Ms Hutchins will bring legislation into Parliament on Tuesday, moving to dismiss the council for "failure to provide good government". Darryn Lyons, when he was announced as the popularly-elected Geelong mayor in 2013. The government's "independent commission of inquiry" into the council will also be tabled on Tuesday. The opposition, whose support the government will likely need to remove the council for four years, will be briefed on the dismissal on Tuesday morning. A statement from Ms Hutchins' office said the grounds for dismissal included:

failure to provide good government, with the council so dysfunctional it was unable to work together in the city's best interests

failure to develop a long-term strategic plan for the city

failure to respond properly to the Halliday report Parliament will be asked to dismiss the council until the 2020 October elections, and an administrator appointed for four-and-a-half years. It will leave Geelong without a mayor and councillors for an entire local government term. Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons and fellow Geelong councillors will be dismissed by the Andrews government on Tuesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen A damning review of Geelong council's workplace culture, completed by Ms Halliday last year, found significant concerns about conflicts of interest and bullying behaviour by several councillors. A survey of staff found one in four had been bullied and almost a third had witnessed bullying.

Ms Hutchins said the report she would table in Parliament on Tuesday outlined "serious governance failures, among other issues, leaving the government no choice but to dismiss the council". "It is not a decision that has been taken lightly," she said. "The people of Geelong deserve better. The city is too important for it to be run by a dysfunctional council that is simply unable to work together." One of Darryn Lyons' fellow councillors, Lindsay Ellis, said he did not support the mayor. "Darryn Lyons has been great for Geelong. But for governance, he's been bloody hopeless,"Cr Ellis told radio station 3AW.

However, he said the state government had an agenda to sack the council, regardless of what the commission had found. He said the direct election of a mayor in Geelong had been a failed experiment. Geelong will be the sixth Victorian council to be sacked since the Kennett government amalgamated more than 200 Victorian councils to 79 in the 1990s. The others were Wangaratta, sacked in 2013, Brimbank in 2009, Glen Eira in 2005, and Nillumbik and Darebin in 1998. Prominent Geelong businessman Frank Costa says the city's council has reaped what it sowed.

The former Geelong Football Club president said he wasn't surprised at news the Andrews government would move to sack the council on Tuesday. "The stories that have been coming out about the council's performance over recent times have certainly warranted a very strong investigation," he said. "There's an old saying 'he shall reap what ye shall sow'." Mr Costa said having the council under an administrator until 2020 was a good idea and hoped it meant a rate rise of 3.5 per cent would not go ahead. "A strong administration will sort this out so we can actually run the business of council in such a way that you don't need to charge anymore for rates," he said. Mr Costa called outgoing mayor Darryn Lyons a "colourful character" who "probably operated a little differently to the average person".

Former mayor Keith Fagg, who was also yet to read the report, said the sacking was "disappointing" for Geelong. "But from now we can only look to the future," he said. Cr Lyons did not answer phone calls from Fairfax Media on Monday night. Councillor Jan Farrell said she had no comment. The local government sector railed against the sacking. The Victorian Local Governance Association's president, Sebastian Klein, said the proposed sacking "made an absolute mockery of due process".

"First, there was the leaking of key findings and recommendations barely a day after the [commission's] report was handed over," Cr Klein said. "Now the minister has selectively briefed media on the report's findings without cause for natural justice or respect of public disclosure." He said selective leaking to the media and a lack of cooperation with the local government "is becoming an all too common story". Loading "One has to wonder, is the minister ignorant of due process or just too arrogant to care?" Cr Klein said. Cr Farrell is the VLGA's finance officer.