The Ordinary Meeting tomorrow has a straightforward List of Items, without additions, and I would expect that they will not waste much time galloping through the agenda.
If I remember rightly there will be two or three recommendations that they had decided might need review after the committee stages. You'd expect that the committee chairperson would introduce the amendments after proposing the the recommendations were tabled for discussion. Normally there is little discussion and the amendments are moved, seconded and voted into place before the public gallery has caught its breath.
It means that the meeting is likely to be over by about 11 am.
I know that they have the right, within the Local Government (Operations) Act to run their meetings how they like, but running them so that the public is either misinformed or uninformed is as silly as possible in the face of their We want to keep the public informed mantra.
What bothers me even more is that the governance people have revised the Standing Orders, the rules for running their meetings, at least twice in the last twelve months without allowing the public to make any contribution or feedback. And they know that I have expressed a wish to contribute to the revision of those Standing Orders. There is much more than just recognition of the rights of the public to be informed in my thoughts.
23 January 2012
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2 comments:
Lin, Is there a standing order, rule regulation or anything written which compels council to place the agenda on the web site sooner than the day of the meeting?
Or is this merely considered by them a "courtesy" to those of us with "electronic access" - even though this is now the 21st century and the internet is a valid form of communication and should be included in legislation as a method of keeping the public informed.
The Governance Manager believes that he is being courteous providing the agendas on the morning of the meeting. The councillors made a decision back in about 2008 that they would not allow the public to have access to the agenda documents the same day—usually Friday pm—as they do.
The Act is not specific as to when and how councils should publish their agendas and Minutes and the manager considers that what they do is within the resources he is allocated for the work. Serving the council and the councillors is his first priority.
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