EXCLUSIVE: Whittlesea CEO Lloyd’s secret letter to Mayor McLindon
The Local Paper publishes the letter from City of Whittlesea CEO Craig Lloyd to Mayor Cr Aidan McLindon, in which the public servant places a number of bans against the elected representative. The letter covers matters of public interest. The Local Paper is committed to public interest journalism.
24 February 2025
Cr Aidan McLindon
c/o 25 Ferres Boulevard
SOUTH MORANG VIC 3752
via email: aidan.mclindon@whittlesea.vic.gov.au
CONFIDENTIAL
Dear Mayor Cr McLindon,
Following the letter I sent to you dated 11 February 2025 titled “Safe Workplace”, the following have occurred:
1) Intimidating behaviour on your part, directed towards a staff member. It took the form pf unduly aggressive questoning related to the establishment of the Rainbow Advisory Committee at the Council meeting held on 18 February. This has resulted in an OHS Incident Report being submitted by the affected staff member.
2) Aggressive behaviour and language from you towards me at our meeting on 17 February, in the presence of the Municipal Monitors, other officers and the Deputy Mayor. You repeatedly made allegations of corrupt behaviour against the organisation, your colleagues and me. What was said about the organisation and me has had the effect of impacting my personal wellbeing, and creating a genuine fear for meeting with you in person.
3) You continue to intimidate Councillors during phone calls to them, threatening them with integrity agency investigations.
4) Evidence coming to hand of possible serious miscoundct by you related to allegations of leaking confidential and personal information, which is npw the subject of a formal external complaint. This confidential information contained my personal details, including my home address.
5) You have endangered the safety and wellbeing of some Councillors by claiming that, without evidence, the political party of which they are members are ‘targeting’ you. By linking this claim to alleged threats you have received, and incidents you have allegedly experienced, you have placed some Councillors at increased fear of risk for their own safety.
6) You have endangered the safety and wellbeing of your colleagues by alleging, on social media, that the response from ‘one’ of 10 Counciilors was unacceptable and inconsistent with the Model Councillor Code of Conduct when sharing the hardship suffered by your family some time ago. Stipulating ‘one’ unnamed Councillor puts all 10 Councillors at risk, and may increase speculation on which of your colleagues is being referenced.
7) You have intentionally or recklessly mis-quoted information provided to you during the 4 February 2025 Council Briefing related to the risk assessment of the upcoming 18 February 2025 Council Meeting, aimed at undermining me in a public forum, and risking my own health and wellbeing. This trend to intentionally or recklessly misquote me continued in our meeting on 17 February, as well as emails sent to me more recently. This continued and sustained misrepresentation, some in public settings, is persistent amd constitutes bullying.
8) You have released confidential security information in multiple-community group forums online (eg the number of security officers I arrange for Council meetings when meetings are assessed as ‘high’ risk), which you knew, or should have reasonably known, was confidential, placing the safety of your colleagues, officers amd the public attending future meetings at risk. This matter is now the subject of a formal external agency complaint.
As a result of these alleged behaviours, and failing to take notice of my previous written advice to you, I am now of the view that I have no option but to put on place a range of measures to protect the safety of Councillors, officers (including myself) and the community.
In accordance with my obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and Local Government Act 2020 (Act), and with specific reference to clause (2) of the Model Councillor Code of Conduct, I provide the following instructions with which you must comply:
With immediate effect:
1) You are not to attend, in person, any Council Meeting, Briefing or Induction/Training session, or Committee Meeting.
2) Attendance at Committees where you are the representative of Council (eg Northern Councils Alliance, Outer Melboumre Councils, Audit & Risk Committee) must not be in person.
3) You can continue to participate in the meetings, Briefings and sessions mentioned above online (via MS Teams or where necessary, Zoom), as allowed by the Act and Council’s Governance Rules. Your attendance will be registered as being ‘in-attendance’.
4) You are not to contact any Councillor (except when participating in a Council; Meeting. Briefing or Induction/Training session online), other than via email from your official City of Whittlesea email address sent to the Councillors’ official City of Whittlesea email addresses. This prohibition on contact includes phone calls, text messages or any other form of communication.
5) You are not to contact any officer (other than when participating in a Council Meeting, Briefing or Induction/Training session online), with the exception of the Chief Executive Officer, which musy be via email from your official City of Whittlesea email address sent to the CEO’s official City of Whittlesea email address. This prohibition on contact includes phone calls. text messages or any other form of communication.
6) As an exception to point 6 above, you may contact Jacinta Stevens,. Executive Manager of Council and CEO, via email, only for the purposes directly related to her role as Council’s nominated Councillor Conduct Officer, Public Interest Disclosure Coordinator or for other related legal or governance matters.
7) You are not to referenve, directly pr indirectly, the name of any individual Councillor or officer in any online social media posts or media comment or statement, and must make it clear, in accordance with the Model Councillor Code of Conduct and Vouncil’s Communication Policy. when you are speaking as an individual.
8) You must not forward, including to your personal email/s, share, copy, print or provide this document or its contents to any othet party, noting that this letter is clearly marked as Confidential.
Arrangements for contact with the Municipal Monitors will be provided separately.
I will advise Councillors of these arrangements shortly.
The above measures will be in place until 24 March 2025, and will then be reviewed.
Hopefully – depending on your conduct between now and then – the measures can then be relaxed or removed altogether.
Yours sincerely,
Craig Lloyd
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER