Mayor fends off angry ratepayers

By Sharon Webb

COUNCILLORS AND residents barely kept their tempers in check in October’s Meander Valley Council meeting as detail dripped out about how the State Government came to choose Westbury for their prison site.

When Westbury business owner Liza de Lautour said locals had been ‘deceived by everyone in the room’, Cllr Frank Nott retorted that councillors were being maligned. ‘We had no knowledge at all – don’t blame the council!

‘We were advised there would be community engagement after a shortlist was announced. I’ve been deceived by the State Government.’

Mayor Wayne Johnston started the meeting by attempting to shrug off council responsibility for the prison. ‘The prison is a State proposal and will be on private land not council land,’ he said.

But Cllr Johnston’s denial of responsibility was in vain as it was revealed that of all the councillors, he alone had known the Government’s specific plans for Westbury – a month before the prison location was formally announced by Corrections Minister, Elise Archer.

Attempting to pin down how long Meander Valley Council had known about the prison location, Westbury resident Chris Donaldson asked, ‘Was there an embargo, or other instruction or directive at any time, placed on council by the State Government, to prevent information from being released by council to the community about a prison at Westbury?’

Acting general manager Jonathan Harmey replied, ‘There was a meeting with representatives from the State Government at the end of August. There were three council officers and the mayor at that meeting, all of whom were required to sign confidentiality agreements requiring them not to release information discussed.’

As it dawned on residents that the mayor they expected to represent their interests had known about the prison plans for weeks and said nothing, there were cries of ‘Shame!’ from the public gallery.

Cllr Johnston said, ‘What could I do? I was invited to the meeting but I couldn’t sit in the room without signing a confidentiality agreement.’

Resident Di Robinson yelled: ‘That’s conspiracy to hide information!’

The first bombshell of the meeting was when furious Westbury residents heard Meander Valley Council staff had actually worked to put forward Westbury as a site for the prison.

Cllr Johnston told them former council general manager Martin Gill had helped two local landowners write expressions of interest in selling their land to the government for the prison.

Later in the meeting, there was another revelation.

According to Mr Harmey, ‘In September 2018 council’s general manager approached five private land owners to make them aware of the EOI process the State Government was undertaking. The EOIs submitted were not council’s but private land owners’ EOIs.’

Around 70 ratepayers attended the council meeting, with Cllr Johnston allowing an hour for public questions without notice, twice the usual time. Police also attended. sharon.webb@ meandervalleygazette.com