2019-08-06 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                   6 AUGUST 2019


Organisation of Sunshine Coast Associations of Ratepayers (OSCAR) that this is the only
significant issue where that organisation believes that SCRC is ahead of our Council in terms of
governance arrangements. Although a formal analysis has not been undertaken, my estimation
is that over 90% of Council decisions have been unanimous.
The recommendation in this report is to request the Chief Executive Officer to introduce
mandated recording of the votes of Councillors on all matters being determined by the Council at
Ordinary and Special meetings.

4.2   Introduction a public question time

There is no current requirement in Queensland for a public question time at Council meetings.
That is a provision in some other States (for example Victoria and Western Australia). While
some Councils in Queensland have such a provision, it is not widespread but is something that
our Council could introduce.

Based on feedback from other councils who have public question time, it is important to articulate
the purpose of having a public question time.

A public question time should be for raising genuine questions about a matter within the
jurisdiction of Council, escalating a question where there has not been a response from Council
regarding a matter previously lodged and seeking an update on an issue currently being
considered by Council (e.g. an example might be a follow-up on a petition previously lodged).

A public question time should not be for grandstanding, political point scoring, lodging initial
customer requests etc.

The experience at other councils is that this process works best when there are clear guidelines
for our community and Council about how the public question time works most effectively. This
includes pre-lodging questions, rules around respectful behaviours, requirements for Council to
provide initial responses or to set follow up timeframes etc.

Proposed guidelines for a public question time have not yet been developed. If Council agrees
that there should be a public question time, the report recommendation provides for the
development of Public Question Time Guidelines. This will enable Council to consider in more
detail how they want the public question time to work. It is anticipated that these would be
reported to the October round of meetings (recognising that the CEO has some upcoming annual
leave).

4.3   Publicising how our community can engage with Council meetings

It would be fair to say that Standing Orders are not the most exciting topic for any community.
They are not something that is recognised as being interesting or relevant to many in our
community. Indeed, they are probably only read by Councillors and/or senior Council staff.

It is therefore not surprising that some of the opportunities in that document for the community to
engage with Council in its decision making processes are not well understood. Some of these
opportunities include:
    Petitions – these are the most frequently used provisions of the Standing Orders by our
      community to bring matters forward to the attention of our elected representatives. Some
      time ago, we improved the amount of information available on our website about how to
      lodge a petition and also introduced provisions to allow for e-petitions. Although the petition
      provisions in the Standing Orders contain some prescribed requirements, in practice,
      Council does not rule out potential petitions for non-compliance but rather, determines
      whether the intent of a submission is to meet the petition guidelines.


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