2014-08-25 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA   25 AUGUST 2014




                                     Page 37 of 60

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                            25 AUGUST 2014

   COUNCIL POLICY - COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

   At the planning stage, the project team will also consider whether or not it can obtain the
   community information it requires from another source, or previous engagement activity, in order to
   maximise the use of limited resources and minimise the potential for consultation fatigue
   developing within the community.

   ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

   Councillors and staff play important roles in engaging with the community.
   Council will decide the high level strategic issues on which it will engage the community. These
 | issues will be linked to an identified corporate plan priority or a significant emerging regicnat issue
   and will be recorded in a register of community consultations.
   Councillors have the responsibility for engaging with local communities; and Council staff have
   responsibility for engaging the community in their day to day business activities and on agreed
   projects and place-making activities.

   DEVELOPING ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

   In order to develop a culture of engagement across the organisation, Council will:
   e   Provide community engagement training for Councillors and staff
   e   Establish a network of community engagement practitioners to share information and
       experiences
   e   Establish performance indicators to measure engagement outcomes
   e   Identify new and emerging information, communication, knowledge management technologies
       and initiatives and explore how they can be used to better engage the community

   COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT REGISTER

   Council will establish a community engagement register to record its engagement activities. This
   will assist in developing a system of governance that mitigates the risks of duplication and over-
   consultation, records activities undertaken, and allows the community to see what consultation is
   being planned or is actually occurring and the outcomes. The register will also contain arecerd-the
   digital location of the membership and the minutes_files of all Council taskforces and advisory
   panels.

   TASK FORCES AND ADVISORY PANELS

   From time to time Council may establish taskforces and advisory panels that will:
   e   be established by Council resolution;
   e   have specific terms of reference;
   e   explore a major strategic or regional issue;
   e   have a defined time frame;
   e   report at least once every six months to Council;
   e   be chaired by a suitable qualified external individual or Councillor
   e   identify staff resources to act as project officer and secretary to the taskforce or panel

   Noosa Council                                                                          Page 4 of 5

                                                                                                Page 37 of 60