Denmark council turmoil

Months of turmoil at the Shire of Denmark continued this week after John Sampson resigned from the council on Friday.

Mr Sampson's resignation was announced by the Shire on Tuesday.

He was elected in 2007 and was deputy shire president from 2011 to 2015.

Mr Sampson was scathing of the council, describing it as dysfunctional and fraught with in-fighting between councillors.

"It is not a unified council," he said.

"The problem is that for a council to work effectively, it has to be founded on trusting relationships.

"They don't have that at the moment."

Mr Sampson said some councillors were driven by personal agendas, which were detrimental to the town.

"In my eight years as a councillor I have never seen such factionalism and distrust between councillors as exists now," he said.

"I'm not happy with the way the new council has been performing and the way it functions (and) I'm not prepared to be associated with how the current council is behaving.

"It's not a decision I take lightly … I have agonised over it for a few months but I have simply had enough."

Mr Sampson's resignation is the latest disruption for Denmark's governance over the past nine months.

Former chief executive Dale Stewart sacked former infrastructure services director Rob Whooley in June, describing their ongoing relationship as "untenable".

Mr Whooley's dismissal came after he was suspended and had made a complaint to Minister for Local Government Tony Simpson with serious allegations about the Shire's governance in May.

The Department of Local Government and Communities investigated the allegations but dismissed them in July.

Mr Whooley was elected to the council in October.

Mr Stewart stepped down in December, 22 months before his employment contract was due to expire, after eight years in the role.

At the time, Shire president David Morrell said Mr Stewart's departure was a mutual agreement on amicable terms, and stressed the need for the council to "get back on a functional course."

Chief executive Cliff Frewing said he had only attended one council meeting and it was premature for him to comment on their (councillors') functionality.

"I'll be encouraging the council to undertake some sort of team-building exercise," he said.

An extraordinary election is expected to be held in April.

Mr Simpson was approached for comment but deferred it to the department, which did not respond by deadline.