The dust-up came in yesterday’s meeting of the planning and environment committee which was hearing a report into progress on the George St upgrade.
Cr Carmen Houlahan was asked to leave the meeting by chairman David Benson-Pope after she refused to apologise for comments comparing his chairing of the online meeting with a dictatorship.
Cr Benson-Pope had liberally muted councillors whom he felt were straying from discussion of the update on the George St project throughout the debate on the report.
Crs Lee Vandervis and Jules Radich had previously been on the receiving end of the mute button for debate Cr Benson-Pope ruled to be beyond the scope of the report.
However, Cr Houlahan refused to remain muted, turning her microphone back on as the chairman attempted to bring the meeting back to order.
"Could you please just display a little manners and stay on the topic, or I will mute you," Cr Benson Pope said.
"It is absolutely obscene the dictatorship that we have from the chair of this committee," Cr Houlahan replied.
Cr Benson-Pope said that comment was not acceptable and asked her to apologise.
She refused and the chairman asked her to remove herself from the meeting.
Cr Vandervis then said he also was leaving the meeting "as a protest at the dictatorship of this particular chair".
Earlier in the meeting, his speech had lasted a mere 15 words before he was cut off and asked to return to the topic of the report at hand.
"I remain unconvinced at the value of the George St upgrade, $60 million dollars for ... "
He was then muted by Cr Benson-Pope who said, "we’re not talking about the policy decision. If you wish to talk about the report please do so."
He was not happy about being muted, but spoke further on his opposition to various business support initiatives in the report which he described as inappropriate for the council to be doing.
Cr Mike Lord said council staff had been instructed to provide businesses with whatever support they could, and the initiatives described in the report were entirely appropriate.
Cr Radich was muted when his speech strayed into the difficulties faced by George St retailers because of the ongoing pandemic, in addition to construction disruptions.
Earlier in the meeting, councillors heard from central city plan director Dr Glen Hazelton about the next steps for the George St upgrade.
Dr Hazelton said the proposal was to begin work with the block between Moray Pl and St Andrew St, which houses Farmers department store.
It was chosen because it was the shortest block, had a high number of vacant shops and a low number of access ways.
Staging works in London, Filleul and Frederick Sts were running ahead of schedule.
An outbreak of Covid-19 in a construction bubble or unexpected ground conditions were the main worries in terms of possible delays.
"We’re hoping we will stay ahead of schedule on both of those things."
