Yarra City councillor Gabrielle de Vietri has taken unpaid leave from council duties in the lead-up to the state election in November.
De Vietri, who officially announced she would run for the seat of Richmond as a Greens candidate on July 12, said that taking leave of absence was not required under the Local Government Act or council policy, but was "common practice for candidates in similar circumstances".
"I have chosen to do so in the interests of maintaining community confidence. I will also voluntarily forgo my councillor allowance during this period," she said in a statement.
The period of leave began on August 3, the day following last week's council meeting, and will continue until November 27, the day after the Victorian election.
If she is elected, the Victorian Electoral Commission will hold a countback of the 2020 Yarra council vote to replace de Vietri as Langridge ward councillor.
Alphington anger
The Alphington Grammar School community continued a strategic bombardment of the council's question time last week on the issue of the removal of the school's gates from public land on Old Heidelberg Rd.
A string of students, including the school's captain and vice captains, along with its psychologist and parents took up more than an hour of the meeting with questions about safety, logistics and the events around the decision.
The meeting was briefly derailed when one man threatened to reveal "internal council working documents on the decision" which "will blow the lid off this entire issue".
His threat and the fact a meeting had been arranged between the mayor and the school's principal prompted Cr Herschel Landes to propose question time be cut short.
Asked to provide advice, Yarra's new CEO Sue Wilkinson recommended that question time continue but gave the gallery a talk on the need to "respect the chamber".
Afterwards the school community continued with questions for another half hour.
