TODAY'S long-awaited annual general meeting of the Willow Court Redevelopment Committee was abandoned after insufficient committee members turned up - suggesting that calling the meeting at such short notice was not a good idea.Four members of the public and a representative of the local press waited for 30 minutes before Derwent Valley mayor and committee chairman Tony Nicholson declared that the meeting would have to be abandoned. The lack of a quorum was complicated by the committee's interpretation of its own terms of reference, with project officer Ian Brown stating that some committee members could be appointed pro tem but others could not. Mr Brown acknowledged that the term - which means "for the time being" - did not feature in the committee's terms of reference but was a "standard procedure" at annual meetings.
Conflicting opinions on the interpretation of council policies and Local Government Meeting Procedure Regulations were discussed after the mayor declared it would be up to the Derwent Valley Council to set a new date for the meeting. From the public gallery, stickler-for-the-rules Damian Bester asked the mayor to set a new date then and there, suggesting that the meeting reconvene seven days hence - which would enable to meeting to be held in April as required by council policies. After much toing-and-froing Cr Nicholson said the "qualified advice" of council solicitor James Crotty was that in the event the meeting was abandoned, it must report the circumstances to the council and request a new date be set.
A similar fate befell attempts by Mr Bester and Ngaire Glover to have the rescheduled meeting held after 5pm as required by Local Government Regulations. At one point project officer Ian Brown remarked that if Mrs Glover would allow him to answer unimpeded, she would be able to take down his answer word-for-word. Mrs Glover said she was actually addressing the committee (not the project officer).
Mr Bester asked whether a question-and-answer session could be held among the people present but Cr Nicholson said this was not appropriate.
Unbelievable!!! Very disappointing, this is what happens when you convene meeting with such short notice and during normal working hours.
ReplyDeleteMy friend took the day off especially go attend the meeting and this happens! I guess we shouldn't be all too surprised.
I find it very interesting that the committee seemed to be prepared for the meeting to fail and appears as if legal advice had been taken in readiness for this to happen. What a waste of everyone's time, including paid Council staff, let alone the needless cost of obtaining this 'qualified' information. Disgusting. I am unable to attend meetings at any time before close of business so my hat is off to those people who did go and attempted to ask some questions. How about our Councillors disband this special committee and start afresh?
ReplyDeleteWhy can't people stop complaining about what these groups are doing. They are doing more then most of the other people here in New Norfolk but you lot are happy to sit back and criticize, now i find that unbelievable!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cop-out - what do you mean 'groups'? This was 1 group who was doing NOTHING and ran a closed shop and did not report back to the elected representatives and should not be compared to other well focused and contributing to the community groups. Good on the councillors for finally taking the bull by the horns and getting rid of 'em - they obviously understood fair criticism. (I gather the word 'then' is a typing mistake and you meant 'than' by the way).
ReplyDeleteI think the majority of people in New Norfolk are good hardworking and extremely generous and supportive people, so Anonymous if you don't think they do anything you can always move!
Alice