APPOINTMENTS to the Two Rocks Marina reference group split Wanneroo council this week.
At the first ordinary council meeting since the October local government elections, votes for a council representative in the group were evenly split between nominees Nat Sangalli and Linda Aitken.
After a second show of hands resulted in the same seven-all vote, Cr Domenic Zappa suggested a procedural motion to refer it back to the December meeting when the deadlock might be broken by Cr Brett Treby, who was an apology on November 14.
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READ NOWAssets director Harminder Singh said there was no specific timeframe for the City to name its representative, but said the State Government had not invited it to have a delegate if that person could not attend meetings.
Cr Paul Miles clashed with Mayor Tracey Roberts about whether standing orders allowed the council to refer the item back if a vote had already taken place, suggesting the council ought to pull a name out of a hat.
Mrs Roberts disagreed and allowed the procedural motion to proceed, with all but four councillors voting to refer it back.
The mayor, Cr Miles, Cr Aitken and Cr Sonet Coetzee had all declared impartiality interests in the matter due to their ties with Sun City Yacht Club, but swore to consider the matter on its merits.
The Transport Department invited the mayor to chair the reference group and the City to participate with representation from an elected member and a staff member.
The group is expected to have 12 people, including six to eight community representatives.
At the same meeting, the council accepted changes to the terms of reference for the Quinns Beach Long Term Coastal Protection Community Reference Group.
The group originally started in 2014 to provide community input into long term coastal management solutions and its role to develop options and design was completed earlier this year.
The council agreed to change the terms to allow the group to continue to have input during the three-year construction phase of groynes.
“The Quinns Beach long term reference group has been a great asset to the City of Wanneroo as far as getting information back from the community,” Cr Sangalli said.
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