The Beagle
Mar 26, 2019
Today saw the Manager of Eurobodalla Council come under attack for what is considered an "underhand, unscrupulous and unprincipled" draft Code of Meeting practice designed to remove Live Webcasting of the Public Forum session returning a once dynamic and forward thinking council to be little more that running with the pack it what some of her councillors believe is a retrograde step without explanation.
While the General Manager encouraged her councillors to ENDORSE the Draft that would strip away many of the democratic freedoms and initiatives presently held by Eurobodalla residents and ratepayers Councillor Phil Constable moved to alter the motion to say that Councillors SUBMIT the draft for public feedback.
One speaker after another addressed the determination of the General Manager to strip out video recording and broadcast of Public Forum.
Councillor Pat McGinlay summarised it well in saying "What this draft does is bring us back to the pack."
AUDIO: Ordinary Meeting of Eurobodalla Council Date: March 26th 2019 Discussion by Councillors Draft Code of Meeting Practice Under MOU with Eurobodalla Shire CouncilCreative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia licence.read more http://bit.ly/beagleCC
At the end of the day it appears to be an impossibility to discover WHY the General Manager wishes to confront the community and remove the Live Streaming that they fought for and won. Is it above and beyond what the Office of Local Government set down as the minimum. Yes. But here we have the General Manager wanting to aspire to mediocrity and to remove something that many Council's around NSW look at as an example of proactive community engagement and democracy.
The Draft will now go out for public comment for 48 days to be returned to Council on June the 11th, 2019