05 August 2011

Refused entry to a meeting; 3rd August 2011

On Wednesday 3rd August the Recruitment Panel chosen (see separate blog) to select the next CEO met with the selected recruitment consultants. The consultants had been selected at a meeting on Monday 1st August. This decision was with held from all other Councillors until Thursday evening when we received the minutes of the meeting. The Panel is described as a Section 41 Committee which means that other Councillors are allowed to attend as observers. The purpose of the meeting was allegedly to meet and greet but decisions were to be made at the meeting. I entered the meeting room to be confronted by the Mayor and asked to leave, this request was repeated many times and after a stand off of about 10 minutes I stayed in the room for the remainder of the meeting. Once again the Mayor has chosen to treat me in a manner different from other Councillors. At a meeting earlier in the week the CEO Performance Review Committee (of which I am a member) allowed a Councillor who was not a member of the committee to both observe and participate. I was shocked and humiliated by this treatment especially as I had expressed to all panel members that I wished to have input into the gender issue before or during discussions about the recruitment with the selected consultant.

2 comments:

  1. The exclusion of a councillor from this Section 41 Committee is rather short sighted. Surely Unley Council encourages the best possible representation by its Councillors. One would have hoped that more Councillors would have demonstrated an interest and rolled up at the meeting. I congratulate those not on the committee who did.
    Does the Mayor know the rules applying to Section 41 Committees? On occasions there may possibly be some latitude but I imagine that this would not happen in a Section 41 context.
    Not allowing you into a Section 41 Committee meeting, where you are entitled to go, could be seen as depriving your constituents (me being one of them) representation. As a female voter in Unley, I encourage you and Denise Tipper to continue to bring forward the gender equity issue without inappropriate blocking.

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  2. After reading the Sunday Mail it makes one wonder What next.

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