HOBSONS Bay councillor Peter Hemphill could be made to foot his own legal bill over his second misconduct complaint against mayor Tony Briffa.
Cr Hemphill, who represents Williamstown North, estimates his legal costs could be $25,000.
Cr Briffa, who may be covered by the council’s insurance policy, says his bill could run to $140,000.
A report to the council last week stated that “indemnity for costs incurred by a councillor against whom allegations are made may be available”.
Five councillors who took part in the vote unanimously decided to “bring a further report to the council before the end of April 2012 about the ability of the council to make an application to VCAT that the applicant pays their own costs”.
Cr Briffa waited outside the council chamber during the vote because of his conflict-of-interest as a party in the matter. Cr Hemphill was not at the meeting for “family reasons”.
Altona North ward councillor Michael Raffoul, who moved that the report be presented to the council by April 30, said he couldn’t justify the burden on ratepayers. “I could think of 100 other things in my ward that the council can happily spend anywhere between $25,000 and $250,000 on,” he said. “I can’t justify this council spending that much money on legal expenses while average income earners and pensioners in particularly my ward have their rates hiked over a VCAT matter that’s gonna generate substantial income for a few lawyers. If anything, I would like to see the matter dealt with before VCAT.”
In August, an independent councillor conduct panel found Cr Briffa had breached the council’s code of conduct in relation to three emails sent to former Mobil public relations adviser Maureen Short. But a second complaint by Cr Hemphill was referred to VCAT by Cr Briffa.
A serious misconduct finding at VCAT would see Cr Briffa stood down as mayor and disqualified from standing for the mayoralty for four years.
As reported by the Weekly, Cr Briffa urged Cr Hemphill at a press conference on March 28 to accept his apology and end the long-running dispute. Councillors last week also voted that a report on the full history of the conflict and legal costs incurred by the warring parties be presented at the next council meeting.
