CR SUSAN Bissinger has been suspended from Mornington Peninsula Shire Council for 31 days after a state government-appointed arbiter found she had “engaged in misconduct”.
Bissinger was told of the arbiter’s findings and her suspension 12 hours before it came into effect at midnight last Friday (23 February).
However, she remains steadfast in claiming that she did nothing wrong and refuses to apologise, which was a direction made by the arbiter, Joel A Silver.
“The apology requirements … make it impossible. I cannot apologise for things I didn’t do, and I find it offensive that I have been asked to do so,” Bissinger told The News on Monday.
She did not agree with the suspension and was investigating contesting Silver’s findings.
“I have not lied at any time and, hopefully, the truth will eventually come out,” she said.
A statement issued by the shire on Friday said the 31-day suspension “is the maximum penalty available to the arbiter”.
The shire listed the arbiter’s findings which followed 19 allegations of misconduct made by her colleagues Crs Steve Holland, Debra Mar, Despi O’Connor and Sarah Race.
Two of the allegations were subsequently withdrawn and Silver found seven of the remaining 17 “proven”.
Silver said the proven allegations involved Bissinger’s “untrue public statements” that the CEO John Baker had restricted her access to shire staff because she “opposed flying the Intersex Pride Flag at council premises”.
He was “satisfied” that Bissinger understood Baker had limited her access to staff because of her “poor patterns of behaviour”.
“The fact that Cr Bissinger did not accept others’ concerns about her did not mean she did not understand them,” Silver said.
The hearings into Bissinger followed a direction from then mayor Holland to undergo personal development training in the wake of two mediation sessions (Councillor to undergo ‘development training’ The News 24/10/24).
Since news of Bissinger’s suspension from council broke, the Council Watch organisation – which “aims to keep councils honest” – has called for Silver to be “immediately” sacked from the government’s panel of arbiters.
In a letter to Local Government Minister Melissa Horne, Council Watch president Dean Hurston said, “in cases such as this, the removal of indemnity and VCAT appeal rights, would cause severely unfair rulings such as this to be acceptable”.
“As minister, you must intervene in this matter now, otherwise councillors across the state can have no confidence at all in the councillor conduct framework and arbitration process.”
Hurston said Bissinger had been treated unfairly and denied natural justice.
“The pontification in the document [Silver’s findings] is outrageous from any arbiter,” he said.
The shire will include Silver’s 38 page report in the agenda for council’s Tuesday 5 March public meeting.
“Council is pleased the matter has now been resolved and remains focussed on delivering the best possible service to our community,” the unattributed statement issued by the shire last Friday said.
First published in the Mornington News – 27 February 2024
