Next Monday will see our illustrious councillors attending the Local Government NSW Annual Conference in Sydney at the Hyatt Regency Along with the conference will be the voting for the new Board Why are there five Eurobodalla Councillors going ? The allowable number of voters for voting in Board election are 3 for Eurobodalla and our nominated voting representatives attending the Conference will be Liz Innes, Rob Pollock and James Thomson. Cr Lindsay Brown is presently the Vice President - Regional/Rural Eurobodalla Shire and is standing again. No doubt Lindsay would like to see his fellow councillors vote for him and however there are many excellent and worthy Regional/Rural candidates. We are hopeful that the votes cast by Innes, Pollock and Thomson, on behalf of Eurobodalla residents and ratepayers, will go to the best candidate and not be simply spent on parochial nepotism. It is not know whether they will be voting for fellow Councillor Lindsay Brown who is standing for election again. Councillor Maureen Nathan will also be attending however not in a voting capacity. It is not known which way she might have voted either. One can only speculate. Under Councillor’s Expenses and Facilities Policy, Councillors (except the Mayor) are entitled to an annual amount of $3,300 per financial year for their professional development. The costs associated with the annual Local Government Association Conference are excluded from this cost. The Local Government NSW Annual Conference is also a time when Council's take motions to the floor for discussion and determination. An example of a motion put up is the one by Bega Valley Council That Local Government NSW lobbies on behalf of councils for all Rural Fire Service (RFS), State Emergency Services (SES) and Surf Life Saving Clubs assets to be removed from Council asset registers (sheds, equipment etc.) and the responsibility be taken back by the RFS, SES and Surf Life Saving Club. That this process not be used to increase local government contributions and further that the NSW Government investigate a model for RFS funding based on the Country Fire Authority (CFA) model in Victoria. Eurobodalla does't have any motions up. You can read more examples put up by some very dynamic Councils around the state here
