Following a letter to The Advertiser a couple of weeks ago I wish to take the opportunity to explain Councillor decision making processes.
The article questioned “why are our votes mostly unanimous”.
As the Mayor this is what I ideally aim for. Items and reports are introduced months prior to Council voting and have been robustly discussed, revisited in collaboration with council officers, consulted on with community members, further researched by Councillors, and discussed again at numerous briefings.
Every effort is made to gain a full understanding of the topic and issues at hand, prior to final listing as an agenda item to be debated at a General Council Meeting. The process of community input, deliberation and negotiation by Councillors can take months. During this decision-making process we are also required to factor in Legislative requirements in accordance with the Local Government Act 2020, mandatory requirements and alignment with council’s Municipal Strategic Statement (MSS) and Local Planning Policy Framework (LPPF) and indeed, our endorsed Council Plan 2021-2025.
The final decision-making mechanism after exploration of all the facts is the General Council Meeting which is held on the fourth Tuesday of every month and periodically a Special Council Meeting will be called if there is an urgent matter to be considered and endorsed.
I do not believe any Councillor knows how any individual leader will vote on the night as this is the final time to debate a report and for Councillors to then consider another point of view should there be disagreement.
