NEWLY re-elected Division 4 councillor John Burns has had a busy first week - bringing the actions of Redland City Council to the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC), the Department of Local Government and an internal council investigation.
Not one full day into the job on Monday, he delivered a letter to Local Government Minister Desley Boyle calling for the sacking of the whole council, including himself, over what he claims is preferential treatment given to a councillor over her North Stradbroke Island development application.
Mayor Melva Hobson has rejected Cr Burns' claim, saying any DA related to a councillor was subject to even higher scrutiny.
Cr Burns also triggered an internal investigation by council chief executive Gary Stevenson into comments attributed to Deputy Mayor Toni Bowler in The Courier-Mail last month.
The investigation has since been referred to the CMC and then returned to council's chief executive's jurisdiction.
Cr Burns’ complaints all stem from a decision made by a majority of councillors last month to overturn an officer’s recommendations and grant an extension on fellow councillor Toni Bowler’s application for a North Stradbroke Island apartments development.
The development application was originally lodged nearly nine years ago, and the officer’s report stated the plans no longer complied with changed zoning in the area.
But Councillors Mayor Melva Hobson, Wendy Boglary (Div 1), Debra Henry (Div 3), Barbara Townsend (Div 5), Murray Elliott (Div 7) and Helen Murray (Div 10) rejected the officers’ recommendation.
Cr Kathy Reimers (Div 8) and Cr Craig Ogilvie (Div 2) missed the vote, Cr Bowler declared her interest and left the meeting and Cr Karen Williams (Div 9) voted against it.
Cr Williams has since lodged a complaint to Mr Stevenson, separate to Cr Burns, alleging the councillors failed to declare conversations with Cr Bowler about the DA, which she claims to have overheard.
Cr Burns instead complained to Mr Stevenson that Cr Bowler had cast doubt on the integrity of council officers by describing their report as “questionable” in The Courier-Mail, and complained to Ms Boyle of “suspect voting patterns”.
“I explained to the minister that on my estimates, Cr Bowler stood to save between $70,000-$85,000 in redrawn plans, altered designs and compliance with the new bushfire overlay,” Cr Burns said.
“I called on the mayor to show me one single other case where an extension was granted despite going against a changed planning scheme, where the DA was eight years old and where several extensions had already been granted, and she hasn’t.”
The councillors voting against the recommendation maintain their decision was based on a “commonsense” approach to the situation, with the inconsistencies in the plan only minor and that development stalled due to further conditions placed on the plans by the council in previous years.
Cr Boglary said previous mayor Don Seccombe and Cr Williams had overturned an officer’s recommendation in 2007 regarding a Wellington Point DA, not only granting a four year extension, well beyond the 12 months usually granted, but also despite changes in local zoning.
“This was the same situation – [only] a few minor issues and they used commonsense and overturned the officer’s recommendation to grant the extension,” Cr Boglary said.
Cr Ogilvie said Cr Burns’s criticism was “the pot calling the kettle black” and part of a “misinformation campaign [designed] to return the council to the pro-developer glory days”.
Cr Burns passed his letter to the minister via his predecessor, former Division 4 councillor and now Redlands MP Peter Dowling, who said he would have had questions about the approval if still a councillor, but was only facilitating the correspondence and not taking an active role in the complaint.
Ms Boyle said the letter had been received and a response would be forthcoming pending further investigations.
“I understand the matter was referred to the CMC by the council’s chief executive and that the CMC subsequently referred the matter back to the council to investigate in the first instance,” Ms Boyle said.
“The chief executive of the council has advised the Department of Local Government that the investigation is under way.
“It would be inappropriate of me to comment until the outcome of that investigation is known.”
- Journalist's note: This story has been changed. The comments under investigation by the council and made in The Courier-Mail were actually from Deputy Mayor Tony Bowler, not Mayor Melva Hobson as stated in an earlier edition. The Bayside Bulletin apologises for the error.
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