Dissension grows as Councillors return 'no confidence in Chair' at today's meeting
FRACTURED
The ongoing dissension and fractured working relationship between Douglas Shire Mayor Michael Kerr and three of his Councillors shows no signs of abating after another highly charged ending to today’s latest Douglas Shire Council Ordinary meeting.
Just seconds before the meeting was declared closed by Mayor Michael Kerr, Deputy Mayor Lisa Scomazzon raised an urgent business matter.
Cr Scomazzon then proceeded to put forward ‘a vote of no confidence in the Chair’, - in simple terms the Deputy Mayor, by putting it forward, was suggesting she has no confidence or faith in the way Cr Kerr operated today's meeting.
Cr Scomazzon’s rationale and reasoning for the ‘no confidence’ comes after her, Cr Noli and Cr Zammataro’s ongoing frustrations at Motions being previously denied at the last minute, or because of Cr Kerr seeking legal advice which prevents Motions being heard.
Cr Scomazzon cited, as examples, the delays around the Daintree Ferry and Media Relations Policy motions both being previously delayed by Cr Kerr.
Her frustrations today centred around her want to forward a Motion for Cr Kerr to be more transparent, clear and open about his general diary, itinerary and travel movements when he’s representing the community outside of the Shire.
However, to her frustration, Mr Kerr prevented that Motion from being discussed which led Cr Scomazzon to then table the ‘no confidence in the Chair’.
Meantime, a Councillor’s battle to engage more openly, transparently and freely with local media without Council imposed restriction has taken a huge leap forward after a key motion returned a majority vote.
Cr Abigail Noli has long been an advocate for Councillors to have a transparent voice and for the Douglas community to have a clear and unbiased view of how and why Councillors vote on key issues and matters at Council meetings.
In her third attempt Cr Noli got the media relations policy passed, which is similar in nature to that of the benchmark Ipswich City Council’s.
Lastly, an aspiring Cooya Beach cricketer’s mission to gain support for the construction of something as simple as some cricket nets seems a step closer after Council endorsed a relevant motion.
The motion that Council ‘commits to installing the practice cricket pitch nets at Cooya Beach and comes back to Council with costings' returned a uniamous vote.
Mossman High year 8 student Max Schwarzer has been advocating for the installation of new cricket nets at Lou Prince Park for more than a year.
The Douglas Muddies cricketer submitted a petition to Council in April last year which gained 170 signatures.
Max said through the petition papers that it would be a relatively inexpensive asset for the Council to construct and maintain.
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