Four Hobart city councillors are pushing for an independent investigation into allegations Deputy Lord Mayor Zelinda Sherlock took food and drinks from Town Hall for personal use.
Council documents from January 2024 show Sherlock, now a Greens councillor, was identified on CCTV removing refreshments from the Elected Members’ Lounge.
The council’s legal and governance team launched a review after noticing unusual stock levels.
Alderman Marti Zucco and councillors Louise Elliot, John Kelly and Will Coats have lodged a motion for next week’s council meeting, calling for an external probe into both the conduct and how it was handled.
“This conduct would rightly not be tolerated by staff and there cannot be one standard for elected members and another for council employees,” Kelly said.
“In an employment setting, taking from your employer is serious misconduct that would usually get you sacked.”
“There must be proper transparency and accountability as, in this setting, the employer is Hobart ratepayers.”
Councillor Elliot said the matter raised concerns about transparency.
“Unfortunately, this council has a history of coverups,” she said. “We need independent eyes on this matter and the organisation’s response.”
In an email from January 2024, then acting chief executive Neil Noye recorded that Sherlock said she had been taking refreshments for “a number of years”.
She told him she believed they were “fringe benefits” of her role.
Noye noted the policy at the time did not clearly state that items had to be consumed on-site.
He wrote that Sherlock had “apologised for the misunderstanding” and stopped the practice.
After reviewing the policy, Noye concluded no further action was warranted due to the lack of clarity.
Sherlock has strongly rejected the allegations, describing them as politically motivated.
“It’s clearly an election year when conservative elected members start railing against how many soft drinks and chocolates I consumed more than two years ago,” she wrote on social media.
“During COVID and beyond, as a large portion of my work was undertaken at home, these refreshments were part of my home-office.”
She said she believed the refreshments were available under that arrangement.
“A couple of years ago staff clarified with me that our Town Hall work snacks could not be consumed elsewhere,” she said. “I accepted this advice.”
Sherlock said the policy was later amended to ensure others would not make the same mistake.
She also accused some of the councillors behind the motion of hypocrisy.
“Colleagues who have previously admitted to claiming tens of thousands of dollars in expenses and lobbying for their parking tickets to be waived are now pointing fingers and manufacturing dirt,” she said.
The motion, if accepted, will be debated on January 27.
