The Beagle Editor, It is laughable that the Mayor is demanding an apology from our chamber of commerce for the poor behaviour of her own hardly-done-by councillor who is looking less like a victim and more like an antagonist every day.
Anyone reading this letter will understand that I have to remain anonymous because I have dealings with Council on a regular basis and my family have employment ties with council. It is well known that if you say anything you are blackmarked. That is how they operate. The councillor (not even worth saying her name as it is beyond relevance) has admitted publicly that she spoke to the Mayor. In the Bay Post it says the Mayor asked if she would be attending the Chamber Christmas meeting and said there had been an email “disinviting” the council. I ask you, the reader, would you go to a meeting if you were a councillor and received this letter? As you would be aware, the past 18 months has seen deterioration of communication between Council and the Chamber. The Chamber Executive Committee believes we have reached a very low point with the instalment of Council's recent communication policy on Chamber communications. In order for the Chamber executive to discuss with members the implications of this policy we request the privacy to do so without Council member embarrassment or interference. We request withdraw of all invitations for meeting December 5th 6pm at On The Pier Restaurant to Councillors and staff of Eurobodalla Shire Council. We hope you understand our request for privacy to discuss these matters. The audacity of the Mayor to now demand an apology from the chamber because one of her Councillor cohorts (the councillor in question ran on the same election ticket as the Mayor and got in because of Mayoral preferences) was not allowed into the meeting that preceded the annual Christmas drinks. What a beat up. There have been so many cases of bullying by this council that it has become common knowledge this is how they operate, especially in the building industry however that apparently is now extending its tendrils into boating, . They also work on divide and conquer and stoop to such lows as to pit one member of a group or association against another while also making veiled threats. I know for a fact that if this letter is published the Mayor will be gunning to find out who did it and will be on the phone to all the chamber executives demanding blood, trying to play one against the other. We all know about what happened at the Garland Town festival, ripping down posters of a group protesting the Rural Land Strategy, laughing and egging them on to raise a Code of Conduct against her if they dared. Everyone has heard the story. We are now hearing how she lords over committees and we have seen her outbursts in the council chamber against the gallery and Anthony Mayne and public speakers. It is beyond time somebody called out the these actions as bullying but it takes guts to stand up to her and none of her councillors do. Everyone is too scared of her and her general manager. Shame on this whole situation, shame on the councillor who came uninvited to gatecrash the meeting, and shame on the soot that covers the good names and reputations of those employees who work hard in our Council who do not deserve to be painted with the same brush. Happy Christmas everyone. May it be a better new year for us all. Name and address withheld
