A meeting with Frankston City Council

Residents keep what was already theirs

Monday 21st October at Franston City Council Ordinary Meeting was the culmination of years of work by Karingal residents to stop Frankston council from selling off the site that was once the Gretana Crescent Tennis Club.

1400+ Signatures

Last night more than 1400 signatures were presented to Frankston council by Cr Glen Aitken in a package tied with a pretty bright red bow. This as councilor Aitken pointed out was the largest petition in at least the last 20 years and may be the largest petition ever to have been presented to be presented to Frankston Council. Petitioners had verified that over 1000 of the signatures were from the Karingal area. The final count of Karingal residents that signed is probably closer to 1350 which is more than 10% of the Karingal population. Nearly 15% of the adult population signed the petition.

Frankston City Council, (L- R) Cr Suzette Tayler, Cr James Dooley, Cr Rebekah Spelman, Cr Darrel Taylor, Cr Sandra Mayer, Cr Brian Cunial, Cr Glenn Aitken, Cr Michael O'Reilly, Cr Colin Hampton. Picture: Mark Stewart Source: News Limited

For this massive effort, all within two weeks, Karingal needs to thank Cr Aitken, Glenda and Pauline for their tireless hours standing in front of shops around Karingal collecting signatures.

There have been meetings upon meetings upon meetings to plan a response to Frankston City's plan to sell the site. The hard work for this fell to the Karingal Local Area Planning Committee (sorry I can't resist this - the KLAP committee) ironically set up by Frankston City Council and the Karingal Residents Association KRA. On these committees representatives from Karingal Neighbour Hood House and the Frankston Historical Society were also represented. Karingal's three ward councilors, Cr Glen Aitken, Cr Rebecca Spelman, and Cr James Dooley attended many of the meetings and worked tirelessly in support of Karingal residents. So to all the Karingal community says a big thank you.

Ordinary Council meetings generally are a rather boring affair - but last night's meeting was anything but boring. The public gallery was wall to wall people, Councillors and Council staff scrambled to obtain extra seats for those that attended. Groups represented at the Council meeting included: Karingal Local Area Planning Committee, Karingal Residents Association, Ballam Park Scouts, Frankston Historical Society, Karingal Neighbourhood House just to name a few.

So how did the voting go

Three residents, Mr Tebble, Mr Glenn and Mr Dosen spoke on behalf of the Karingal Community opposing the sale of the site. Cr Rebekah Spelman moved a motion to not consider selling therefore taking the sale of the site off the council's agenda. She spoke extremely well. Cr James Dooley spoke in support of Rebekah's motion. Cr Brian Cunial spoke - said he originally supported selling the Gretana Cres site but saw how serious residents were and changed his mind. Cr Glenn Aitken spoke in support of Rebekah's motion. He also pointed out that Cr Darrel Taylor had only recently stated the importance of petitions as a measure of public opinion (when he had only 365 signatures) and pointing out that Councilor's were there to represent the people, and to listen to what resident's had to say, if they didn't do that they shouldn't be there. Cr Darrel Taylor spoke against the motion saying we should ask all of Frankston whether we should sell the site. I wonder if Cr Taylor would want all of Frankston helping to decide if he should be elected again, or helping decide if he should ever get to be Mayor. Cr Rebekah Spelman summarized.

Cr Taylor asked if there was a tied vote which way the Mayor Cr Sandra Mayer would cast her casting vote. (As Mayor she effectively gets two votes one ordinary vote and one casting vote if their is a tie) The Mayor pointed out that if the vote was even she would have to cast a casting vote for the status quo i.e. to keep the park, much to Cr Taylor's disgust. This meant that even if she voted against the motion tying the vote she would then have to vote against herself and those supporting Cr Spelman's motions would win anyway. So she voted in support. I'm not saying Cr Sandra Mayer used this as the basis for her support, I did not get that impression, but on the other hand she is a bright lady and I'm sure she was exactly aware of what she was doing. Deputy Mayor Cr Colin Hampton was away. Cr Michael O'Reilly - voted against, Cr Suzette Tayler - voted against.

The Gallery was not quiet

One thing you need to know, the gallery was not quiet, and the Mayor threatened to remove us all, and hold the Council meeting in closed session so we would not know the result on the night. I suspect she already knew at that point how the vote was going to go. It was interesting to see the Mayor, Cr Sandra Mayer, in action. She was really on the ball. Frankston may have indeed a really good Mayor.

Frankston Council forms rubber stamp committees

Frankston Council forms rubber stamp committees

Keep Asking Until You get a Different Answer

It's quite obvious now that Frankston Council when it set up local area committee's for the purpose of consultation actually set them up so they could get the answer they wanted and get their proposals rubber stamped. Imagine Frankston Council's surprise when a new committee was formed this year in Karingal and 40+ people were present, and that almost the only topic of discussion was the green area at Gretana Cres.

Another meeting was held only a week ago, and once again nearly 40 people were present.

Residents Meet to discuss Gretana Cres 10 Oct 2013 

Not only that, but Council also organised a Local Area meeting last year, and the main topic of discussion then was Gretana Cres! There's actually been meetings in Karingal about this site over a number of years and the residents each meeting have made it clear that they want the area cleaned up and turned back in to publicly accessible green space and recreational area.

Council's response to this has been to let the site become derelict, and refuse to maintain the site. Council of course denys this, but their actions speak louder than any words they say.

Keep Asking Until You get a Different Answer

Since Council isn't getting the answer they want , they are now proposing to ask the whole of Frankston what they want to do with the site. This proposal is to be put to a vote at council next Monday 21st October 2013.  If you don't like the answer keep asking the question until you get a different answer. It seems this is council policy. Why not join us at Frankston council chambers next Monday, so we can find out first hand who it is that supports this insult to Karingal resisdents.

It appears that Frankston council just has no idea how angry Karingal Residents are over the issue, and that there will be repercussions if they continue down this path.