Earlier start for Clarence Valley Council meetings

By Tim Howard

Members of the public wanting to address Clarence Valley Council will no longer have to wait until just before councillors begin debating major agenda items, following a unanimous decision to overhaul the council’s meeting schedule.

Councillors voted unanimously at their May 21 meeting to introduce a new structure that will see deputations and presentations held from 9.30am on the Tuesday before each ordinary council meeting.

The next council meeting is on June 18 in the Grafton Chambers. Its start time has been altered to 9.30am.

The change means councillors will have more than 24 hours to consider information presented by community members before making decisions at the ordinary meeting on Thursday.

The new arrangements will take effect at future meetings and are designed to create a clearer separation between information gathering and decision-making.

The successful Notice of Motion, put forward by Cr Andrew Baker, follows the council’s recent decision to establish a Briefing Committee to meet before ordinary council meetings.

Under the new format, deputations and presentations will begin at 9.30am on Tuesday, followed by the Briefing Committee after a short break. The ordinary council meeting will then commence at 9.30am on Thursday.

Both meetings will include a lunch break and are expected to conclude by 4.30pm unless councillors agree to extend proceedings under the Code of Meeting Practice.

Cr Baker said the current arrangements often left councillors with little time to properly consider information presented by members of the public.

“Currently, councillors often receive deputations shortly prior to the ordinary meeting, leaving limited time to carefully consider or verify information before decisions are made,” he said in his report to council.

The report argued that separating deputations from decision-making would improve governance, transparency and efficiency while giving councillors more time to assess information before voting.

The changes also aim to provide greater certainty for members of the public, council staff and online viewers by creating a more predictable meeting schedule.

The move comes after several lengthy council meetings in recent months either ran over time or threatened to do so.

In response, Mayor Ray Smith altered the order of business at some meetings, bringing forward officer reports and delaying Notices of Motion until later in the day to ensure reports prepared by council staff received adequate consideration.

While that approach addressed one issue, it also raised concerns that some Notices of Motion were being debated late in meetings when time pressures were increasing.

The new meeting structure is intended to reduce those pressures by spreading council business across two days and ensuring information received from deputations can be properly considered before councillors make decisions.

Council’s report said the changes were not expected to create additional costs and could improve operational efficiency by reducing delays and making meeting times more predictable.

The motion was carried unanimously.