Abolition of the Area Committees - Bega Valley

Graeme Faulkner, General Manager. The interview continues.

Q. Abolition of the Area Committees and Parks and Foreshores Committees was an unpopular move. What prompted it?

A. Consultants, H M Davidson and Associates, in their Operational Examination Report in August 2006 recommended that the number of Area Committees be reduced and that individual Parks and Foreshore Committees be consolidated into one shire committee. Also that individual Area Estuary Management Committees be consolidated into one shire committee.

Does the community now have a voice in council? Comment in the box below.

The area committees were developed to support and assist Council to achieve its objectives with committee members required to act in accordance with principles and ethics expected of both Council and its management through Council’s Code of Conduct. A review of the activities of a number of committees revealed:

• Some were not complying with the financial reporting and recording guidelines required under the Local Government Act (1993).
• Other committees were making formal representations to third parties without the authority or knowledge of Council
• There was evidence that some committees had sought grant funding from third parties without Council’s knowledge or agreement to accept ongoing costs that may be tied to such grants if received.
• Some committees wished to represent the views of different lobby groups against a Council decision requiring criticism of Council. This created problems relating to Code of Conduct requirements for committee delegates under the current committee structure.

All things considered, it was appropriate to develop an alternative model, if only to allow those interested lobby groups to criticise Council free from the restraints of Council’s Code of Conduct.

For all the reasons set out above, it was appropriate to disband the current structure and invoke a new structure that reduced Council’s liability and the potential liability of Council’s delegates.

New independent incorporated associations could provide a more effective community voice, free from the constraints of Local Government legislation.