Council have changed protocol around when they release council agendas, with residents given less than a week to peruse matters to be voted on next week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The move has caused concern among council watchers and City of Ballarat councillors alike.
The document has ordinarily be posted online nine days before the council meeting. In 2017, it was posted online 12 days before the meeting. After initial reports it would be released next Monday for the Wednesday council meeting, it will now go online on Friday.
It comes after prolonged debate about council’s transparency, with changes to meeting procedure including submissions and questions voted down last year. The council also resolved in September to livestream meetings, but it’s yet to start.
At a December council meeting, a new Meeting Procedure Local Law was voted through, which allows council to release the agenda up to two days before a meeting. This is the minimum deadline as legally instructed by Local Government Victoria.
Ballarat mayor Samantha McIntosh said “ideally it’s great for us to be able to release the council meeting agenda as early as possible”, if it is released late it is because “further detail or information is required”.
City of Ballarat director of innovation and organisation improvement Cameron Gray would not confirm whether the council will release the agenda nine days prior to the meeting in the future.
Deputy mayor Jim Rinaldi said he would look to potentially remove local laws approved in December, saying there was no need to change council mechanisms when “working perfectly”.
“It doesn't give people enough time,” he said. “We’ll need to revisit this, because it’s not right.”
Former mayor and council meeting regular John Barnes said the public “shouldn’t be surprised the officers are utilising the leeway they’ve given themselves”.
“Putting out agenda with less time for the public to consider it, considering they can go to 700 or 800 pages, makes it so much more difficult for the public.”
Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.
