Councillor on leave to take legal action

Shire of Denmark councillor Rob Whooley has taken leave of absence from council duties as he proceeds with legal action against the Shire.

Cr Whooley is seeking up to $400,000 in damages after the termination of his employment contract as the Shire’s infrastructure director in June last year.

A motion was put forward at a council meeting on August 16 requesting Cr Whooley take leave of absence; however, the motion was voted down, sparking the resignations of then-councillors Kelli Gillies and Roger Seeney.

Cr Whooley requested the leave last Thursday after a discussion with Shire chief executive Bill Parker.

“I am grateful to the CEO and councillors for taking time to discuss this sensibly and for providing appropriate feedback which has assisted. I appreciate there are mixed views,” he said.

Mr Parker indicated the council would continue to operate as normal. Ms Gillies said she wasn’t surprised by the Shire’s announcement.

“No I’m not surprised; I figured they would find out the hard way,” she said. “The decision has been made to try and calm the community but nothing has changed, the underlying issue is still there.”

Ms Gillies said her decision to resign was made based on the discussion that took place when the motion was put to council. “It wasn’t about the vote, it’s what they said when the motion was put forward,” she said.

“What I heard was councillors giving priority to supporting another ‘rights’ and in effect dismissing the concerns of the community members.”