Central Highlands Mayor Loueen Triffitt has apologised for accusing her fellow councillors of collusion and corruption during a council meeting in April.
Triffitt had claimed councillors had scheduled a special meeting to review the general manager’s performance without consulting her, saying the meeting was unwarranted and the performance review could have been held as part of the regular council schedule.
“I’m highly concerned with what I feel is an abuse of power by every single councillor at this meeting, by wasting our precious ratepayer money on this special meeting,” Cr Triffitt said.
Councillors later voted seven to two to require Triffitt to withdraw her accusations and retract her comments suggesting they lacked professionalism and acted out of personal attachment to the general manager.
While Triffitt published an apology for her comments on Friday, a formal retraction as set out in the motion is yet to be issued.
“As an effort to move forward, I formally apologise for my allegation of probable collusion or corruption including criticism of fellow councillors at the Special meeting dated 5th April 2024,” she said.
“I assure the Central Highlands community that I continue working toward high standards of good governance and transparency of Council.”
