Hepburn Shire saga draws to a close as criminal charges dismissed

Private criminal charges against five Hepburn Shire councillors and its CEO were dismissed on Wednesday morning by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The move puts a question mark over Local Government Minister Paul Hamer’s decision last week to appoint an administrator to run the council.

"What's happening at the Hepburn Shire Council is causing unnecessary disruption and it's the residents who are paying the price," he said last week.

Hepburn Shire was due to meet on July 28, but given five of the seven councillors had been forced to stand down in the wake of the criminal charges being filed, there was no quorum and the meeting was cancelled.

How did we get here?: In July, five out of Hepburn Shire’s seven councillors - Shirley Cornish, Lesley Hewitt, Pat Hockey, Don Henderson and mayor Tony Clark - were stood down after local businessman David Penman filed private criminal charges. This left only councillors Tim Drylie and Brian Hood able to serve. 

Penman also charged former CEO Bradley Thomas, who later resigned. 

Penman filed the charges due to his belief councillors voted on the budget “before they knew the true financial position and that means now ratepayers are carrying the risk”.

Budget buster: He told ABC Radio the budget was adopted without all financial statements included, and “what was a marginal budget became a reasonably ugly budget”. 

Filing the charges required the councillors to stand down, despite none of Penman’s allegations having been tested or investigated. Two out of seven councillors is two short of a quorum for the monthly meeting, meaning all council business outside of essential services were at a standstill.  

“Our main role is within the chamber, meetings and other special meetings. That’s all stopped,” Drylie told the Brolga in July. 

The resolution: On Wednesday, Hepburn Shire released a statement.

“This morning, a representative of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) attended the hearing of private criminal matters against five Councillors and Council’s CEO.

“The DPP took over all matters, and the charges have been dismissed. The DPP, having reviewed all the evidence, determined that there were insufficient grounds available to proceed with the prosecutions.”

Once the charges are formally withdrawn, councillors will be reinstated, Hepburn Shire said.

“This is a great outcome for democracy and our community.”

The West Vic Brolga has sought comment from all seven councillors and David Penman, and will update the story as required.