A Whittlesea Councillor has called for the city’s Chief Executive Simon Overland to stand down.

Overland, a former Chief Police Commissioner has been implicated in the Lawyer X controversy, which will be probed by a Royal Commission.

Councillor Norm Kelly says he is one of a number of councillors who will not attend tonight’s meeting out safety concerns.

He says Mr. Overland is not returning emails and should no longer continue as council chief.

“I do want him to step down,” Cr Kelly said.

“If Simon can’t return an email, if all of a sudden, everyone’s clamming up, no one’s talking, questions aren’t being answered, how do you operate normally?

“If he’s not returning emails now and the Royal Commission hasn’t even started!”

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“To be fair to Simon Overland, he hasn’t been shown to have been doing anything wrong,” Neil said.

“He has got questions to answer but it’s a long way short of any culpability being proven.

“He’s like anybody, he’s entitled to the presumption of innocence until found otherwise.

“However, if it is disrupting the council, they’ve got a problem.”

Image: Whittlesea Council