Published: 21 March 2023

Eurobodalla residents have until after Easter to provide feedback on a proposal to move Council meetings from fortnightly to monthly.

Councillors voted to seek the community’s views on this and other changes to the Code of Meeting Practice at their meeting on 28 February. It followed a report from General Manager Warwick Winn, which proposed the change to enable more effective and efficient decision-making for councillors, and to provide certainty for community members participating in meetings.

Council meetings are currently held fortnightly on a Tuesday, starting 12.30pm. The Public Access session where community members can present to councillors on any matter is held at 9.30am. Public Forum is held at 10.30am and allows residents to present about matters on the meeting agenda.

The proposed change would see Public Forum become part of the Council meeting. It would be the first order of business, creating more seamless debate and minimising the time community members need to wait to hear the item. Public Forum would also be recorded as part of the meeting minutes and the live stream.

Public Access would reduce from twice to once per month under the proposal, taking place on the first Tuesday at 10am.

Reports by councillors about their attendance at conferences would be removed from the Council Meeting agenda. Instead, these would be shared among councillors and available to members of the public at the Moruya customer service centre.

The amended Draft Code of Meeting Practice is open for community feedback until Tuesday 11 April. After that, a further report will be presented to Council to consider submissions from the community, adopt the amended Code and a proposed meeting schedule.

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