Proposed changes to Eurobodalla Council’s Code of Meeting Practice, which provides a framework for the effective conduct of Council meetings, is on public exhibition to seek community feedback.
Council was required by law to update its Code of Meeting Practice to reflect new mandatory and non-mandatory provisions of the NSW Government’s Office of Local Government (OLG) Model Meeting Code, released in December 2018.
The draft Code uses three colours to identify the changes. All mandatory provisions are listed in black and cannot be changed. Non-mandatory provisions are in red, while provisions transferred from Council’s current Code of Meeting Practice are highlighted in yellow.
To ensure Council’s draft Code aligns with the OLG benchmark, it is proposed that public forum not be part of the Council meeting. It will be held at 9.30am for one hour prior to the Council meeting, with a possible extension of 15 minutes. The Council meeting itself would begin at 11am, instead of 10am. This would enable members of the public to present to Council during the decision-forming stages of the democratic process, not during the decision-making process. As it is not part of the Council meeting, it is proposed public forum not be live streamed.
Community members can make submissions to the draft Code of Meeting Practice while it is on public exhibition until Wednesday 15 May 2019.
It is available online at www.esc.nsw.gov.au/publicexhibition or in hard copy at Narooma, Moruya and Batemans Bay libraries and at Council’s customer service centre in Moruya.
Councillors will consider the draft Code of Meeting Practice, along with any community submissions received during the public exhibition period, on Tuesday 11 June 2019.
