Charlotte Varcoe
MOUNT Gambier City Council has decided not to reimburse $12.70 to a councillor to cover the cost of printing a meeting agenda while on holidays.
Cr Paul Jenner made the formal request for reimbursement at council’s meeting this week after attending a spur-of-the-moment virtual council meeting in July this year during a Covid-19 lockdown.
At the time of the meeting, Cr Jenner was on holidays and had submitted an apology for the meeting.
However, upon discovering that the meeting was to be held virtually, he requested to join the meeting and printed the agenda – costing him $12.70.
According to Council chief executive officer Sarah Philpott, Cr Jenner only had access to his mobile phone to read the agenda.
She said council’s virtual attendance policy states the elected member must be both seen and heard to officially attend the meeting and that it was not possible for Cr Jenner to attend the meeting in this manner while reading the agenda on his phone at the same time.
Ms Philpott said this was the reason why Cr Jenner had to print the agenda and, due to the virtual attendance policy, she was not able to determine whether he should receive reimbursement.
“This is why Cr Jenner has chosen to present the matter to elected members,” Ms Philpott said.
Cr Max Bruins said the reimbursement should not be paid due to elected members being provided with a laptop and allowances.
Each Mount Gambier City councillor receives an annual allowance of more than $17,000.
Cr Christian Greco questioned why the matter was even being debated, with a majority of councillors agreeing with him.
Cr Frank Morello said the initial cost should be covered by Cr Jenner’s yearly printing allowance while Cr Kate Amoroso reiterated the fact Cr Jenner had only a small device to read the agenda from.
The motion for Cr Jenner to be reimbursed the $12.70 was lost with only Cr Amoroso voting for it.
Declaring a conflict of interest, Cr Jenner was not present for the discussion nor the decision surrounding the agenda item.
