Councillor Horne blasts Indigo Council performance, apologises for CEO jibe

The furore was sparked by a notice of motion from deputy mayor Bernard Gaffney to hasten a request from the Wahgunyah Progress Association to hold a community forum.

But Cr Roberta Horne's comment about the motion - seen as an attack on the council executive - drew a quick demand from mayor Sophie Price for an apology to the chief executive officer.

In his motion, Cr Gaffney referred to a 2023 community satisfaction survey that showed Indigo Shire had dropped compared with the previous year.

"Past performance shows that council can do better," Cr Gaffney said. "We need to go out to our communities and not ... wait for them to come to us."

Speaking to the motion, Cr Horne questioned why it was necessary. "How come we are in this position? How we have we arrived at this point? Why do their queries remain unresolved?" Cr Horne said.

"The 2023 community satisfaction results ... are the worst ever. It demonstrates very clearly that what we are doing is ineffective.

"In fact, if this were a private enterprise, and 50 per cent of our customers were unhappy, we would not have a business and we'd certainly be looking for a new CEO.

"We have got to get better at complying with our words and our promises to inform, to listen, acknowledge and provide feedback. Councillors, we are not here for the convenience of this organisation - we are here to test and serve the best interest of our communities."

Mayor Sophie Price immediately said she would "like to take issue with part of what you just said".

"I am highly offended by the comment that you make," Cr Price said. "And I would like to you to apologise to the CEO for that," she said, referring to the council's chief executive officer Trevor Ierino.

"I think it's highly inappropriate to suggest that we would be looking for a new CEO had we been a private organisation.

"The fact that you suggest that 50 per cent of the customer base is unhappy with us when this is a survey of 400 individuals within the shire grossly over-exaggerates that that is a reflection of the CEO and I think that is an appalling assertion to make in this meeting.

"This is not private enterprise, you are in local government."

Cr Horne then apologised.

Cr Gaffney's motion required the chief executive officer to arrange a community forum in Wahgunyah as requested by the progress association and members of the Wahgunyah community in either October or November to discuss issues affecting their community.

" I would like just to say that when I put this motion forward, the CEO was supportive of it," Cr Gaffney said.

"On August 7 I attended and chaired the Wahgunyah Progress Association AGM.

"At that meeting a letter was tabled outlining that council would not be holding a community forum for a variety of reasons, adding that when the new council was elected they would be visiting every community in the shire - waiting until 2025 for that is too late.

"The overview of the Indigo survey states current perceptions of council's overall performance are at a 10-year low - past performance shows that council can do better."

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