By Ruza Zivkusic
BRIMBANK City councillor Ken Capar has quit the Keilor Cemetery Trust because he was drunk during a conference in New Zealand.
The first-time councillor, who has been on the committee for the past year, resigned in letter in a which he said he was sorry for his actions during the five-day conference of Australasian Cemeteries and Crematoria Association (ACCA) held in Auckland last month.
In the letter to the Keilor Cemetery Trust chairperson Kathryn Eriksson on 27 October, a copy of which was also sent to Brimbank City Council mMayor Natalie Suleyman and Brimbank City Council CEO Marilyn Duncan, Cr Capar said that he was “intoxicated” on Thursday 19 October during the last day of the conference.
“I have been made aware of a letter from Mr P. Denboer, president of the ACCA organisation, which alleges a number of actions and misbehavior on my part on Thursday 19th of October,” Cr Capar stated.
“I feel that the allegations of my actions as represented in the letter are mistaken. Nevertheless, I accept that I was intoxicated that night, in the company of others from the conference who had also been drinking heavily.
“If, as a result of any of my actions, the Keilor Cemetery Trust has been embarrassed or placed in a difficult situation, then I wish to apologise to you or to any person who may have been offended,” Cr Capar’s letter said.
Cr Capar did not return Star’s calls but in a council media release he said he was “under considerable personal pressure and this has led me to consuming an unhealthy amount of alcohol”.
“While at the ACCA conference I drank too much at one of the functions and behaved in an unacceptable manner. I have sought professional assistance and have asked council for leave of absence until the end of November,” he said.
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Cr Suleyman said a new appointment to the Keilor Cemetery Trust would be made at the next statutory meeting.
The CEO of ACCA, Robyn Smith, said she was not at liberty to talk about what was written in the letter sent to the Keilor Cemetery Trust.
“We believe that we’ve provided information relating to complaints by our ACCA members and have brought that to the attention of the trust and left it in their hands to consider appropriately or otherwise,” Ms Smith said.
“We cannot comment on how serious the matter is,” she added.
Cr Eriksson told Star she was embarrassed of Cr Capar’s actions, saying his behavior was “inappropriate”.
“Obviously you’d think people would know the line, and if they don’t maybe there is a reason for that,” she said.
Despite several allegations of Cr Capar’s actions circling among the community, Cr Eriksson said more evidence was needed to make Cr Capar resign from council.
“I know that people are calling for him to resign from the council, I read the comments on the SunRAA’s (Sunshine Residents and Ratepayers Association) website. On what basis should he resign? Because he was intoxicated?” Cr Eriksson said.
She said she had “no knowledge” of what happened on 19 October after she had left the function that finished at 10.30pm.
“When I left he was there but after that I have no knowledge of what he did than what was put to me in that letter from Mr Denboer,” Cr Eriksson said.
“I have no way of knowing what the truth is. There is no police report, contrary to what everyone else is saying, and no one is making any accusations.
“I accepted his resignation from the trust and as far as I am concerned I behaved appropriately at the conference.
“It is not an easy thing to leave your family for five days but it was very important for the cemetery industry that we attend,” she said.
Councillor Sam David, who has previously been a long-time member of the Keilor Cemetery Trust, said he had “no doubt that Ken perhaps made a mistake”.
“He’s not a bad person at all. But I do believe that all the councillors need to behave professionally, they’re representing the city,” Cr David said.
“I believe it was the family pressure that made him resign. He’s a young married man and I thought the family wouldn’t like him being away for five days,” he said.
St Albans Business Group Association president Sebastian Agricola, where Cr Capar is also acts as the council representative, said Cr Capar had not attended a single meeting of the association for the past year.
“I am not aware of the exact details of the accusation,” Mr Agricola said.
“I think the community deserves to know exactly what he’s committing to, what he says he did and what those allegations are,” Mr Agricola said.
“You can’t hang the bloke without knowing exactly what he’s done.”
Cr Eriksson said Cr Capar’s actions should be a lesson to other councillors.
“It is just a lesson that we are as people in the public eye, we need to behave appropriately,” Cr Eriksson said.
