Delma Baesjou says she is committed to Albany council role despite poor attendance and rejected leave request

A City of Albany councillor who has only attended one ordinary meeting in full this year says she is dealing with the effects of long COVID but remains committed to her role. Cr Delma Baesjou had an application for a week-long leave of absence from December 14 to 20 rejected by her council colleagues at last week’s ordinary meeting. The leave of absence would have meant she was excused from attending a special council meeting the City is planning to hold on December 20. Cr Amanda Cruse moved the motion for Cr Baesjou’s leave of absence, but it failed to receive a seconder from among the remaining nine councillors. Cr Baesjou said she was a little disappointed her application was not supported. “But not surprised because I had not had the opportunity to explain the reason I was going to be interstate,” she said. The lapsed motion came after Cr Baesjou arrived at the meeting about half an hour after it started. The minutes of the City’s 2022 meetings show that the July ordinary meeting was the only one she attended from start to finish. She was 20 minutes late to the February meeting and 10 minutes late in March. Cr Baesjou was on the verge of being disqualified from council after she failed to attend the April and May ordinary meetings without an approved leave of absence. WA’s Local Government Act states that if a councillor is absent from three consecutive ordinary meetings without approved leave they will be “disqualified from continuing their membership of the council”. She attended the June meeting via Zoom, therefore avoiding disqualification, but she left the meeting 46 minutes before it finished. She was granted a leave of absence from the August meeting and then attended the September meeting by Zoom, but left six minutes before it finished. Cr Baesjou said she had attended meetings via Zoom when she had COVID and had issues with “internet dropping out” towards the end of one of the meetings. She also said she had been impacted by long COVID. “I’m still committed to attending meetings when I can in whatever capacity I can,” she said. “In the mornings I’m in a much better position, but usually by 4pm in the afternoon I’m struggling to be able to remain coherent, so I was needing to take some leave.” Cr Baesjou has a full-time job with the Shire of Plantagenet, which usually holds its ordinary council meetings on the same day as Albany, but starting one hour earlier. Minutes from Shire of Plantagenet meetings, where she works as the manager of development services, show she has attended every ordinary meeting this year, including by video-link. The only time this year when the neighbouring councils did not hold their ordinary meetings on the same day was in July, because the Shire of Plantagenet had rescheduled its July meeting to August 2. City of Albany councillors receive $32,470 in annual meeting fees which they receive in full regardless of how many meetings they attend. Cr Baesjou, who was elected to represent the Vancouver Ward in October last year, said being a councillor was a big commitment with a lot of obligations. “I’m providing to the best of my ability at the moment and I hope other people will give me the same courtesy I’d give them when there is illness and grappling with issues,” she said. “Physical and mental wellbeing is important to all of us at the moment.”