By Michael Newhouse
OUTGOING Brimbank City Council chief executive officer Marilyn Duncan will be given a rousing send-off this week, with council forking out an estimated $3000 for her going-away party.
The dinner is to be held at Taylors Lakes’ Lakeside Banquet and Convention Centre sometime this week and is set to include a guest list of who’s who in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
Star understands that a guest list of almost 100 dignitaries has been drawn up, including Labor Party MPs Justin Madden, George Seitz, Andre Haermeyer, debutante Greens MP Colleen Hartland and the Liberal Party’s Bernie Finn.
At a local level, former Brimbank mayors Ciro Lombardi and Andres Puig were on the preliminary guest list, along with former councillor Chris Evans, and all current Brimbank councillors.
Council had looked at three different options for the party – Galli Winery and Restaurant, Victoria University and Lakeside – which varied in price from between $28 a head (Lakeside) to $65 for a two-course meal, beer wine and soft drinks.
Council has opted for the $3000 option, and at $28 a head, with budget time around the corner, mayor Margaret Guidice said it represented very good value for money, considering Ms Duncan had served as Brimbank’s CEO for almost a decade.
The cost to council would be somewhere between $2500 and $3000, Cr Guidice said.
She said the Ms Duncan had been instrumental in helping to pull the council out of the financial black hole it found itself in during the 1990s.
But president of the Sunshine Resident and Ratepayers Association, Darlene Reilly, didn’t quite see it the same way.
“I don’t think we should be spending any money on a going away party,” she said.
