Council vote to end public participation at Council meetings policy

The public participation in meetings with council policy was adopted by council in April 2016.

The policy allowed for members of the community to ask questions in an open Council meeting and present to Council on the 3rd and the 4th Wednesdays each month.

Public Presentations to Council

On the 3rd Wednesday each month presenters could speak to Council on any matter of their choosing for a total of 15 minutes including 5 minutes for questions from Councillors.

On the 4th Wednesday each month people could present on matters that were in the Council meeting agenda for that same day and ahead of the council meeting. This was limited to 10 minutes which included 5 minutes of questions from councillors.

At the end of each Council meeting members of the public were allowed 5 minutes to ask up to three questions. This was done in the Council meeting and answers were provided at the time or taken on notice if not able to be answered on the spot.

The policy also covered the mandated s223 hearing processes for budget submission presentations etc.

This policy was modified by the Administrators in December 2019

The two public presentation sessions on 3rd and 4th Wednesday each month were retained and the media were allowed to be in attendance.

The frequency that people could make these public presentations was limited to 3 times per year whereas previously there was no restriction.

The question time session from the Council meeting was modified to force people to submit their 3 questions to Council by 9am on the day of the Council meeting or place the questions in a box within the first 15-minutes of the start of the Council meeting. The questions placed in the box would be answered at the next council meeting 4-weeks later.

The 3 questions were further restricted to a maximum of 100 words in total and Council would remove all wording other than the specific question. This meant many questions printed in the Council meeting minutes would appear non-sensical since readers would not know the subject matter the question related to.

The policy also described how people could submit petitions.

At last week’s Council meeting Council finally put the final nail in this particular policy by revoking it. 

No longer does Council have a policy dealing with public participation in Council meetings.

People will still be allowed to ask questions subject to the whims of the current administration and would be able to find how this can be done from the Council website somewhere but no longer will these processes be described in a policy that binds Council staff in dealing with the public.

For those who think an incoming Council could reverse this they can do so but the “proper” way to do so would be to pass a motion at a Council meeting requesting the officers to come back with a report on how this could be done. 

That “advice” would suggest having a policy to deal with the matter. Now would be the time to scream!

Council agenda item

This is what the officer report says on this matter:

The Public Participation in Meetings with Council Policy (C65) has been reviewed as part of the suite of Council policies. Recent changed organisational approaches have been made to the framework and structure of Council meetings and briefings as part of the good governance reforms required by the Commission of Inquiry’s recommendations into South Gippsland Shire Council. 

Editorial: the only change noted by council here is to bring forward the start of the Council meeting from 2pm to 1pm and to indicate they would like Councillors to run off after the meeting and attend to community interactions. No details on how or why this is needed is given and it is noted that shortly after arriving the administrators removed themselves from nearly all community committees and groups-none of which took place on Council meeting days anyway.

The officer report further elaborates that these new approaches now enable Administrators and future Councillors to engage more broadly with community members across the Shire. This review has identified that the Policy may be revoked, due to extensive duplication between the current Policy and the Governance Rules.

A review of the Policy has determined that recent changes introduced have created meaningful and engaging opportunities for community members to interact with Councillors through ‘Community Days’, now held on the fourth week of each month. Further, opportunities to speak to planning matters or submissions on specific matters are being provided, as required. These changes embrace the means for a broader cross-section of the community to be involved in discussions with Councillors.

Editorial: community days were introduced apparently just a month ago and appear to be designed to replace the normal public presentation days at Council. They have hardly had time to be actioned especially considering Covid lockdowns so how Council can claim that these “by request” appointments not held at Council are considered a meaningful and engaging opportunity is lost on this newspaper.

In considering all of these changes, it is proposed the Policy can be revoked and managed appropriately through the Governance Rules, the Mayor’s roles and powers in chairing meetings and general instructions on Council’s website to assist community members or groups seeking to engage with Councillors.

Editorial: maybe they will need to employ another staff member to handle the phone enquiries as to how one can present to Council in the future once they remove the guidelines explaining the process to ratepayers.