By Ethan Benedicto
Moving the meeting online was not something Casey Council wanted to do, but it decided to do so after advice from Victoria Police following threatening and violent language from a small number of people online that persisted against the councillors.
The City of Casey’s mayor, Stafen Koomen, added that as new councillors and as a collective, they “want to meet in person, and that was our intention”.
“As a councillor group, we’ve had multiple meetings about this because it’s not something we wanted to do.
“Ultimately, we have a responsibility to ensure that our meetings are safe for everyone, given what occurred at the February meeting.
“Then there was the advice we got from different sources, from our own security team, and then directly from Victoria Police,” Koomen said.
The City of Casey’s website released details on the upcoming meeting, where it was detailed that the council have been working closely with Victoria Police as they investigate a small group of people who have continued to use threatening and violent language online directed at the council.
After thorough deliberation and consideration of the Victoria Police’s advice and what the release stated as being in the interest of public safety, the meeting was moved online.
“It’s our priority (open meetings); it’s part of being available to residents and having things done transparently,” he said.
“We had an hour meeting with security and VicPol on Tuesday, and there was very clear (direction) which we’ve got, and we’ve acted on, which was to hold the meeting online.
“That’s the direction we’ve had to take, (but) we hope to be able to hold the meeting in public at Bunjil Place next month.”
The update on Casey’s website specifically states that the upcoming meeting is not a closed meeting and encourages residents to watch the live stream on the council’s Facebook page or on the YouTube channel.
The release also had additional information on submitting questions, which needs to be in before 10am on Monday, 17 March, for it/them to be answered.
Answers to the questions will then be emailed to the person who asked and will also be recorded in the minutes.
There are also small changes to the March Agenda, with council reports and other business to be discussed prior in order to make relevant motions before public question time.
“This was something we’ve really had to think about, and we thought about the advice and the duty of care that we have to the community,” Koomen said.
