Whittlesea mayor Ricky Kirkham accused of showing “poor leadership”

Whittlesea mayor Ricky Kirkham has come under fire from some of his fellow councillors, who have accused him of showing “poor leadership”.

For the second time in four months, Cr Kirkham was forced to defend himself against a dissent motion during Tuesday’s council meeting at Mernda.

The motion, which was eventually lost, was raised by Cr Sam Alessi after Cr Kirkham ruled that questions submitted by resident Pam McLeod would not be answered.

The questions – about the sacking of chief executive Michael Wootten and the high number of council decisions made behind closed doors – had been submitted as part of a community meeting held before the council meeting, but had not been answered.

Cr Kirkham said he made the decision not to answer the questions because he felt that more advice was needed on the issues raised to ensure the most appropriate response could be given.

When Ms McLeod asked for the questions to be answered at the end of the council meeting, Cr Kirkham said it would not be possible and a response would be provided in writing.

Cr Alessi said Cr Kirkham’s decision belittled the council and the position of mayor.

“This municipality has stooped low under this current administration,” he said.

Cr Kris Pavlidis backed Cr Alessi, saying the decision was an embarrassment for the council.

“I’ve never seen such a display, in my opinion, of poor leadership,” she said.

“It’s time to show strong leadership. If you don’t know that it is – go and get trained.”

Cr Emilia Lisa Sterjova said she was “ashamed” of the council.

Defending his decision, Cr Kirkham said he was advised that residents had been told their questions may not be answered during the community meeting due to time constraints, and accused some of his fellow councillors of deliberately delaying the council meeting.

“What I don’t like is when people use rescission motions and dissent motions to prolong process,” he said.

“There is a continued trend here where people use process and start smirking … it’s all tactics. That’s not how democracy works.”

Cr Kirkham faced a dissent motion during the November 22 council meeting after refusing a request from Cr Lawrie Cox for the minutes of the November 3 mayoral election to be amended. That motion was also lost.