Chelsea • Mordialloc • Mentone
GET YOUR
FREE TV GUIDE INSIDE!
An independent voice for the community
Your weekly community newspaper covering news from Carrum to Mentone
DOWNLOAD 3MP FROM THE APP STORE OR GOOGLE PLAY
FREE
127
Wednesday 3 July 2024
For all your advertising and editorial needs, call us on 03 5974 9000 or email: team@baysidenews.com.au www.baysidenews.com.au
Drug arrests A MAN was arrested last Wednesday as part of an investigation into an alleged drug syndicate. Police conducted raids in Keysborough and Springvale last week as part of their investigation (pictured). See story page 5. Picture: Supplied
Calls to probe grant process
Brodie Cowburn brodie@baysidenews.com.au A KINGSTON councillor says he “appropriately” recused himself from a council decision to award a grant to a not-for-profit he sits on the committee of. The Druze Community Charity of Victoria applied for a $25,000 grant from Kingston Council this year. Although council officers recommended that the application be rejected, at council’s 24 June meeting a majority of councillors agreed to alter the proposed grant arrangements to provide $25,000 per annum to the not-for-profit between 2024 and 2027. Councillors agreed to offer “community festivals, events & creative activities” grants to three different organisations against the recommendations of officers last Monday - the other two were the Aspendale Gardens Residents Association and Melbourne Shwetambar Jain Sangh Inc. Councillor Hadi Saab is a member of the Druze Community Charity of Victoria’s executive committee. The former mayor has listed the role on his register of personal interests and declared the conflict of interest at last Monday’s meeting. Saab left the chamber before the vote occurred, however the decision to offer grant money to the organisation has still been slammed by opposing councillors. At last Monday’s public council meeting, councillor Georgina Oxley said that councillors had not seen the three applications they were considering and that discussions about the grants at behind-closed-doors coun-
cillor information sessions were not shared with the public. She said it is important that “decisions are made publicly so that our community can see them.” “I haven’t seen the applications, I don’t know what events are being funded. It’s $25,000 per annum for one of those. $25,000 per annum for a number of years of ratepayer’s money,” Oxley said. “I’m honestly blown away that others are not sitting here saying ‘what is going on?’. I really hope someone sends it to the [Local Government] Inspectorate to have a look at.” Hadi Saab said he recused himself from the grant application process, and had followed correct procedure. “All councillors are members of our community, therefore from time to time we have a personal connection to a local issue and must quite rightly step back from decision making,” he said. “I take these matters very seriously and made sure I was following all rules and legislation to make sure I was acting appropriately and transparently. I can assure the community that I was very upfront about my connection with the Druze Community Charity of Victoria, and therefore did not take part at any stage of the application process. Every time this matter was discussed at a councillor information session or briefing I left the room and I was not included in any emails related to grants within the same category. “Our grants policy sets out that councillors receive recommendations from our assessment panel and then together we make funding decisions. If we differ from the recommendations, we are to provide our reasons.” Continued page 4