Ararat Rural City Council mayor Glenda McLean has offered to resign as leader of the council but only on the condition that she first meet with Victoria’s Local Government Minister.

Cr McLean emailed Ararat Rural City chief executive Allan Bawden at about 4.30pm on Wednesday offering to stand down as mayor but refusing to quit the council entirely.

Mr Bawden took steps to verify the email before passing it on to deputy mayor Gwenda Allgood.

Cr Allgood said the email contained an ultimatum: Cr McLean would have to have a meeting with Local Government Minister Marlene Kairouz before resigning.

Cr McLean’s email stated that fellow councillors would have to accept her as an elected representative or the state government would have to sack the whole council to get rid of her.

“(Cr McLean is happy to quit as mayor, but she wishes to meet with the minister first,” Cr Allgood said.

“But she won’t quit as a councillor, and ‘councillors can riot and cause an administration and since democracy continues to be be eroded, that’s not the worst outcome’.”

Cr Allgood said Mr Bawden had text messaged Cr McLean asking if the email was to be considered her resignation and he had received no reply.

“We tried everything last night to do things nicely and sometimes people choose not to listen, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Cr Allgood said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ms Kairouz said Cr McLean owed the community an explanation as to why Ararat Rural City was no longer her “number one priority”.

Earlier – 6.20pm

Ararat Rural City Council mayor Glenda McLean’s position is still unclear as reports suggest she has emailed councillors signalling her intention to step down as leader but not from council entirely.

Cr David Pettman, who voted for a motion of no confidence in the mayor, said he had not received any emails of that nature to his personal account or Ararat Rural City account.

Cr Darren Ford, who voted against the motion of no confidence, said he had not received any emails from Cr McLean.

Other councillors, including Cr McLean, have yet to respond to phone calls.

An Ararat Rural City spokesman said he was not aware of any such emails being sent. 

Earlier – 1.15pm

Ararat Rural City Council has stated that mayor Glenda McLean has not met a voluntary deadline to respond to a council motion calling on her to resign.

Councillors gave Cr McLean until 12pm on Wednesday to respond to a no-confidence motion and a motion for her to resign as both mayor and councillor that was passed on Tuesday evening.

“Cr McLean indicated to Ararat Rural City Council chief executive Allan Bawden and her fellow councillors at the conclusion of the meeting that she would consider the outcome and advise of her decision,” Ararat Rural City stated on Facebook just after 1pm on Wednesday.

“At this time, Cr McLean is yet to indicate of her future at council.

“Ararat Rural City Council media team wish to thank the community for tuning into our first live stream. This will continue at the monthly meetings and also special council meetings when they arise.”

EARLIER – 12pm

Victorian Local Government Minister  Marlene Kairouz has sent Ararat Rural City Council mayor Glenda McLean a ‘please explain’ over her living and working arrangements.

Ms Kairouz also said that Victorian councils were “independent” of the state government and Cr McLean’s position was “up to the mayor”.

Ms Kairouz made the comments from Ballarat on Wednesday morning in response to questions about the hundreds of social media comments calling for Cr McLean to stand down over her plan to be a ‘fly in, fly out’ mayor.

Cr McLean has proposed to councillors that she would retain her position on a ‘”FIFO” basis due to her new job as a “senior consultant” at a hospital in Queensland.

“Whether (Cr McLean’s) position is tenable or not, that’s completely up to the mayor,” Ms Kairouz said.

“She needs to give a very good explanation to her community as to why she has decided to take a job in another state and of course not make her council the number one priority.”

Ms Kairouz said she had been a mayor twice in her prior career.

“My position as mayor came first,” she said.

“In fact, I took 12 months leave from a job as a histologist to be mayor, and I think other mayors across the state have done exactly the same thing.

“So, the mayor has a lot of explaining to do to her community as to why she has gone down this path.”

EARLIER – 11am

Ararat Rural City will not face direct state government intervention immediately despite councillors voting for a motion of no confidence against the mayor on Tuesday evening.

Speaking in Ballarat on Wednesday morning, Western Victoria MP and Regional Development Minister Jaala Pulford said Ararat Rural City Council was still able to function.

This was despite councillors voting four to two for a motion calling on Cr Glenda McLean to resign as mayor and from the council entirely.

SEE MORE: ARARAT COUNCILLORS DECLARE NO CONFIDENCE IN MAYOR

SEE MORE: LIVE COVERAGE OF MAYOR CRISIS AT COUNCIL MEETING

Councillors said Cr McLean had made Ararat Rural City Council the subject of ridicule and contempt over her proposal to become a ‘fly in, fly out’ mayor due to her new job in north Queensland.

It was revealed on Friday that Cr McLean had taken a position at Mount Isa’s North West Health, about 2600 kilometres from Ararat Rural City.

Last week Ms Pulford, while acting Local Government Minister, ruled out sacking Ararat Rural City Council for the time being.

On Wednesday, Ms Pulford said Local Government Minister Marlene Kairouz would monitor the situation closely.

“These are very concerning reports from the Ararat Rural City Council, we have been concerned for some time about the state of governance in this municipality,” Ms Pulford said.

“That’s why some months ago a monitor was put in place to oversee what’s going on in council.

“The Local Government Minister is monitoring this very closely but the council is perfectly able to function, difficult as that may seem, in a scenario where the mayor seems to have moved to Queensland.”

Ripon MP Louise Staley said it was time for the state government to put an end to the crisis.

Ms Pulford said the rules allowed the council to function with half of its elected councillors attending meetings in person.

“The rules that govern local councils require a quorum and the rest of the councillors are there and turning up,” she said.

“We will continue to monitor this closely and  do everything we need to do to ensure the community of Ararat has the kind of support from council that they deserve.”

Ms Pulford said there were many communities that had varying levels of dissatisfaction with their local councils.

“This is a pretty unusual set of circumstances, it’s fair to say, but we have a monitor in place already,” she said.

“This is a council that is already being very, very closely supervised

“If there is a case for more dramatic intervention, the government won’t hesitate to take that, but theses allegation in the past few weeks are very concerning and the Local Government Minister will be watching very closely.”

Glenda McLean remains Ararat Rural City mayor, having not formally responded during last night’s council meeting and resuming her place as chair of the meeting following the no-confidence motion.

Ararat council chambers’ public gallery was full on Tuesday evening as concerned residents attended to hear the mayor and councillors formally respond to allegations that have made the rounds since late last week.

A motion to declare no confidence in Cr McLean as mayor and a separate motion to call on her to resign were passed by four votes to two.

Cr McLean and Cr Darren Ford were the only two votes against both motions.

Fairfax Media understands that councillors have given Cr McLean a deadline of 12pm on Wednesday to formally respond to their motion calling on her to resign.

Ms Staley, a Liberal Party MP, said Parliament had to intervene and use its powers to sack Ararat Rural City Council.

“The community has had enough of this; it’s time this council went,” she said.

“There aren’t any other options.

“The only way to resolve this situation is for the council to go and that requires the parliament to act.”