Surf Coast Shire stuck in breach of Local Government Act until next week

THE Surf Coast Shire council is breaching Victoria’s new Local Government Act as of today (Thursday, September 3) for not passing a motion in time and will not be out of breach until at least next week.
However, the council may escape penalty from the state government but only due to the “unprecedented” nature of the coronavirus pandemic.
Councils must have repealed and replaced several required items within a four-month grace period that expired on Tuesday this week to comply with the state government’s Local Government Act 2020, including governance rules, and before the caretaker period begins for the local government elections.
The Surf Coast Shire council would have met the deadline had it passed Item 4.4, relating to its Governance Rules, Local Law No. 2 (Common Seal and Miscellaneous Penalties) and Public Transparency Policy, at the August 25 meeting.
Debate about the governance rules in particular led to the item being deferred until the council’s next meeting, causing the breach, despite the efforts of acting chief executive officer Anne Howard to intervene.
The original motion presented to councillors at their Zoom meeting would have adopted the Governance Rules, the Council Election Period (Caretaker) Policy and the Public Transparency Policy as well as repealed and replaced Local Law No. 2, but Cr Heather Wellington moved and Cr James McIntyre seconded an alternate motion that excluded several clauses from the Governance Rules.
These included:

• Preventing members of the public asking questions that the chair considers relate to proposed developments
• Questions must be directed to the council as a whole and not to individual or specific councillors
• Councillors other than the chair will not be permitted to answer any questions at a council meeting relating to an item on the agenda
• A question will not be read out unless the person asking the question, or their proxy, is in the gallery at the time it is due to be read, and
• Two councillors are needed for a notice of motion to be included on the council meeting agenda.

Cr Wellington said she had been objecting to the changes to the governance rules since they were first introduced.
“We are putting in rule after rule after rule that stops both councillors and members of the public from engaging with the council in a public forum, where people can listen and hear what people think and properly debate and discuss issues of importance to the community.”
Cr Wellington proposed another motion deferring the item under the mistaken belief the council still had time to consider it and this was passed seven votes to two, but mayor Rose Hodge did not see Ms Howard’s attempts to interrupt.
“Mayor Hodge, I do feel obliged to point out that will put council in breach of the Local Government Act 2020,” Ms Howard said just after the vote.
She said as Cr Hodge had declared the vote carried, then the item was deferred and could not be discussed further, and a rescission motion (if it was lodged) would have to be considered at the next meeting.
In a statement on Monday this week, a council spokesperson said the council could not hold a meeting on or before September 1 “to enable it to comply with the requirements of the new legislation”.
“Council will hold a special meeting on September 7 to resume its consideration of Item 4.4 from last Tuesday’s agenda.”
In response to questions about the breach, a Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions spokesperson said all councils were being encouraged to adopt these policies “as soon as possible”, but the department “understands these are unprecedented times and they are focussed on supporting their communities”.
“Implementation of the Act is being supported by Local Government Victoria. We can assist councils with implementation if needed.”