{"id":49498,"date":"2021-02-25T00:20:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T13:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=49498"},"modified":"2021-02-24T21:26:56","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T10:26:56","slug":"council-code-of-conduct-adopted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/council-code-of-conduct-adopted\/","title":{"rendered":"Council adopts Code of Conduct after spirited debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE Surf Coast Shire council has adopted its new Councillor Code of Conduct 2021, but not unanimously and only after some spirited debate.<\/p>\n<p>The adoption of the new code, which took place at a special meeting on Tuesday last week, is a requirement of the new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.localgovernment.vic.gov.au\/council-governance\/local-government-act-2020\"><em>Local Government Act<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The council\u2019s code was developed in January and February this year and incorporates values and behaviours developed by the group of councillors to reflect their commitment to a high standard of conduct.<\/p>\n<p>According to a statement from the shire, the 26-page code is designed to assist councillors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>in maintaining the highest standards of conduct and behaviour<\/li>\n<li>to discharge the responsibilities of their public office appropriately<\/li>\n<li>to maintain good working relationships between councillors, and between councillors and staff, and<\/li>\n<li>to resolve differences between councillors directly where possible to avoid unnecessary cost and disruption.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The final vote to adopt the motion was supported by seven councillors (Gary Allen, Mike Bodsworth, Kate Gazzard, Rose Hodge, Kate Pattison, Adrian Schonfelder and Libby Stapleton) and opposed by two (Paul Barker and Heather Wellington).<\/p>\n<p>Deputy mayor Liz Pattison moved the motion and said it was informed by best practice examples provided by Local Government Victoria.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis code will support councillors to conduct themselves in a way that is respectful, effective and in the best interests of the community,\u201d Cr Pattison said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIts adoption allows councillors to move forward with the important business of council.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Surf Coast mayor Libby Stapleton said the new code gave certainty to councillors and community about conduct matters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Councillor Code of Conduct 2021 sets out standards for conduct as mandated by the legislation \u2013 equally importantly, it articulates council\u2019s collective commitment to each other and to our community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoodwill and collaboration exists already within council but making a public commitment to a standard of conduct and the behaviours we expect is a way to embed these values in an enduring and accountable way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking against the motion, Cr Heather Wellington said good policy must be succinct, clear, easy to read and understand and developed through a sound process but \u201cthis document fails on all those criteria\u201d, and the $10,000 cost of developing the code was \u201ca waste of public money\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the core of its problem is its apparent attempt to detail every type of human behavior imaginable &#8211; both good behaviours to be mandated and bad behaviors to be proscribed,\u201d Cr Wellington said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m surprised we\u2019re not being told not to be boring, not to be dumb, not to be arrogant, to smile nicely and don&#8217;t look glum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cr Mike Bodsworth, who voted in favour, said he did not believe the final draft of the code to be adopted was perfect, but the council should work together to evolve the code to suit the council\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s repetition in there, it\u2019s not as lean as I would like, the standards that are mandated on councillor behaviour are very clear and they\u2019re very useful standards and I don&#8217;t think we need to add a lot to them, but we have a deadline here, so I believe the code should be ratified as it is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE Surf Coast Shire council has adopted its new Councillor Code of Conduct 2021, but not unanimously and only after some spirited debate. The adoption of the new code, which took place at a special meeting on Tuesday last week, is a requirement of the new Local Government Act. The council\u2019s code was developed in [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/council-code-of-conduct-adopted\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":49499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-49498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Council adopts Code of Conduct after spirited debate - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/council-code-of-conduct-adopted\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Council adopts Code of Conduct after spirited debate - Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE Surf Coast Shire council has adopted its new Councillor Code of Conduct 2021, but not unanimously and only after some spirited debate. 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The council\u2019s code was developed in [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/council-code-of-conduct-adopted\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-24T13:20:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/shire-council-building.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/council-code-of-conduct-adopted\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/council-code-of-conduct-adopted\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c1765be3a722a2023e6ce64487db8b45\"},\"headline\":\"Council adopts Code of Conduct after spirited debate\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-24T13:20:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/council-code-of-conduct-adopted\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":538,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/council-code-of-conduct-adopted\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2021\\\/02\\\/shire-council-building.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/council-code-of-conduct-adopted\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/council-code-of-conduct-adopted\\\/\",\"name\":\"Council adopts Code of Conduct after spirited debate - 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