2014-04-28 General Committee Meeting Agenda Pages 65-200

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA    28 APRIL 2014


                                   ATTACHMENT 2




                                   Page 195 of 200

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                        28 APRIL 2014

                                                                                      ATTACHMENT 2

    1     BACKGROUND

    Council’s corporate decision-making process is based around a structure of two Standing
    Committees comprising three Councillors and the Mayor (Committees), a Standing Committee
    comprising all the Councillors (General Committee), and the Ordinary Meeting.
    The rules for the conduct of Standing Committees is dictated by the Local Government Act and
    Council’s Standing Orders.
    Standing Committees can only deal with the subject matters for which they were formally
    established. Our Standing Committees deal with the following:
    Infrastructure & Services Committee
    Membership: Cr Bob Abbot (Chair), Sandy Bolton, Frank Pardon and Noel Playford
    Areas of Responsibility:
    Those programs and responsibilities assigned to the Planning & Infrastructure Department, and
    the Community Services Department, with the exception of Planning and Development Programs.
    This includes Asset Planning & Delivery, Civil Operations, Environmental Services, Waste
    Management, Community Services, Health & Regulatory Services, Business Facilitation and
    Disaster Management.
    Planning & Organisation Committee
    Membership: Cr Frank Wilkie (Chair), Joe Jurisevic, Noel Playford and Tony Wellington
    Areas of Responsibility:
    Those programs and responsibilities assigned to the Corporate Services Department, the
    Executive Office and the Planning and Development programs of the Planning & Infrastructure
    Department. This includes Financial Services, ICT, Property and Contracts, Communications and
    Governance, Human Resources, Executive Office and Planning and Development.
    Unless formal delegation of power by the Local Authority has been given, Standing Committees
    have no statutory powers and can only recommend on a course of action to the Council.

    2    WHY THIS SYSTEM WORKS WELL

    What distinguishes this system from other Local Government systems is:
    e    the relatively small number of Councillors on each Committee
    e __ the levels of trust in Committee Councillors to operate on a whole of Shire approach
    e __ the informality of the processes and the interaction between Councillors and staff
    e    consensus in preference to the majority decisions
    Approximately 85% of all Council decisions are the result of a recommendation from the two
    Committees direct to the Ordinary Meeting. The more difficult and contentious issues are dealt
    with by the General Committee which consists of all Councillors.

                                                                                      Page 195 of 200