And he is more determined than ever now that neighbouring City of South Perth has joined three other metropolitan councils in potentially expensive and explosive legal action to declare the mergers unlawful and invalid.
He ” with the strong support of Town councillor and anti-reform advocate Vince Maxwell ” has been instrumental in pulling together a ‘historic’ 11th hour electors’ meeting tonight (July 1) that he says will ‘decide the fate of Victoria Park’.
‘We could estimate there were another 80-90 signatures that were not added to the 100-|signature petition and very likely a good few more we are unaware of,’ Mr Cooper said.
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READ NOW‘The council seems to be totally intimidated by the State Government’s threats of forced amalgamations.’
He said decisions made under duress were covered under criminal and consumer laws, making them invalid in the eyes of the law.
The meeting comes after Cr Maxwell failed to win support from his peers at the June council meeting to have the Town suspend its activity and expenditure on local government reform.
Mayor Trevor Vaughan, who will preside over tonight’s electors’ meeting, has described an advertisement publicising the meeting in last week’s Southern Gazette and paid for by Cr Maxwell as ‘misleading’.
Cr Vaughan said the Town would not join the legal action and the State Government was the only group that could decide the Town’s fate.
‘A special meeting of electors is just about raising a topic of interest by electors to a future meeting of the council,’ he said.
‘The opinions and assertions put forward do not have the power to stop the Town working on reform, nor will the future or fate of the Town be decided in that forum.’
SPECIAL MEETING OF ELECTORSWHERE: Town of Victoria Park,99 Shepperton Road, Victoria ParkWHY: To discuss the Town’sinvolvement in Local GovernmentReformWHEN: 8.30pm, July 1INFO: Andrew Cooper, 0419 955 586