A head of steam that was capped at the end of the last Southern Downs council meeting officially blew out at council last week, with councillors seething at a series of measures and moves determined to make sure there was no repeat. Council began with IT issues and nods to the Almighty before descending into a series of pushbacks on how the previous meeting of council was summarily ended without all councillors agreeing to do so. The pushback began with the very first order of business proper, normally a formality ticked and flicked in minutes—accepting the minutes of the last meeting. Instead,Cr Joel Richters noted that the closure of the last meeting weren't unanimous and that the minutes did not reflect the division. Mayor Hamilton replied that a division wasn’t called but also said that staff would change the minutes.
Cr Cynthia McDonald piped up saying that she consulted the LGAQ about General Business items and was told that the issues Cr Ross Bartley attempted to raise in the last meeting – abattoir protesters – should have been recorded in the minutes. Cr Bartley agreed saying to ignore them did not reflect a “true and accurate” version of the meeting. Readers may recall that Mayor Hamilton shut down Cr Bartley’s introduction of this item into General Business and Cr McDonald’s comments on them. After a brief back and forth between the mayor and Cr McDonald on the issue, Cr Bartley added that he intended to move an amendment to include the actual vote closing the previous meeting and the item of general business. That motion was unanimously approved.
Cr Bartley then asked if it is “normal practise” that the CEO conducts a meeting closure to which the CEO answered along the lines that the Mayor is the Chair of the meeting.
Four motions
About 15 minutes into the meeting, Cr Bartley launched four motions which reflects his attitude towards some of the council workings currently.
The first motion was to vote on including the public and media to council information sessions. Deputy Mayor Cr Sheryl Windle immediately proposed a motion to lay Cr Bartley’s motion on the table until the June meeting.
“We’ve always been in favour of community engagement” she said, explaining that council cannot always invite the media and public to everything. However, she stated that a well-developed policy should be in place with “guidelines and transparency”.
“I want to speak against it,” the Mayor said.
“There’s been adequate time – we were supposed to decide in November,” Cr Bartley said with some exasperation, adding that if the media were allowed to attend information sessions the result would only be more “well informed articles in the paper” instead of journalists “second guessing”. He argued that the meetings were open in the last council, which worked well, and “we should deal with meetings today.”
Mayor Hamilton spoke against Cr Bartley’s amendment saying that the public had multiple avenues of engaging with council and councillors, which she encourages.
Cr McDonald agreed with Cr Bartley saying that six months “is well and truly enough time”.
Cr Russell Wantling supported Cr Bartley’s motion as well. Cr Windle reiterated that she wants to see “it sorted properly” which is why her amendment to lay it on the table included a June timeframe.
Cr Richters again reminded the room that it was meant to be in the November meeting “and it wasn’t” and he was concerned that “what we say we’re going to do, we’re going to do”.
Cr Morwenna Harlett agreed and hopes that “people don’t get the wrong interpretation” but she wants a clear policy and agreed with Cr Windle’s motion to wait another month. Cr Bartley rebutted that “policy can constrain councillors” and wondered why they would want to build a whole new policy during the intense budget period. The mayor replied that a draft policy is written but that “this council has been through significant change in the last few months with a new CEO”. Cr Windle said, “I’m sure we can pull this together in June.”
Cr Bartley’s motion to open information sessions to the public has been tabled until June. Cr Barltey and Cr Wantling voted against Cr Windle’s motion.
Review of meeting policy
Cr Bartley’s next motion was for a comprehensive review of meeting policy as a result, he said, of how the last meeting concluded. He argued that councillors, not the mayor alone, should make decisions on general business being included. Councillors should have an avenue of “bringing things up” he said. The Mayor did not engage with the substance of the motion. There was some discussion on timeframes and the motion was carried unanimously. New meeting policy should be forthcoming within three months.
Road Policy: I quit
Cr Bartley then moved a motion to review Council’s road policies and went into great detail on his frustration with the current policies and maintenance of roads, particularly gravel roads versus rural farm roads.
“I have people literally on their knees begging to get their roads fixed” Cr Bartley said, indicating the poor state of gravel roads.
He then “relinquished” his roads portfolio and apologised to residents that he “hasn’t been effective” in the area of roads. Mayor Hamilton declined to accept the relinquishment of Cr Bartley’s portfolio saying “we all benefit from your experience”.
Cr Bartley’s motion was neverthelesss carried unanimously.
As to the 'relinquished' portfolio, Cr Bartley told The Town & Country Journal later that he has no intention of keeping his portfolio; that it was “bull**t”. Mayor Hamilton, however, told the paper that there would have to be a formal vote on that issue but in the meantime roads were still Cr Bartley’s portfolio.
Letter to former mayor
Lastly, Cr Bartley raised a motion for council to write a formal letter of congratulation to former mayor Vic Pennisi for his appointment to the Queensland Grants Commission. Cr Bartley spoke warmly of Mr Pennisi’s long service as a politician, volunteer, and local business operator.
The Mayor said she sent a letter and spoke positively about the previous mayor before saying she hopes grants get paid on time in the future because “many haven’t.”
Cr Richters quizzed the mayor on when she wrote the letter: it was Monday last week, two days before the meeting and after the agenda was published.
“It would be good to have more detail in our correspondence section because we didn’t know,” Cr Harslett observed. Mayor Hamilton offered, with a note of annoyance, that “councillors can feel free to send their own letters” and the topic was dropped.
The meeting continued until after 11 am, which makes it probably the longest council meeting this year. There will be more information on the outcomes of the meeting in this edition and the next.
