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Council to use ZOOM for next meeting including Public Forum

  • Writer: The Beagle
    The Beagle
  • Apr 2, 2020
  • 2 min read

Updated: Apr 3, 2020

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Council have announced that meetings will be held until further notice on the video platform Zoom and webcast via the internet advising that these restrictions have been put in place in line with Australian and NSW Government regulations.  The meetings will be live streamed on Council's website at the usual location on the Live Streaming page http://webcast.esc.nsw.gov.au/. commencing at 11am. The Council will also hold a public forum prior to each ordinary meeting of the Council for the purpose of hearing oral submissions from members of the public on items of business to be considered at the meeting, unless there are no registered speakers. The Public Forum session will also be conducted on Zoom. Members of the community wishing to participate in Public Forum must have the necessary technology to connect to Zoom (eg, a computer or device with video and audio capabilities – find out how to get started on the Zoom website).


Public forum will commence at 9.30am. One hour will be allocated to public forum prior to a Council meeting. If there are more speakers register than time permits, Council could resolve to extend the Public Forum session for 15 minutes only and potentially limit the number of speakers of up to three to speak ‘for’ or ‘against’ any item of business. Speakers will be allowed seven minutes to address the Council.

Approved speakers will be provided with the weblink to connect to the Zoom meeting. The Public forum session on Zoom commences at 9.30am, so you will need to be logged into your device and connected to Zoom at that time.

If you do not have the necessary technology to connect to Zoom, Council will accept a written copy of your presentation, which will be provided to Councillors along with the approved list of speakers for their information and consideration. If you wish to listen to public forum via Zoom, please contact Council's executive services office to register. A weblink will be provided to the registered listeners to connect to the meeting. Listeners will be required to have their video and microphone turned off at all times.

Council says it understands that this is not an ideal situation, however it is necessary to ensure that Council complies with COVID-19 regulations and restrictions.

To speak at a public forum, a person must first make an application to the Council in the approved form. Applications to speak at the public forum must be received by Council:

  • no later than 12pm of the business day prior to the meeting

  • must identify the item of business on the agenda of the Council meeting the person wishes to speak on, and may state whether they wish to speak ‘for’ or ‘against’ the item.

  • with a written copy of the presentation provided to Council by 12pm the business day before the Council Meeting, which will be published on Council’s website.

Register by contacting Council’s Executive Services Office:


Above: The ZOOM platform enables multiple speakers to be in one place at one time.

NOTE: Comments were TRIALED - in the end it failed as humans will be humans and it turned into a pile of merde; only contributed to by just a handful who did little to add to the conversation of the issue at hand. Anyone who would like to contribute an opinion are encouraged to send in a Letter to the Editor where it might be considered for publication

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