THE Federation Council election campaign exploded on Monday night when a former Corowa Shire councillor publicly defended general manager Chris Gillard and warned of the financial implications of the incoming council dumping him.
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Gail Law was the sole candidate at the forum to speak out in support of Mr Gillard and administrator Mike Eden during her three-minute address.
She was heckled by sections of the 100-strong crowd before launching an even stronger defence of the general manager during question time when a question was directed to two other former councillors, Mark Shields and Fred Longmire.
They were asked how they could work with Mr Gillard if they were elected on Saturday given their opposition to Mr Eden’s decision to re-appoint the general manager until 2020 and the contentious Howlong compost plant saga.
“Think about how much it is going to cost the ratepayers to get rid of him,” Ms Law said.
“It will be a bit more than $250,000 and closer to $500,000 to $1 million.
“Is that what you want to do?”
Moderator Malcolm Whittle cautioned the crowd to stop making personal comments.
The general manager position is the sole staffing decision the council can make with Mr Shields telling the forum councillors had three months to review the position.
Earlier, Ms Law passionately defended her decision to stand as an independent candidate and not form a group.
“When I make my own decisions I will stick by those decisions,” she said.
“The first and most important thing is to get our council united again.
“Many of the former councillors are critical of Mr Gillard and Mr Eden, but I think they’ve done a fairly good job in a very hard position.”
Other candidates to speak at the forum were Gavin King, Bronwyn Thomas, Mick Robson, Paul Miegel, Daryl Davey, David Horton, Shaun Whitechurch, Pat Bourke, Gary Poidevin and David Longley.
A range of topics were raised including the compost plant, wards, the Yarrawonga-Mulwala bridge route, renewable energy, rating levels, group voting and the Corowa pool.
Mr Robson, an independent candidate from Urana, said he had a different viewpoint on wards compared to the Urana group led by Mr Bourke.
“You need a shire-wide outlook to go ahead,” he said.
Mr Poidevin, who has served more than three decades on Corowa Shire veteran, said he was attempting a comeback to reunite the community.
“Voting below the line you have the power to put on council who you want,” he said.
