The Beagle Editor, Any idea when GM said that public forum wasn't part of the meeting? I must have missed it. Editor: at time stamp 33:18 of the Live Streaming Video archive (4:23 in the video below) of April 9th 2019 Ordinary Council meeting the General Manager says:"Through the Mayor under council code of meeting practice 16.2 it clearly articulates what is in the Council Minutes The webcast is not, I repeat NOT, a part of the Council minutes. It never has been"
VIDEO: Extract of Ordinary Meeting of Eurobodalla Council Date: April 9th 2019 Discussion by Councillors Adoption of Minutes Under MOU with Eurobodalla Shire Council - Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia licence. read more http://bit.ly/beagleCC I was most surprised that the GM failed to correct Clr Nathan when she said, "live streaming is a community service rather than a binding document as I understand it" Unless of course, management believes that resolutions of councillors are not binding. It IS a BINDING DOCUMENT as it was a resolution of council 9 Dec 2014. On the 9th of December 2014 Dr Catherine Dale presented the Code of Meeting Practice report In her report she said: At its meeting held on 14 October 2014 Council resolved: THAT: 1. The commencement times for Ordinary Council meetings be set at 10.00am and conclude at 2.00pm with the potential extension of one hour. Live streaming of audio/visual recordings of Council meetings will commence from 10 February 2015, subject to installation and configuration of live streaming system. The recordings will begin at the start of each meeting and will stop at the beginning of the Closed Council agenda items. Inclusion of Live streaming of Council meetings will provide the community with greater access to Council decisions and debate, and addresses the geographic barriers preventing the public from attending meetings. As the Public Forum session begins at 10:am it IS part of the Ordinary Council Meeting as adopted by Council in 2014. As such under 16.2 any matter that occurs during the Public Forum requires Council to ensure FULL and ACCURATE minutes are kept of the PROCEEDINGS. Code of Meeting Practice Public Forum - matters listed on the agenda 5.10.(4) Part of Council meetings are made available for members of the public to address the Council or submit questions, either verbally or in writing, on matters included in the agenda for that meeting. This Public Forum will be scheduled at the commencement of the Council meeting unless otherwise resolved by Council. (5) The Public Forum forms part of Council meetings and will be recorded in those meetings’ minutes.
Of note is Clr Pollock's voiced definition during debate of the 'minutes' being "a record of the DECISIONS of council. Full Stop." This definition was repeated by the Mayor on ABC radio the following day saying: "the minutes are an accurate reflection of Council DECISIONS made in a Council meeting" The current Code of Meeting Practice 16.2 states otherwise:
"Council is required to ensure full and accurate minutes of the PROCEEDINGS of a meeting of council," and any discussion during a motion to confirm should only be in regard to their "accuracy as a true record of PROCEEDINGS." During Mr Bernard's presentation, the PROCEEDINGS would include: * the point of order called by Clr Pollock * the Chair seeking an apology and a retraction * the motion put by Clr Pollock and seconded by Clr Thomson, that Mr Bernard be expelled * the fact that the Chair eventually accepted Mr Bernard's original apology Contrary to the Chair and GM's assurances that recording of apologies in the minutes has never happened before, it has. It is recorded in 2013 minutes during a presentation by Mr Potts.
Clr Constable was correct in seeking this info to be recorded While the General Manager continues to advise the Councillors that the decision to edit the video record was not part of the meeting the fact remains that the Councillors were being asked to adopt the minutes and that under 16.2 the minutes DID NOT reflect the required full and accurate account of the PROCEEDINGS of a meeting of council. The fact of the edit to the video is one thing which does set a precedent being that Council can and did censor out twelve minutes from the public record on "legal advice" however the key issue is that the minutes do not comply with 16.2 and present an accurate record of PROCEEDINGS. Keeping in mind that the advice from the General Manager was that everything was as per policy it was also her incorrect advice on meeting procedures that saw her and her councillors ignore the guidance and opinion around her insistence that she could go into Confidential and discuss her own contract renegotiation without having to advise the fact on the agenda and it was her incorrect advice that saw no record of the determination minuted that caused the Office of Local Government to direct her that she was in error and to correct the minutes. This might well be an issue that only the Office of Local Government can sort out with a Code of Conduct raised against the General Manager and those Councillors who voted to adopt the minutes. Contributed Name and address supplied
