Rachel Hagan, Yorke Peninsula Country Times

In the wake of the suspension of elected member Adam Meyer from the Yorke Peninsula Council, a crowd of almost 200 people rallied at a Yorke Peninsula Ratepayers Association meeting where speakers called for an audit into the council.

The meeting was held at the Arthurton Sporting Complex, on February 11, featuring guest speaker, Member of the Legislative Council Frank Pangallo, who recently joined the YPRA cause against YPC.

YPRA chair Ian Markos said the turnout was a good indication of the level of anger the community had towards YPC for the way it had treated Cr Meyer, and the questions he put before the council.

“Every single one of those questions they have refused to answer — we want answered,” Mr Markos said.

Last January, Cr Meyer was suspended from YPC for one month, after the Behavioural Standards Panel, an independent statutory body, found him to have committed serious misbehaviour toward a senior council officer in two of six allegations that were presented to the panel.

Cr Meyer was found guilty of using the questions on notice mechanism in public council meetings to address the senior council officer.

The final findings of the BSP report said this was an attempt from Cr Meyer to publicly air grievances and circumvent the reasonable directions that were in place to protect the senior council officer’s health and safety.

The report concluded Cr Meyer’s serious misbehaviour was not a one-off incident, and he continued his actions even after being made aware of the negative impacts they were having on the senior officer’s psychological health.

Mr Markos said he was extremely disappointed by the way the BSP came to their findings, and he did not believe enough evidence was provided in regard to the senior council officer’s mental wellbeing.

The BSP report said the panel did not receive evidence of psychological injury to the senior council officer, but it was satisfied from the information provided that the officer’s health was impacted.

At the YPRA meeting, Mr Markos and Mr Pangallo said the BSP needed to be accountable for their decision and processes, and they planned to take the matter further in the near future.

The pair also called for the YPC to be audited, and publicly called on Member for Narungga Fraser Ellis, who was in attendance, to help take the issue to the Auditor General.

“Our association intends to write to the Auditor General to seek the Auditor General to audit the council, their finances, all their governance and everything that has been going on at that council,” Mr Markos said.

Mr Pangallo said an audit or inquiry into YPC was needed because he did not want to see what happened to Cr Meyer mirrored in other local councils.

“I saw the questions that he asked — there was nothing offensive about them, and he should have got the answers that he required,” Mr Pangallo said.

“Instead, we find a council that is hiding behind regulations and utilising and weaponising them, and denying the councillor justice and due process.”

Mr Ellis told the Yorke Peninsula Country Times he would support the duo in contacting the Auditor General, but declined to comment further on the matter.

The YPC will hold a supplementary election in April to fill the vacancy in the Kalkabury ward. 

Mr Markos said YPRA had several candidates who could step up to the job, and called on more members to put themselves up as candidates.

He said the association would soon publish a scorecard on how each of the current elected members had voted on past issues.

This was so the YPRA could help inform the public how to get rid of the majority of current elected members in the coming elections.

In 2022 Mr Pangallo and Mr Markos both ran as SA-BEST candidates in the Upper House.

And last Tuesday night, Mr Pangallo told the crowd he thought Mr Markos would be a strong candidate to represent the YP community, as a mayor of YPC, by standing in the next major council election.

YP Council regularly audited — Mayor

Yorke Peninsula Council conducts an internal audit five times a year that is reported to an Independent Audit and Risk Committee.

YPC Mayor Darren Braund provided this information in response to a call made at the Yorke Peninsula Ratepayers Meeting on February 11 for an audit of the council. 

He said the legislation required the council to be audited only four times a year, but YPC completed it five times a year.

“Financial reports are presented to the elected body, and available to the public, every month,” he said.

And as for Cr Meyer’s questions, Mayor Braund said all of the questions that had been deemed appropriate had already been answered in the relevant council meetings. 

“In accordance with Regulation 9(6) of the Local Government (procedures at meetings) Regulations 2013, the presiding member can rule that a question with or without notice not be answered if they consider that the question is vague, irrelevant, insulting, or improper,” Mayor Braund said.

“When this mechanism has been used, reasons have been provided.”

This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 18 February 2025.
Related story: Councillor walks out.