It’s unknown how long the Facebook page of a candidate in the Indigo Shire 2016 elections was ‘liked’ by the council’s youth services account, acting chief executive Mark Florence revealed on Tuesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Florence, acting on behalf of Gerry Smith, gave further details about the incident in answering questions from ratepayer David Valentine.
“In speaking with the CEO, he was advised twice on October 3, the day the like was removed,” he said.
“It’s also my understanding a complaint was lodged with the Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate, which advised the liking of a candidate’s Facebook page was not likely to prejudice the outcome of the election.
“Also, the report advised council had resolved the matter actively and no further action was required.”
Mr Florence denied Mr Valentine’s suggestion the like could have been present on the candidate’s page for months.
“We expected it wouldn’t have been months, given the election period started on September 23 and the like was removed on October 3.”
The public forum constituted most of Tuesday’s council meeting, with eight items passing without objection in 15 minutes.
This included the finance report over eight months to February 28, showing council was $354,000 favourable on a year to date basis compared to revised forecasts.
Finance committee chairman James Trenery said council was still heading into deficit.
“As I understand it, about 173,000 in cash,” he said.
“That’s what we’ve budgeted for, which might be a bit different in four months’ time.”
Cr Trenery also congratulated the Indigo Community Access Committee on their work developing the council’s access policy, adopted unanimously.
“The access committee does an absolutely fantastic job; they are very active in the community,” he said.
The policy’s goals include improving access across new and existing facilities, investigating community education education opportunities for disabled residents and requiring developers to better look at accessibility.
Councillor Sophie Price also applauded the ICAC’s work.
“They’ve started to look at a really broad picture approach of how access applies, particularly in our shire with heritage restraints,” she said.
“I commend them and the staff.”
