Wodonga Council's June meeting ended before it began after a councillor felt "disrespected" and left the live stream, which was plagued by technical issues.
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After five minutes of Cr Libby Hall attempting to join, mayor Kevin Poulton moved the meeting on and a request by Cr Kat Bennett for another month's leave was agreed to by the quorum.
Before any conflicts of interest could be declared, Councillor Olga Quilty sought to move a motion to suspend standing orders to debate "whether it is within the powers of the chief executive officer to change the location of tonight's meeting ... in order to accommodate one councillor who could not attend the chamber in person".
Cr Quilty said it was in contravention of a previous resolution where "the council resolved that meetings are to be run in the chamber, and that meetings may be held by electronic means only when the CEO determines that the public is to be excluded from the meeting during the Victorian government restrictions on public gatherings".
After mayor Kevin Poulton told Cr Quilty she could not move a motion at that point in the meeting, Cr Quilty sought to move a point of order.
Chief executive Mark Dixon told Cr Poulton to "just keep going" as Cr Quilty continued to halt the meeting, calling for the mayor's ruling to be dissented.
Cr Poulton then called Cr Quilty to order, and moved on to the next item; confirmation of the previous meeting's minutes.
Cr Ron Mildren then told Cr Poulton: "You've had a motion of dissent, you must put that to the vote".
The meeting was adjourned for five minutes while advice from a governance officer was sought.
Cr Poulton then stated that advice "has made me confident there is no point of order", prompting Cr Mildren to move a second motion of dissent.
"There's no motion of dissent either because there's no original motion," Cr Poulton replied.
While the meeting continued on, audio issues and poor internet connection for Cr Watson resulted in the meeting being suspended again in an attempt to rectify issues.
When it resumed, still without Cr Hall, Cr Quilty withdrew from the meeting.
"Mr mayor, with respect, I called dissent from the chair earlier, it was completely ignored (and) I take it (as) a sign of disrespect," she said.
"I apologise to the viewers from the general public, but I'm going to leave this meeting".
IN OTHER NEWS:
There were then issues with Cr Mildren's audio and Cr Poulton advised those watching the meeting that under governance rules 14, it would be adjourned.
The meeting ran for 36 minutes but none of the 14 items for determination were resolved.
Councillors will reconvene at 6pm on June 29, where councillor and mayoral allowances, the adoption of the budget, inland rail, the location for a Defence veteran well-being centre will be discussed.
In a nine-minute presentation closed the the public, Mr Mitchell raised issue with how the Community Engagement Policy had been applied to gathering feedback in this instance.
"My concern is, the new Local Government Act 2020 encourages transparency and with this current situation with the budget - which is important to everybody throughout the community - Council should fully engage with the community and that means verbal presentations," he said.
Mr Mitchell said the Council was commended for having a zero per cent rate rise last year but should not be putting rates up to the full 1.5 per cent cap set by the Victorian government this year.
"Wodonga will be in the top quartile as one of the highest charging councils across the 79 Victorian councils," he said.