By Peter Douglas
YARRA Ranges Shire will take no action against recommendations to establish a multi-member ward structure, although councillors may continue to speak out on the matter.
After preliminary investigations during August and September last year, the Victorian Electoral Commission released its final electoral review recommendation on 25 November, 2015.
This would see a reduction of wards from nine to three, with three councillors representing each ward.
In a statement to the Mail, Acting Director Corporate Services, Jennifer Bednar, said there would be no appeal from the Shire.
“Yarra Ranges Council will take no further action, as an organisation, on the multi-member ward structure,” she said.
“This does not preclude individual councillors from conveying their thoughts/issues directly and on their own behalf.
“The Minister (Victorian Minister for Local Government, Natalie Hutchins) is also yet to sign off on the proposed structure.”
The statement comes as Mount Evelyn residents, ratepayers and the Mount Evelyn Environment Protection and Progress Association (MEEPPA) have voiced their concerns over both the recommendations and the VEC process.
MEEPPA told the Mail it has formally appealed to Ms Hutchins over the recommendations because they believed the process was “flawed from day one”.
Their main argument was the omission of Mount Evelyn from the VEC Initial Report at the start of the preliminary stages, an error that was later rectified.
MEEPPA member, Franc Smith, said the initial omission caused great concern among the community.
“That omission, if not detected, had the potential to disenfranchise the fourth largest town in the Shire,” he said.
Mr Smith insisted the group’s distress is as much about the process as the recommendation.
“On the public submissions night, there was an option ‘D’ dropped at the 11th hour,” he said.
“We’re extremely worried.”
He believed many ratepayers have become disenfranchised.
“We believe that we have amply demonstrated serious shortcomings in this Electoral Representation Review and the process was flawed from day one,” he said.
“After all, what we are talking about here is the democratic election of the third tier of government and the peoples’ right to a transparent democratic process, which we believe has been seriously compromised.”
If Ms Hutchins signs off on the VEC recommendations, the three wards will be Chirnside, which takes in the urban areas of the municipality around Lilydale; O’Shannassy, which encompasses the Yarra Valley and Mount Evelyn; and Streeton, which covers the Dandenong Ranges.
Mayor Jason Callanan last year expressed to the Mail (‘Council will fight’, 1 December, 2015) his concerns with the recommendations.
Cr Callanan said the change meant he would be now seeking re-election with councillors Jim Child and Fiona McAllister in a ward that covered the entire Yarra Valley, about 22,000sqm.
“I honestly don’t know how it’s going to work, I really don’t,” he told the Mail at the time.
However, Mr Smith said he was frustrated over the inaction from Yarra Ranges Shire.
“They’ve done nothing to educate the people,” he said.
“If Mayor Callanan said it wouldn’t work, why then has nothing been done about it, not a thing.”
