Upstanding citizen pilloried by Council

An important heritage committee member is being publicly pilloried by Gosford Council.

In regard to the Mill Creek fiasco, the road was re-aligned and the bridge built while the process of proper investigation of an important heritage site on Mill Creek was still being looked at.

The very important old road around the point to Pearl Beach, never completely out of service for walkers and bike riders, was dug up along half its width so that the original neglected retaining wall could be increased 10 times in size.

This prevented any push by local activists to re-establish the road one way for all the obvious benefits to emergency vehicles.

The Ferry Masters Cottage is gone because the council had no idea.

Many of us will have read the front page of the Express Advocate where Kay Williams tells readers the council's Code of Conduct is being used to muzzle critics and the lengthy follow up in our local Peninsula News on page 4 on September 19.

Because Kay has done what so many of our councillors will not do, inform ratepayers of what's being done on our behalf, she has been pushed off our Heritage Committee.

I believe holding a confidential meeting followed by a vote in open council is wrong.

This dodgy move has all the hallmarks of another abuse of due process and a denial of natural justice.

The reasons behind Council decisions such as this are supposed to be in writing in accordance with the council Code of Conduct.

Kay Williams has asked a number of times in emails to Mr Terry Thirlwell and to Council to provide her with that written information, which council used to denigrate a hard working, spirited and very knowledgeable member of our community in open council while making its August 23 resolution.

As a ratepayer, I believe my 10 councillors should be concerned about the amount of public business which is conducted in camera.

It is wrong for council to keep insisting on "discussing difficult matters" when the result of not using the written word is no public record of what public business was resolved.

This is the council which was exposed for leaving over 800 thousand items of information off the public records.

I want to know what our councilors Doyle and MacFadyen have acted on, because Council's agenda and its resolution may have defamed an upstanding member of our community.

Email, 27 Sep 2011 Edward James, Umina