2018-06-12 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                      12 JUNE 2018


Mover/seconder of motions at the Planning and Environment Committee and Services and
Organisation Committee meetings
To comply with section 270, we will need Councillors to move/ second motions at the Planning
and Environment Committee and Services and Organisation Committee meetings. This is
already done at the General Committee meetings. This should not mean that the Planning and
Environment Committee and Services and Organisation Committee meetings need to become
significantly more formal.
There is no reason that the same level of current informality cannot continue apply with the only
difference being that a mover and seconder will be required to make a recommendation to
Council (or to refer the matter to General Committee) on each matter. This can occur at the end
of the informal discussion on each particular item. As is currently the practice, any matter that is
not dealt with by consensus can be referred to the General Committee.

Exempting the Planning and Environment Committee and Services and Organisation
Committee meetings from the keeping of minutes under section 272 (6)
With a change to the process to include a mover/seconder of each item at these Committees as
proposed above, the outcomes that would be reported to the Ordinary meeting are essentially a
full set of minutes. What is currently recorded and reported to Council from these meetings are:
      the names of all Councillors attending the Committee meeting;
      the details of all items considered by the Committee (effectively, the details of what the
       Committee has deliberated on);
      the details of any Councillor declared conflicts of interest or material personal interests;
      all recommendations by the Committee to the full Council; and
      any changes to staff recommendations (which are reported in the Committee meeting
       agenda) are shown in revision mode.
Including a mover/seconder for each item effectively makes this a full set of minutes.
The only reason that it might be beneficial to exempt these two Committees from the keeping of
minutes is not so much in relation to the format and detail of the proposed minutes but rather to
exempt the need for the following Committee meeting to confirm their previous minutes. Given
that the recommendations of the Committee have been considered and decided upon at the
Ordinary meeting in the meantime, there is perhaps not a lot of value in confirming the previous
minutes at the subsequent Committee meeting. This is not a major issue either way.
It is recommended that Council exempt these two Committees from the keeping of minutes using
the provisions of section 272 (6), noting that this exemption will not affect the format and detail of
those minutes.

Exempting the General Committee from the keeping of minutes under section 272 (6)
The other matter for consideration is whether or not to exempt the General Committee from the
keeping of minutes. This matter is more nuanced than the above issue because such a decision
would affect the content of what is reported to the Ordinary meeting as the outcomes/
recommendations of the General Committee.
Under our existing Committee meeting system, at the Planning and Environment Committee and
Services and Organisation Committee meetings, Councillors do not move motions, amendments,
request divisions on voting to be recorded etc because any matter that is not unanimously
agreed by the Committee is referred to the General Committee for consideration. More formal
debate occurs at the General Committee.
As outlined earlier in this report, our current practice with the General Committee is the same as
the Planning and Environment and Services and Organisation Committee meetings, that is to
report to the Ordinary meeting the final outcomes of the Committee’s deliberations. These
outcomes of General Committee meetings currently include the meeting attendees, Councillor

                                                                                     Page 90 of 118