Police set to talk with

By Rebecca Fraser
NARRE Warren police are expected to bring Casey councillor Mick Morland in for questioning this week amid allegations he took alcohol from council offices.
Detective Sergeant Garry Kear of Narre Warren CIU is handling the investigation and said he had reviewed video surveillance footage after the allegations by Cr Michael Farley.
Det Sgt Kear said after studying the tapes police would ask Cr Morland to come in for questioning by the end of this week.
He said it was still unclear whether any criminal act had occurred.
Cr Morland, who is also the Liberal candidate for Narre Warren North, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and last week said he wanted the issue resolved.
“I want this to be resolved so this rubbish does not go any further. I want this to be brought to a head so I can go on doing what I do,” he said.
As reported in last week’s News, Cr Farley contacted police with the allegations and said it was important that the matter was dealt with quickly as the issue was reflecting badly on the council.
A sub-committee had been formed comprising mayor Kevin Bradford, Cr Rob Wilson, CEO Mike Tyler and manager of corporate services Steve Dalton to consider the operation and use of facilities within councillors’ rooms.
Councillors recently voted to wait until they received the findings of another investigation into whether Cr Paul Richardson breached the Local Government Act by releasing confidential information to the media before dealing with the matter involving Cr Morland.