A Mayoral Minute calling for the establishment of Council Advisory Committees and Trust Committees, was deferred by Central Coast Council and will be discussed at its December 18 meeting.
Central Coast Mayor, Clr Jane Smith, moved the minute at the November 27 ordinary meeting, but Clr Greg Best and Deputy Mayor, Clr Chris Holstein, asked for more time to consider the matter.
Clr Smith said the Mayoral Minute came about as an outcome of various discussions about how to best invite stakeholder participation in Council issues.
All committees of the former Wyong Council were abolished when the Council was dismissed in May 2016, and replaced with a combined Central Coast Council, under a NSW Government-appointed Administrator.
Clr Smith further moved that: “Council invite stakeholder representation as appropriate and advertise for community representatives on the proposed Advisory Committees.”
She also proposed that Councillors be invited to nominate what committees they wished to participate in.
Under Clr Smith’s proposal, Council would request the first meeting of each Advisory Committee to review the committee’s terms of reference, additional stakeholder representation if required, code of conduct, and frequency and timing of meetings.
If the Mayoral Minute was adopted by Council, the CEO, Mr Brian Bell, would be asked to identify appropriate staff to participate in each committee and provide administration staff to take minutes at each committee meeting.
Committee meeting minutes, including recommendations, would be reported to Council meetings.
Clr Holstein said he was eager to receive updates on the status of other committees, which he believed continued to function through the Administration period, such as a traffic committee.
The matter is expected to be debated at the last meeting of the year on December 18.
Source:
Agenda item 1.5, Nov 27
Meeting notes, Nov 27
Central Coast Council ordinary meeting
Jackie Pearson, journalist