Rant about what Mayor does

There was a Letter to the Editor in Wednesday, 28 December's edition of the Jimboomba Times—page 27—that needs a little correcting comment. The writer questioned the mayor's attendance record at council committee meetings.

The duties of councillors are no longer just as per the whim of each individual councillor like they were before 1993. A time when a councillor could tell an employee of the council to do whatever was within or outside that employee's job description. A time when the senior employee of many councils was called the Shire, or Town, Clerk.

No, the duties of a councillor, since 1993 and now, are laid down in the Local Government Act 2009 at §12 on page 26 of the act. The following is that section—
§12 Responsibilities of councillors

(1) All councillors of a local government have the same responsibilities, but the mayor has some extra responsibilities.
(2) A councillor must represent the current and future interests of the residents of the local government area.
(3) All councillors have the following responsibilities—

(a) ensuring the local government—

(i) discharges its responsibilities under this Act; and
(ii) achieves its corporate and community plans; and
(iii) complies with all laws that apply to local governments;

(b) providing high quality leadership to the local government and the community;
(c) participating in council meetings, policy development, and decision making, for the benefit of the local government area;
(d) being accountable to the community for the local government’s performance.

(4) The mayor has the following extra responsibilities—

(a) leading and managing meetings of the local government at which the mayor is the chairperson, including managing the conduct of the participants at the meetings;
(b) proposing the adoption of the local government’s budget;
(c) liaising with the chief executive officer on behalf of the other councillors;
(d) leading, managing, and providing strategic direction to, the chief executive officer in order to achieve the high quality administration of the local government;
(e) directing the chief executive officer, in accordance with the local government’s policies;
(f) conducting a performance appraisal of the chief executive officer, at least annually, in the way that is decided by the local government (including as a member of a committee, for example);
(g) ensuring that the local government promptly provides the Minister with the information about the local government area, or the local government, that is requested by the Minister;
(h) being a member of each standing committee of the local government;
(i) representing the local government at ceremonial or civic functions.

(5) A councillor who is not the mayor may perform the mayor’s extra responsibilities only if the mayor delegates the responsibility to the councillor.
(6) When performing a responsibility, a councillor must serve the overall public interest of the whole local government area.

Excuse the extra gaps between some lines in the extract above. It is easier for me to leave them than attempt to close them up.

At subsection (4)(a)—leading and managing meetings of the local government at which the mayor is the chairperson, including managing the conduct of the participants at the meetings;—the mayor is the chairperson only of the Ordinary Meeting in our council.

At subsection (4)(b)—proposing the adoption of the local government’s budget;—this was included in the 2009 update of the act partly because some councillors wanted to blame budget errors or irrationality on the person who proposed the budget for the current year. This makes it obvious to councillors that proposing the budget is a procedural matter that the mayor has no choice about.

At subsection (4)(h)—being a member of each standing committee of the local government;—the statement was included because in some administrations the mayor had been omitted from the membership-list of all committees and was excluded from the committee meetings. This was considered undesirable by many and I believe that our council made representations to the State government to that effect.

At subsection (4)(i)—representing the local government at ceremonial or civic functions.—you can find the major reason that a mayor cannot attend every committee meeting. In a city the size of Logan the calls on a mayor for ceremonial and civic functions is a major call, and not just during office hours either.

Finally, and an unstated duty, is the way that a mayor represents the local government at external standing committees that manage the business of such groups as the SEQ Council of Mayors (CoM) where the regional conduct of government is decided. I know that, in the past, I have written about the way such business is conducted in closed session, but they are necessary vehicles for the conduct of coordinated action as may be needed. There are other such coordinating committees, some, like the flood committees, are created as needed and often take up much time for those mayors who are lucky enough to not be fully engaged with the emergency.

Finally, I want to say that I have seen our mayor at many committee meetings where she has spent less than the minimum time, in the rules, to be considered to be at the meeting. But it was an important part of that meeting she attended. I have seen her staff come to a committee meeting, that she is attending, and call her back to whatever it is that she is needed to attend to. I can tell you that I have been on the end of her big stick a couple of times and that I'm not writing this because she is a favourite of mine, but I do believe that she represents the city to the best of her ability and her non-attendance at committee meetings is not an issue of dereliction of duty.