By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Casey mayor Sam Aziz has denied complaints by a Ratepayers Victoria vice-president that he was “rude and aggressive” during a heated phone call recently.
Cr Aziz said he didn’t want to waste his time with a “self-appointed organisation” that had “parachuted itself” into a Berwick neighbourhood fence dispute.
However, he denied RV vice-president Jack Davis’ claim that he’d labelled the group a “tin-pot organisation”.
Mr Davis, a former Oakleigh and Monash councillor, has sent a complaint to Casey chief executive Mike Tyler.
Mr Davis said that he’d asked why he’d received no response to emails sent to Cr Aziz and ward councillor Timothy Jackson about a Berwick man’s complaints over a neighbour’s five-metre wall.
“I was told by the mayor that they do not reply to third-party inquiries.
“His reply was: never heard of your group, you’re just seeking notoriety for some tin pot organisation.
“He was extremely rude and aggressive … His behaviour on the phone was not what I would expect from any mayor.
“His attack on me personally went on for some considerable time.”
Cr Aziz said he’d failed to see the value of Mr Davis’ intervention in the wall dispute.
“We already had council officers on to it. I wasn’t sure what his advocacy would achieve.
“I don’t have a lot of time to waste pandering to the ego of a self-appointed organisation with limited or no role to play in a dispute between two residents.
“I’ve never heard of them. I’m not sure who they are, how they’re appointed or what is their governance structure.”
Cr Aziz said he willingly responded to Casey residents as their elected representative but not people “coming from outside the city and adding no value to the issue”.
He and six other councillors listened to residents at a recent Casey People’s Panel consultation, Cr Aziz said.
Their feedback verified the council’s digitising of 14 services, its stand on law and order and for upgrading of major road arterials, he said.
Meanwhile, Cr Aziz threatened to evict Berwick Springs estate resident Michael Ball for interjecting during the 21 March council meeting.
A group of residents, including Mr Ball, had earlier had their questions excluded from public question time about a developer’s plan to demolish the estate’s bluestone-walled, landscaped entrance for a re-positioned roundabout at Greaves Road.
“Cr Aziz claims there are a handful of residents,” Mr Ball said.
“There are 3000 residents affected by this decision, never consulted by council and we will not be dismissed by council like a naughty child in a classroom.
“If standing up for what I believe in and what the residents of Berwick Springs believe in, then I am every bit very proud to be evicted from Casey council last night.”
Cr Aziz said the residents’ questions had already been answered in a council report and that he’d continue to rule their submissions out-of-order during question time.
“The problem with the Michael Ball situation is, it has been manipulated and bastardised by him to the point that he’s made dialogue with him impossible.
“Despite his propaganda war against the City of Casey and me personally, we’re still going to provide the best outcome possible (for the roundabout proposal).”
