Former Young Shire Mayor Brian Ingram has been dumped as chair of the Young Local Representative Committee and Implementation Advisory Group by Hilltops Council Administrator Wendy Tuckerman.
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Mr Ingram spoke to the Witness last week about his frustration over the distribution of Council funds in Young.
The former Young Shire Mayor also outlined his growing concerns over infrastructure backlogs in a letter to the Witness.
Mr Ingram said he was disappointed with the decision.
“Apparently freedom of speech is only allowed if you are paying compliments to the Council, I have been sacked because I spoke out about my concerns,” he said.
“Maybe I’m lucky because in some countries speaking out gets you shot.
“I find it is a strange move by Wendy as all the committee people finish next month anyway, so this reinforces my suspicion that the real aim was to remove me from the Stronger Regions Panel which oversees the allocation of the Stronger Community Funding.”
In her dismissal letter to Mr Ingram Hilltops Council Administrator, Wendy Tuckerman said Mr Ingram was not delegated to speak to the media on Council’s behalf.
“The letter signed by you and published in various print and media outlets suggests you are representing a committee of Council without the authority to do so,” Mrs Tuckerman said.
“Because of this unauthorised representation to the media I exercise my authority to remove you from all current representative roles on Hilltops Council.”
Mrs Tuckerman said it was regretful that Mr Ingram chose to go outside his terms of reference and to make statements that reflected poorly on Hilltops Council.
“If Mr Ingram was unhappy with allocation of funds his job was to report that to me, not go to the media,” she said.
“So now I will invite another member of the Young Local Representative Committee to participate.”
Mr Ingram questioned the decision to replace him with Stuart Freudenstein as Young’s representative on the Stronger Regions Grant Committee.
“I like Stuart, he’s a good bloke, but the logical replacement for me should have been former Deputy Mayor Ben Cooper, and we all know that Ben would not take any nonsense,” he said.
“But nothing surprises me now, and all we can do is wait for the people to have a say in September.”
Craig Thomson
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
I am a media and communications professional with experience across print, digital, social and radio broadcasts. I am currently the Editor of Australian Community Media's Launceston Examiner.
