The City of Greater Geelong's chief executive says he is "bitterly disappointed" after Premier Daniel Andrews and several government MPs publicly accused the council of mismanaging crucial community projects.
Local Labor MPs Lisa Neville (Bellarine), Christine Couzens (Geelong), John Eren (Lara) and Darren Cheeseman (South Barwon) penned a letter to the council, which was then published by the local newspaper shortly afterwards.
That letter detailed eight government-funded projects that the MPs claimed were "delayed, de-prioritised or mismanaged" by the City of Greater Geelong Council.
Premier Daniel Andrews backed the letter and has threatened to oust Geelong council from any involvement in the 2026 Commonwealth Games if the projects listed in the letter were not prioritised.
"If you don't want to get on with it, at least get out of the way," Mr Andrews said.
City of Greater Geelong chief executive Martin Cutter said the MPs' letter contained "significant inaccuracies", but he did not detail which parts of the letter were wrong.
Mr Cutter said MPs were "offered briefings on any matter of interest" and could contact him directly at any time.
The projects included a new CFA station in St Leonards to replace the current station, which is 30 years old.
The letter said that, two years after funding was allocated, the government was still waiting on a planning permit from the council, "leading to the expiration of the original tenders, which is likely to drive up costs".
Public stoush 'not about blue or red', Premier says
The letter came three days after Geelong mayor Stephanie Asher announced her resignation from the top job after councillors expressed concern that she would not be able to work impartially, given her unsuccessful Liberal bid for the seat of Corangamite.
Ms Asher will officially resign as mayor next week.
Mr Andrews said he hoped the change in mayor would get the projects going again but emphasised that it had nothing to do with which political party the mayor was associated with.
"It's not about blue or red," he said.
"We don't ask them to pay for much, just get out of the way so we can get on and build the thing we'd said we would build."
The Member for Bellarine, Ms Neville, said she had spoken with council officers and councillors about the issues.
"We've reached a point where we have been incredibly frustrated, beyond belief," she said.
"We've tried every avenue. Our officers have been pushing council officers and councillors.
"We need them to get on with it. This is about projects that are critical that the community want and need."
Ms Neville took a swipe at the council for beginning construction on a federally funded swimming pool in Drysdale, while making no progress on a sports precinct the state government funded in 2019.
Another of the projects listed was a bike lane that was embroiled in controversy two years ago when the state government took control of a Geelong street after the council decided to spend $2 million to rip up a government-funded bike lane because it was causing traffic congestion.
Before that, in 2016, the entire council was sacked by the government after a report laid bare widespread allegations of bullying and dysfunction.
Mr Andrews said he was not considering sacking the current council over the lack of progress in projects.
Geelong Yacht Club Commodore Stuart Dickson said a $7 million project to build a new sailing school on the Geelong waterfront was meant to be built by early next year.
"That's looking very unlikely now. I was hoping, by now, we would have been well out of the ground with that project," he said.
"The hold-up is we have a funding shortfall that we're certainly working through."
Mr Dickson said the rise in construction costs had held back the project and said there was "no doubt" costs would have been lower if the project had begun on time.
"We just want it done."
