Glen Innes Severn Council decisions to amend community consultation session guidelines and defer webcasting have dismayed some community members.
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“You can now say what you like at a council meeting,” Glen Elgin resident James Gresham said, “but it won’t be minuted or recorded, and no-one will be the wiser, unless they happen to be there in person.
“So much for transparency, openness, and listening to the community!”
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Mayor Carol Sparks proposed last week that at community consultations, only the speakers’ names, organization they represented, and topic they are speaking about be recorded in Council’s Meeting Minutes.
Previously, community members’ testimony to council was summarized.
Mayor Sparks argued that because sessions did not form part of Council meetings, they should not be minuted.
The motion was carried; Mayor Sparks, and Crs Newman, Frendon, and Parsons in favour; Crs Price, Smith, and Toms against.
Speakers talk about a topic relevant to the council meeting, presenting a point of view that might either confirm a councillor’s position, or offer other ideas.
“It’s been a long-standing practice to summarize what people say, who make the effort to register and talk to the community forum,” Cr Toms said.
Summarizing also provided transparency and accountability, Cr Toms argued.
“Quite clearly,” he said, “there will now be less on the public record.”
Nor will council meetings be livestreamed for the foreseeable future.
Council had agreed in its 2018/19 budget to purchase and install audiovisual equipment to webcast its meetings, which the NSW Government’s draft Model Code of Meeting Practice for Local Councils suggested become mandatory.
Council decided in July, however, to defer livestreaming for this financial year, and to use the budgeted $30,000 for the Youth Centre.
Mayor Sparks identified the youth centre as a priority to address bullying, suicide, crime, alcohol and drug abuse, and domestic violence, and link youths to mental health services.
It would also, she argued, help them find jobs, increase community participation, and offer opportunities for personal development.
Cr Toms proposed last week rescinding this motion, but it was defeated 4:3.
Crs Price and Smith also voted to rescind, with Mayor Sparks and Crs Frendon, Newman, and Parsons against.
"Webcasting nowadays provides accessibility to council meetings, and also some sense of accountability," Cr Toms said.
"People can, if they so desire, look at a meeting, and observe for themselves what was said, as opposed to hearsay."
The community, he said, also expected to have live digital access to council meetings, as happens in the Armidale and Dubbo Regional Councils.
“I am supportive of live streaming our meetings,” Mayor Sparks said. "Coucnil is looking into which systems and equipment we will be using.”
General Manager Hein Basson will investigate the design, functionality, and full costing for livestreaming of Council meetings for consideration at a future meeting.
The Glen Innes Examiner tried to contact Mayor Sparks for her comment, but was unsuccessful at time of publication.