GAWLER Council has voted to keep nearly 30 confidential items hidden from public eye, including reports on the Gawler East Link Road and chief executive Henry Inat’s performance review.

At their ordinary meeting last Tuesday, elected members moved to maintain the confidential status of 29 items discussed behind closed doors.

The Local Government Act gives councils the power to enter confidential sessions for a variety of reasons, including to avoid jeopardising council’s finances or the unreasonable disclosure of information about a person.

During these confidential sessions the public is locked out of the discussion and is unable to view any documents tabled.

Gawler Mayor Karen Redman said council looks to release information as soon as possible.

“The items (discussed last week) relate to information that pertain to the personal affairs of a person, could be reasonabley expected to confer a commercial advantage to a person whom council is conduction business, legal advice and information that is deemed commercial in nature, to name a few,” she said.

“The release of this information at this time could be detrimental to council and thus the careful decision has been made to retain the items in confidence.”

Some of the reports kept secret related to the Gawler East Link Road project, the Springwood and Woodvale land divisions and the council’s Chief Executive Officer Performance Review Panel and date back to as long ago as 2016.

Ms Redman said reports relating to the Gawler East Link Road would start to be released this year as the project reached “practical completion”.

“Documents relating to land sales and contracts are retained until execution of the contract or lease,” she said.

“It is anticipated that the release of the documents will occur over the coming six-month period.”