2018-06-12 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                12 JUNE 2018


(3)  At each meeting, the minutes of the previous meeting must be—
     (a) confirmed by the councillors or committee members present; and
     (b) signed by the person presiding at the later meeting.
(4) A copy of the minutes of each meeting—
     (a) must be available for inspection by the public, at a local government’s public office
           and on its website, within 10 days after the end of the meeting; and
     (b) when the minutes have been confirmed—must be available for purchase at the local
           government’s public office.
(5) The price for purchasing the minutes must not be more than—
     (a) the cost to the local government of having the copy printed and made available for
           purchase; and
     (b) if the copy is supplied to a purchaser by post—the cost of postage.
(6) This section does not apply to a committee which a local government has, by resolution,
     exempted from the requirement to take minutes of its proceedings.
(7) A local government may only exempt a committee under subsection (6) if the committee’s
     only function is to advise, or otherwise make a recommendation to, the local government.
(8) Also, a committee which has been exempted under subsection (6) must give the local
government a written report of its deliberations and its advice or recommendations.

4     LEGAL ADVICE

The CEO sought legal advice from King and Company Solicitors in relation to this matter. Their
advice can be summarised as follows:
    The current non-compliance is a matter of procedure, not substance;
    Neither the Local Government Act or the Local Government Regulation prescribe any
     specific consequences for failure to comply with the meeting procedure requirements;
    Neither the Local Government Act or the Local Government Regulation specifies that non-
     compliance with one or more of the requirements about the regulation of conduct of
     meetings (including committee meetings) voids any decision of the meeting;
    In each and every instance, the relevant decision of Council is the decision made at an
     Ordinary meeting of Council, not a committee meeting;
    The absence of a resolution under section 272 (6) of the Regulation (exempting a
     Committee from the keeping of minutes) means that Council is not in strict compliance with
     the procedural requirements of the regulation but that does not mean that the decisions of
     the Council are “legally invalid”; and
    Council should have a mover and seconder at all of its Committee meetings in accordance
     with section 270.

5     THE WAY FORWARD
There are a number of matters Council will need to change in its current meeting processes to
bring us into strict compliance with the Local Government Regulation 2012. In doing so, we
should be mindful that any changes should reflect the desired goals of a good Council decision
making process, namely:
     enabling good debate to ensure the best decisions can be made by Council;
     ensuring that the best information is available to Councillors to inform debate and make
      decisions;
     ensuring that the process is open and transparent to the community; and
     ensuring that due process is followed.



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