Moyne Shire councillor to boycott end of year function

The staff function will be held at Deakin University's Warrnambool campus after the shire said it was unable to find a suitable location within Moyne's boundaries.

But Cr Doukas said he believed the event should be cancelled and staff given a cash bonus instead.

"I'm sure that if enough effort was put in we could find somewhere in the Moyne Shire to host the Christmas break-up," Cr Doukas said.

"I'm sure we could set up a marquee at the showgrounds and had a barbecue."

Cr Doukas, who has been unable to attend recent council meetings because he is not double vaxxed, said he would not attend. "I won't be going even if I'm allowed," he said. "Why can't we give all the staff $50 and they can go and spend it in the community. If it's going out to Deakin what does Moyne get out of it?"

Cr Doukas said the end of year function had always been held in the shire.

"It's never been held outside of the shire in my time - that's 20 years," he said.

Moyne Shire mayor Ian Smith said a suitable location within the shire was unable to be secured for the function. "We explored all options in the shire," Cr Smith said. He said a number of catering companies were having issues sourcing staff. "We tried desperately to keep it in the shire," Cr Smith said.

Shire chief executive officer Bill Millard said every effort was made to hold the event in the shire.

"Of course our preference would always be to hold an all staff function within Moyne Shire Council, but the short time frame we had after it became clear a function of this size would be allowable under the state COVID rules meant it was not logistically possible," Mr Millard said.

"Council made contact with several caterers and venues large enough to accommodate over 200 people within the shire, but there was not a suitable option available within the short time frames."

Mr Millard said the university campus was a regional facility which had significant benefits to the Moyne community. "The organising team within council have worked hard to make sure this event could happen within a very short timeframe to ensure we were able to come together as a whole staff after two very tough years where all everyone has gone above and beyond to continue delivering services to the Moyne community."

It comes after the shire revealed it would fight moves to relocate the Sungold Field Days from the shire and into Warrnambool.

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