Council’s fortnightly formal meeting descended into farce on Tuesday night when Cr Zappacosta abruptly declared the meeting closed mid-way through the agenda and exited the chamber, following a tense stand-off between himself and Cr Peter Fussell.
The remaining councillors, council staff and members of the gallery were left in limbo for about 40 minutes before the mayor emerged from his office and reopened the meeting.
While Cr Zappacosta claims he had no option but to prematurely adjourn the meeting after Cr Fussell had repeatedly defied the chair and refused to take his seat, the mayor’s actions have raised concerns over his ability to continue leading the city.
Crs John Dal Broi, Anne Napoli, Pat Pittavino and Peter Fussell have all declared their lack of confidence in Cr Zappacosta’s leadership and called on him to relinquish his mayoral chains.
Cr Dal Broi said the mayor’s behaviour at the meeting demonstrated a lack of character and had tarnished the council’s reputation.
“I was terribly disappointed and embarrassed by his actions,” Cr Dal Broi said. “I think he’s got to reassess what he’s doing and it could well be that he may need to step aside.
“Instead of thinking of his own personal ambitions, he’s got to think of the community. Dino has just shown he’s more interested in politicking rather than thinking of the community.”
However, Cr Zappacosta has defended his handling of the meeting and hit back at councillors he claims are deliberately attempting to undermine his leadership.
“I feel that some of the tactics by some of the councillors are very deliberate and very disruptive and because it is just so obvious that they do not want me to succeed as a mayor or as a leader that they are throwing every challenge at me,” Cr Zappacosta said.
“(Cr Fussell) has already indicated a few weeks ago via your newspaper that he would resign and I think some councillors should consider that immediately.”
Cr Zappacosta said he was left with no alternative but to adjourn the meeting after his request for Cr Fussell to be removed was not carried out by the council’s general manager, Peter Brooks.
“I did ask (Mr Brooks) to carry out his duty and he didn’t do it. Since Cr Fussell wasn’t going to leave and I had no-one to force him out of the chamber, I had no choice but to close the meeting.”
Tuesday night’s incident, the latest in a string of controversies to engulf the council this year, comes after an unprecedented two meetings were abandoned when quorums could not be achieved and Cr Zappacosta was accused of attempting to humiliate his colleagues by publicising their attendance records.
Griffith Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association secretary Margaret MacGregor said council’s dysfunction was hurting the Griffith community.
“They’re in crisis and it doesn’t matter how many olive branches or band-aid solutions are offered, there needs to be some real action taken,” Mrs MacGregor said.
“The councillors up there are pussy-footing around the problem because they’re worried about hurting their
re-election chances and we think Peter Fussell is one of the few that has got the guts to stand up to the mayor.”
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