin the organisations.
“The MAV CEO said there is a number of governance issues [the organisation] will be looking at over the next 12 months. We need to see how they are dealt with before we rejoin,” he said.
“At budget time we will know if the governance issues have been solved.”
