And this MidCoast news, is just hilarious

• 
• 

Details

Published: Friday, 09 August 2024 14:39

In our February issue, under the heading “He said what?” we reported on a developing fiasco at MidCoast where a Councillor had asked whether three things reported in the Golden Turd issue of depaNews were true.

Councillor Peter Epov asked, “can the GM confirm that depaNews, for the second year in succession, conferred the ‘Golden Turd Award’ to MidCoast” and whether the claims were correct that “MidCoast Council has had 300 resignations in the past 12 months, as stated in the last report to the Consultative committee” and “Almost 500 of council’s USU (United Services Union) members meeting and rejecting the proposal to the salary system proposed by MCC with not one person supporting them?”

The Council has never told us that those things were untrue, we still believe they are true, but the GM had responded that the matter was confidential due to “personnel matters concerning particular individuals (other than Councillors)” even though the question sought whether the allegations were correct, yes or no, and made no reference to any individual personnel matters.

When the Councillor ignored the inappropriate gag, a Code of Conduct complaint was made against him, the Conduct Reviewer found Epov guilty, he crowd-funded an appeal to the Supreme Court, he won, and the Council was a loser, in more ways than one.

Here is an article in the Daily Telegraph on 28 June and an article in the Newcastle Herald on 4 July when the Council lost the Supreme Court case.

If you were a creative, writing a television satire about local government, you could include this without embellishment. MidCoast is the gift that keeps on giving.