Moreland City mayor Lambros Tapinos has found himself under media scrutiny, after the Herald Sun revealed earlier this week that council has failed to install and put in operation CCTV cameras on the street Jill Meagher was last seen alive, 19 months after it was offered $250,000 funding from the state government, in February 2013.

It took Moreland Council four months to accept the state government funding, agreeing in June 2013 to install nine cameras along Sydney Road, where Ms Meagher was last seen alive in September 2012.

Mayor Lambros Tapinos told Neos Kosmos that delay of four months to accept the grant came as some councillors opposed the project. The grant was finally accepted in June 2013 and the implementations of the project was taken up by the staff members of the council.

Moreland Council had committed to having the CCTV infrastructure installed, and testing completed, by 30 June 2014.

When the media hype took off earlier this week, four out of nine cameras were installed but had not yet been put into operation.

Moreland Council and Cr Tapinos were slammed for their failure to install cameras by Melbourne City mayor Robert Doyle, who called on the council to apologise to crime victims, while Victorian premier Denis Napthine accused the council of playing ‘political games’, referring to the council’s opposition to East West Link.

Mayor Lambros Tapinos told Neos Kosmos he believed the Herald Sun has been running a campaign against Moreland council for last few months that, as he believed, was linked to the council taking action against East West Link.

In regards to the project, Mr Tapinos said the council was surprised at the complexity required to install cameras in their municipality.

“The rollout of the cameras has been frustratingly slow, because of many layers of permissions required from the power companies and from other owners of the light poles in the municipality.”

With Moreland council not having an existing CCTV cameras program, Mr Tapinos said it didn’t have the expertise to start the project.

“We didn’t have the skills set in our offices – we had to do some research, hire some consultants, to help us prepare the tender documents – and that occurred right through towards the latest stages of last year.”

Responding to Melbourne Mayor Robert Doyle, who stated that in the same time Melbourne had installed nine cameras with the same funding and the same power providers, ‘but with a will to stop crime’, Mr Tapinos said Melbourne has had CCTV system in place for years, making it unfair to compare the shorter time it has taken it to add other nine cameras to the network.

In a letter from Minister for Crime Prevention, Edward O’Donohue, addressed to Mayor Tapinos on 8 August and seen by Neos Kosmos, Minister O’Donohue wrote that although Moreland council subsequently agreed at its 12 June 2013 meeting that it would accept the funding offer, a project proposal was not provided to the Department of Justice’s Community Crime Prevention Unit until 6 February 2014.

This week, VicTrack and CitiPower confirmed to the Herald Sun that initial applications from Moreland Council were received only in June and July this year.

“I understand that Council staff have advised the Department that Council is now aiming to have the infrastructure installed by the end of August 2014, but that this is dependent upon approval from third parties. Given the importance of this project to the local community, I am disappointed at these continued delays nearly eighteen months after the initial funding offer was made, and ask that Council prioritise finalising the project works as expeditiously as possible,” Minister O’Donohue wrote on 8 August.

“We are disappointed with how long it has taken, and it is disappointing that a lot of it is out of control, having submitted requests to approve the installation and connection of the cameras in June/ July,” Mr Tapinos told Neos Kosmos.

“The fact is – yes, there have been a lot of delays that we didn’t anticipate, both internal and external delays. Yes, it would have been preferable for the whole process to have been sped up, and occurred earlier, but one thing followed the other.

“I’m happy to have my voting records scrutinised, as my support for the CCTV cameras project, as well as to extra street lights and safety orders and the whole range of preventative programs and awareness raising programs like a White Ribbon and domestic violence programs was always strong,” he told Neos Kosmos.

“Brunswick and Moreland are changing, and we need to be creating a safer environment and community.”

Before Neos Kosmos went to print, according to Mayor Tapinos, six of the nine CCTV cameras along Sydney Rd, Brunswick were installed, with two more scheduled to be put up yesterday, Friday. One more camera will be installed next Tuesday, but none is yet operational.

“After all the cameras are installed and with the permission from the Origin for billing and from CitiPower to connect the electricity to the cameras, we expect all the cameras to be up and fully operational before 17 October.

“From the council perspective it is very disappointing that the process has been delayed. It is not good enough.

“I am sorry we have not been able to deliver this project on time. I will seek daily updates from officers and ensure the cameras are operational by the timeline given, if not before. This is the council’s number one priority.”