Former Young Mayor Brian Ingram, Back Row, far left, receiving a cheque from Southern Phone for $25,000 on behalf of the former Young Shire Council.
Former Young Shire Councillor and Mayor Brian Ingram has been sacked form his role on Hilltops Council effective May 26.
Ingram was in Brisbane when he received a phone call from Administrator Tuckerman.
According to Brian he was told by Tuckerman that she had no choice at which time Ingram responded with “We all have choices Wendy.”
The letter sent by Tuckerman to Ingram states…. “Dear Mr Ingram When appointed to your role as the Chair of the Local Representative Committee and the Implementation Advisory Group, you undertook to abide by the Model Terms of Reference for both the Local Representative Committee, the Implementation Group and the Model Code of Conduct.
Those terms of reference, outlined that the Administrator is the designated spokesperson for the Council and that as a member of the Implementation Advisory Group, you are not delegated to liaise with the media on Council’s behalf.
The letter signed by you as a representative of the Chair of the Young LRC and a member of the Implementation Advisory Group of the Hilltops Council and published in various print and media outlets suggests you are representing a committee of Council without the authority to do so.
Because of this unauthorised representation to the media, you have gone outside your terms of reference for both the Local Representative Committee and the Implementation Advisory Group and therefore I exercise my authority to remove you from all current representative roles on Hilltops Council, including your representation on the Stronger Regions Community Panel. I will invite another member of the Young Local Representative Committee to participate.
It is regretful that you have chosen to go outside your terms of reference and to make several statements that are incorrect and reflect poorly on Hilltops Council.
I wish you luck in your future endeavours.
Kind regards Wendy Tuckerman
Administrator Hilltops Council”
It is unclear what the Terms of Reference for both the Local Representative Committee and the Implementation Group are. The Twin Town Times has previously asked for it from Council and has received no correspondence.
The veil or secrecy surrounding the flow of information to both the general public and certain parts of the media such as ourselves who are willing to hold Council to account commenced on May 12 2016 and hasn’t stopped since. The same day the Council was proclaimed by the State Government.
It seems Mr Ingram has been punished for speaking his mind and adhering to the core value of Australian culture, of freedom of speech.
The most damning part of the letter from Tuckerman is “It is regretful that you have chosen to go outside your terms of reference and to make several statements that are incorrect and reflect poorly on Hilltops Council.”
Is she effectively saying that the 18 advisory members have been gagged for 15 months from saying anything about Hilltops Council? and that by speaking up about the negative aspects of the forced merger is enough to have you dismissed?
Ingram said “It’s a strange move as all the roles finish next month, I think she wanted me off the Stronger Regions Panel. It comes down to free speech and democracy. I suppose I only got dismissed off a committee, in other countries they shoot you for speaking out. It is very disappointing. The role finished on June 30 anyway.”
Ingram went on to say “The whole process has been very frustrating, I stayed involved to try and have some input and the entire time it has been difficult. When it got to the crucial stage to allocate money the allocations haven’t sat well with me. I don’t want to see Harden and Boorowa disadvantaged, so how could I see Young disadvantaged. We had a meeting on Monday night with the Young LRC and drew up a recommendation which showed what we wanted and it included fixing the cbd of Young from flooding when the town receives a heavy downpour. Our suggestion was to take 10% off everything and 7 percent off Harden and 13 percent from Boorowa as well as taking some funding from the Young Pool.”
Ingram said former Young Mayor Stuart Freudenstein has now been appointed as representative of the Stronegr Regions Grant Committee.
Freudenstien, Harden’s Chris Manchester and Tuckerman were the original 3 members on the Hilltops Steering Committee which was operating as early as 2012 before the merger went ahead in 2016.
Ingram said “I want to see the revised list for allocations before final approval. Our recommendations were endorsed by the Young Dveleopment Group. If nothing else I spoke my mind and tried to shake them up a bit”
With the Hilltops Council elections set down for September 9 there has been no other residents who have contacted local media to announce their candidacy. Ingram told Win news approximately a month ago that he will be seeking election to the new Council.
Hilltops Council has been asked to respond to Ingram’s sacking and we are yet to receive a response or a media release. As has seemed to be the Case with Hilltops Council since its inception. The flow of information is on their terms. The Times was recently referred to seeking a Gipa when asking simple questions regarding staff levels and the use of consultants by Hilltops Council.
The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act) was established to provide an open and transparent process for giving the public access to information from New South Wales (NSW) public sector agencies and to encourage the proactive public release of government information. However, what it also does is take around 30 days for a response and costs around $30 for each request. It has become a means to often slow the flow of information to the media or opposition parties.
The questions sent should have easily been answered and it is clear that those in charge don’t have a grasp of the necessary information that they should, when running an organisation such as Hilltops Council. We won’t be holding our breath waiting for the information but continue to count down the days when some semblance of democracy returns. The 18 months in which the New South Wales State Government has taken democracy from Australians and residents of the former Harden, Boorowa and Young Shires will live in infamy.
More to come.
