Your Council meetings are open to the public. To see and hear what goes on you can walk in at (almost) any time. In South Perth the formal monthly meeting is usually at 7 p.m. on the last Tuesday of the month. On the Tuesday before that there is normally a formal briefing session on items in the month’s agenda. This is where ratepayers and residents can submit questions to the Mayor on agenda items and where you can make a deputation to Council on these items. Recent topics have included Dog Law and HomesWest developments. Meetings only sometimes extend past two hours. Go on, participate in Democracy!
During the month Councillors will have many other forums, workshops and briefings. These are not generally open to the public and have a very informal style. Some Councillors also attend training sessions, for example updates on the Law, Code of Conduct and Rules of Conduct, on understanding financial reports, on Planning, and so on. It’s a bit of a work load.
When Councillors swear their oath of Office they voluntarily surrender some of their Constitutional right of free speech. Decision-making in an effective Council is in a collegiate style, rather than one of “getting the numbers”. This always gives a much better outcome for the City’s future. Councillors agree, too, to support the group’s decisions, whether they personally agree or not, voted in favour or not and even whether they were present or not. There are many laws about process and behaviour. One that surprises some is that a Councillor must have an open mind, be open to argument and not have a fixed position.
Perhaps you’d like to represent your community. Click here for some thoughts on what you might bring to your community.
In my area this month I’ve got Neighbourhood Watch onto Facebook, Twitter and the Web. You are welcome to join as a Friend, to Follow and to browse. I’ve also added a Community Calendar to this Blog, for you to use. You can link to it on the right side of this page. Feel free to send in your events, it’s free.
See you at the Community Garden planning session at McDougall Park on Sunday?
As always, we’d love to read your thoughts. Click on Comments, below, or email me and I’ll publish them for you.
3 comments:
Hi Pete – great to see McDougall Park get a nice new swing set and climbing frames and will be opened soon – I’m 45 and I might have a climb or two. Not sure about the three spinning wheels though – my daughter is so excited and can’t wait for it to open. The other good thing it’s not 10-storeys high!
Hi Peter
Great Blog
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