Administrator to decide on his own attendance at conference

Ian ReynoldsAdministrator Ian Reynolds cut meeting times

The chief executive officer and the administrator of the Central Coast Council will both attend the Local Government NSW annual conference in Wollongong from October 16 to 18.

At the ordinary council meeting held in Gosford on August 10, administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, was expected to adopt a recommendation that council authorise him and CEO, Mr Rob Noble to attend the LGNSW annual conference. Mr Reynolds was also expected to adopt the recommendation that council pay the reasonable expenses of the administrator and CEO incurred in attendance at the conference. A report to Mr Reynolds from the Central Coast Council’s governance department said: “The LGNSW Annual Conference is the annual policy-making conference for Local Government in NSW.

“It is a significant event for the local government year, where local government officials come together to share ideas and debate issues that shape the way local councils are governed,” the report said. According to the report, all members, including newly merged councils which are LGNSW members, are able to put forward motions to be considered at the conference. Mr Reynolds may, at a later time, consider whether to put forward motions at the conference on behalf of the newly-formed council. However, LGNSW will not permit delegates of merged councils to participate in voting at the conference. As a way of getting around this, there is a proposal for the conference to move into committee, which would allow administrators to participate in debate on policy motions and make recommendations to the organisation’s board for ratification.

Voter entitlements of the committee would be redistributed to address rural/regional and metro/ urban imbalances caused by the dissolution of the merged councils. The report concludes that the conference; “is an opportunity for council to debate issues of concern and to network with other council representatives from throughout NSW”. The conference agenda includes councillor training sessions to understand the changes to the Local Government Act and briefi ngs for general managers. Mr Mike Baird, premier of NSW, will address the conference on Monday, October 17, and the minister for local government, Mr Paul Toole, will address the conference on the following day and answer facilitated questions.

Agenda item 2.5, Aug 10, 2016 Central Coast Council ordinary meeting