Nedlands council will remain in the hands of commissioners for longer than anticipated following the sacking of its mayor and elected councillors, after the election of a new council was delayed.
Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley has appointed three commissioners to run the council after last month sacking all of the elected councillors, including the mayor Fiona Argyle.
The move came after four councillors resigned within hours of each other, leaving the council without a quorum, with Ms Beazlley describing the situation as an “embarrassing” saga of “dysfunction and disunity”.The council was already under investigation by the Department of Local Government over claims of governance breaches, and Ms Beazley said that probe was expected to conclude in coming weeks.
Local government elections are slated to be held in October this year, but Ms Beazley said on Wednesday the Nedlands election would be rescheduled for March, to give the commissioners time to investigate the issues leading up to the sacking.
Former WA Planning Commission chair David Caddy, a former Nedlands deputy mayor, has been appointed chair of the council, assisted by commissioners Bianca Sandri and Cath Hart.Mr Caddy said he and his fellow commissioners were “committed to bringing trust and integrity back into the governance system in the City of Nedlands.”
“We have a huge task ahead of us,” he said.
Mayor claims she was targeted
Mayor Fiona Argyle told the ABC she was not under investigation from the department and believed she had been targeted for political purposes.
“I was elected mayor two times by a popular vote of the community and have ben rolled by the WA state government for doing my job,” she said.
Ms Argyle said this included “protecting Class A nature reserves from property developer.“
Photo shows A woman in a powder pink suit stands in a council office
The City of Nedlands has been under scrutiny over its opposition to a proposed park for terminally ill children and their families next to WA’s first children’s hospice.
The park was to be built on a class-A reserve, set aside for high conservation areas, but the land had significantly deteriorated over years.
Council argued it wanted to develop the site itself, but the state’s planning minister stepped in and took control of the land.
One of the councillors who resigned last month cited the hospice park issue as one of the main reasons for quitting.
