Hurstville council was in uproar on Wednesday night after embattled mayor Con Hindi used his casting vote to suspend the general manager Victor Lampe.
Mr Lampe was responsible for signing off the council's report recommending action be taken against the mayor for his repeated failures to clean-up his asbestos-riddled development site in Crump Street, Mortdale.
The shock move against the general manager came after calls had been made for Mr Hindi, a Liberal councillor, to step aside for failing to comply with repeated orders from his own council to remove asbestos from his development site as well as a potential breach of the council's code of conduct over an email he sent to a neighbour.
At Wednesday night's council meeting, Labor councillor Vince Badalati, who is close to Mr Hindi, moved a motion to close the meeting to the public in order to deal with an urgent staff matter.
Behind closed doors, Mr Badalati then moved a motion to suspend the general manager while investigations take place over his role in the Crump Street affair.
With the vote split, Cr Hindi used his casting vote to suspend Mr Lampe on full pay.
Mr Lampe signed off on a report by council staff which was tendered at the council meeting last week. It detailed Cr Hindi's unauthorised excavation of the site as well as alleging repeated failures on his part to clean-up the asbestos.
The report also recommended Cr Hindi be fined $4000 as well as face possible prosecution for causing a "potential health risk" and contamination of waterways for his failure to follow council's orders to clean-up the asbestos.
In a separate matter, the Mayor was also facing censure for using his official title to sign off an angry email to his neighbour in which he wrongly blamed his neighbour for subsidence which had been caused by Cr Hindi's unauthorised excavation work.
Cr Hindi said the mayoral signature is "automatically inserted when an email is sent" and that "it was in no way used to intimidate anyone or to highlight my position".
"This matter has caused me and my family great distress," Cr Hindi said earlier in the week."As a leader in our community, I am under more scrutiny than most. I am subject to the same rules and regulations as every citizen.
"However, on May 8 when the job was completed, the contractor provided council and myself with a clearance certificate declaring the site asbestos free.
"When appointing a licensed reputable company you would expect the job to be done correctly."
According to the council's report, "On 8 May 2015 a contractor was on-site hand picking fibre cement fragments from the site. The owner was also observed on site. No protective clothing was evident.
Licence details on documentation submitted by a contractor was checked and unable to be verified as current by WorkCover who are investigating this matter."
Labor councillor Justin Mining described the events of the evening as not only a "high farce" but "possibly unlawful". He called on Local Government minister Paul Toole to step in and "to hold this Council to account.".
