Hurstville Council facing suspension over 'numerous failures' of governance, legal compliance
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An entire Sydney council is facing suspension after a New South Wales Government investigation identified numerous failures of the required standard of governance and legal compliance.
Local Government Minister Paul Toole issued a notice of intention to suspend Hurstville City councillors for three months.
Earlier this year, Mr Toole ordered an investigation into the council after a number of serious issues were raised.
He said he was concerned the public had lost faith in the council, adding that he would take whatever action that was necessary to restore that faith.
In May, then deputy mayor Michelle Stevens resigned in protest after the mayor, Con Hindi, whose term recently came to an end, suspended general manager Victor Lampe.
Cr Hindi stood down Mr Lampe after he wrote a report recommending that Cr Hindi be fined and possibly prosecuted over a property he owns at Mortdale in Sydney's south.
The property was the subject of a council inspection in April when a neighbour complained.
Officers visited the site and discovered asbestos.
Cr Hindi denied at the time that Mr Lampe's suspension had anything to do with recommendations made about the property misconduct at Mortdale.
Mr Toole said the summary dismissal of Mr Lampe and other serious issues raised concerns about the functioning of the council.
Labor councillor Brent Thomas said he was pleased that the State Government was stepping in and taking serious action.
"He's identified a range of legal and compliance issues and it looks like we're going to be suspended," he said.
"The St George community, I think, will now breathe a collective sigh of relief and the behaviours they've been seeing and reading about for months now are, hopefully, finally coming to an end.
"The Minister's announcement is unequivocally good news for the community."
The council has seven days to respond to the notice.
Vince Badalati was elected Mayor of Hurstville City Council at an extraordinary meeting on September 9.
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