Cr Gen Campbell submitted the notice of motion for February’s meeting on Tuesday, February 23, for investigation into MRE's "development, finances and all circumstances including the current and prior activities of the parent company, Dongmun Greentec Pty Ltd, to establish similar developments in other councils, specifically Edward River Council".
Crs Campbell, Tom Weyrich, Tony Aquino and deputy mayor Nikki Cohen all voted for the original motion, however it was lost and the matter will be deferred until the audit investigation council commissioned in August last year is complete.
The motion, and two others submitted by Cr Weyrich, were openly listed on the meeting agenda, however mayor Chris Bilkey recommended moving council into confidential for discussion.
Crs Weyrich, Campbell and Cohen voted against moving the motions into confidential and Cr Weyrich said it was disappointing.
“This confidential stuff is not very transparent — we’re not being open and honest,” he said.
“I think we should be letting the community know what’s going on.”
One of his motions was for councillors to receive copies of the loan agreement between council and MRE, “including all items that have been removed in previous copies (noting items 5 and 6 deleted)”.
It comes after it was revealed a $900,000 loan made to MRE was not due until April this year, despite a January 2021 deadline being previously stated on multiple occasions.
Once council emerged from the confidential section, it was read into the minutes that council voted to conduct a review of its legal services, while Cr Weyrich's other motion was withdrawn.
Murray River Council chief executive Terry Dodds said the decision to move the motions into confidential was made at the last minute due to copies of legal contractual documents being provided to councillors.
“Furthermore, the research undertaken to enable a very thorough response to the notices of motion was only finished midday on Monday, not giving enough time to change the agenda to give notice the items would be required to be discussed in confidential,” Mr Dodds said.
“I’ve the utmost confidence all councillors will support the fact they were supplied the information they requested and the questions and debate wasn’t stifled in the slightest.
“To help all councillors the legal counsel that registered the first mortgage was also in attendance to answer any questions.”
The audit investigation is yet to get under way.
Mr Dodds said responses from suitable companies to take it on were being assessed on Thursday, February 25, with “an expectation to commence the audit process as soon as possible”.
Cr Campbell said she was unable to provide comment due to the motions being moved into confidential at the meeting.
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