Attempts by Cr Ken Clarke to use this week's public meeting to defend Wangaratta Council's history of spending over the past four years were cut off for being against election rules - but only after he had already made his point.
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The former mayor used Tuesday night's meeting as an opportunity to hit back at criticism from his opponents.
"I would like to make some comments about the continued comments from people who are nominated as candidates, who continue to say that this council has not looked after our money as well as we would have, that we've spent money on all these things," he said.
"I'm quite concerned that some of the candidates have been saying that."
The comments were made during a discussion of the council's 2019-20 annual report, which included details of its strategies and what targets had been met during the past year.
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Cr Clarke had been allowed to speak by the councillors until he started to say "I would suggest that after the adoption of this-" and was stopped by a point of order from Cr Harvey Benton.
The objection from Cr Benton, who is the only of Wangaratta's councillors guaranteed to stay for the next four years because he is running unopposed in the north ward, was then accepted by mayor Dean Rees.
"We are in an election period and to discuss certain issues of candidates or other councillors on what they have done is not permitted at this time, so we might just refrain from talking on that issue," Cr Rees said.
South ward candidate David Lawrence has said in his statement that "I am appalled that all three tiers of government can preach financial responsibility then boast of record spending", while city ward candidate Julian Fidge said "I want to bring jobs and development to Wangaratta and reduce council spending".
The Victorian Local Government Act prohibits councillors from "misusing or inappropriately making use of their position", such as campaigning while attending official meetings during the election period.
Meanwhile, Indigo Council's 2019-20 annual report was published without its usual input from councillors due to the upcoming election, which Cr Larry Goldsworthy said meant there was a lack of detail usually provided in the report.
"I am disappointed with the whitewashing of councillor contributions not being listed in there due to caretaker period and hopefully they can be highlighted at a later date," he said at Tuesday's meeting.
The report also removed the photographs of councillors, which had been published in the annual report in previous years.