It’s official – meetings of Central Coast Council will now be held monthly instead of twice a month, with the first monthly meeting slated for March 22 at 6:30pm.
The move was cemented when an amended Code of Meeting Practice was formally adopted at the February 22 meeting.
The amended Code of Meeting Practice also included updates to incorporate state-wide changes to the Code of Meeting Practice Model as directed by the NSW Office of Local Government, and removal of the non-mandatory provision for Public Forums, which have instead been incorporated into a separate Public Forum Policy.
Council Administrator Rik Hart said the updated document reflected recent changes to the Model Code, provided operational savings and set out the structure and governance by which members of the public were able to participate in Council meetings.
“Updating Council’s Code of Meeting Practice has ensured it is contemporary, fit for purpose and provides for a $44,000 operational cost saving annually,” Hart said.
“By adjusting the frequency of (meetings) from twice a month to monthly, the use of Council resource is lessened and the running costs reduced.”
Hart said he had been looking at how Council was tracking with the number of papers coming to meetings.
“With fortnightly meetings, staff were on a merry-go-round and didn’t get time to look at major policy issues,” he said.
“We no longer have DAs (Development Applications) coming to Council
“Pretty much all DA decisions are made by the Local Planning Panel or Regional Planning Panel or delegated to staff.”
Hart said other streamlining measures introduced to stop meetings being “bogged down” when new Councillors were elected were restricting Notices of Motion and Questions on Notice to one per Councillor, per meeting.
“With monthly meetings, there is no reason answers can’t be provided at the next meeting,” he said.
Hart said the move was about eliminating disruptive features in Council meetings.
Having a separate Public Forum Policy would create a lot more flexibility for a future Council, he said.
He said he believed the new moves would work going forward and were consistent with what most Councils were doing.
“The revisions in the Code seek to balance Council’s resource availability with the need to support the conduct of meetings,” he said.
“This change is one of the many ways that Council has streamlined operations for improved efficiencies and cost saving in order to deliver financial stability and good governance.
“The opportunity for the public to speak at Council meetings is an important part of the process and reflective of the meeting principles for inclusivity.
“While the non-mandatory provisions for Public Forums was removed from the Code of Meeting Practice, they have instead been incorporated into a separate Public Forum Policy.”
Further details on the amended Code of Meeting Practice and Public Forum Policy are available to view on Council’s website.
Terry Collins