Councillors Mel Cupit and Donna Bruce, who were elected at last year’s local body election, recently found themselves at odds with the council after social media posts were seen as being in breach of the council’s code of conduct.
Both were brought into separate meetings with Mayor Ben Bell, where they were reprimanded for the posts, presented with a printed copy of the code of conduct,and as Cr Bruce put it, given a ‘‘bum smacking’’ by the mayor.
‘‘We’re the only two with social media. Both Mel and I don’t think council are transparent enough,’’ Cr Bruce said.
‘‘People don’t know what’s going on, so we put as much information as we can and are allowed to out there.
‘‘As far as we’re concerned, we don’t think we’ve done anything wrong at all ... I can’t say too much,’’ she said.
Cr Bruce said she would not try to step on any toes but ‘‘they just don’t like the negativity’’ and ‘‘they are bringing it on themselves’’, although she had changed her page to state it reflected her personal views and not the council as a whole.
‘‘I just share the information, don’t say anything about it and let the community do whatever they want in the comments...
‘‘I just think they deserve to know what’s going on,’’ she said.
Cr Cupit said, following the meeting, she had also changed her Facebook page to state it was her personal opinion, but said her conduct was not ill-intentioned and was looking to inform, not misbehave.
‘‘I am only trying to be open and communicate with the people who elected me and I don’t think the council is doing that well enough. They’ve hardly posted on their Facebook.
‘‘It’s important for us to be open and have good communication with ratepayers.
‘‘They’re paying for council to operate, people want to be in the loop,’’ she said.
In response, Mr Bell said the two meetings were ‘‘quick catch-ups’’ which covered topics ‘‘that I don’t think need to be in the public domain’’ but were primarily around social media.
Mr Bell said it was less a disciplinary measure and more of a reminder of the code of conduct, giving them ‘‘helpful information’’ and ‘‘making sure they have read and understand their obligations’’.
‘‘We talked about little steps they could make around understanding their opinions on Facebook are their own; they’re not speaking on behalf of council.’’
Mr Bell said while councillors were allowed to express their opinions and keep people informed, they still had rules to follow and were held to a higher standard.
‘‘I acknowledge it’s a tricky tightrope to balance, but at the same time, that’s the duties of being an elected member.
‘‘That’s the job you signed up for,’’ he said.
