Council has posted its minutes for the C60 meeting on Monday night. We’ve uploaded it and ask:
- Could any set of minutes be any less informative than these?
- Why was it necessary to name one speaker when they obviously did not wish to be named by refusing to give a surname? What is the motive behind such actions?
- One motion reads: ‘That the minutes of the Caulfield Racecourse Precinct Special Committee Meeting held on 17 March 2010 be confirmed”. Unless we are terribly mistaken, these minutes have never been put out in the public domain which CONTRAVENES THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT. As a ‘Special Committee’ of Council, both agendas and minutes are to be freely available. Our questions are: who has seen these ‘minutes’ apart from Committee members? Have other councillors set eyes on these minutes? If not, then again, doesn’t this contravene the motion unanimously passed by council?
- Secrecy and more secrecy – that’s the only possible conclusion that comes out of this entire farce!
CORRECTION: We have made a mistake. The Special Committee minutes were from 2010 and not 2011. We misread the item. Unlike Council however, we openly admit our errors! Our other criticisms still stand! Why bother to produce minutes when they reveal absolutely nothing of what went on? Yes, these minutes are ‘legal’, but given the wide interest in this issue, the elecorate has every reason to expect a full and extended report of what occurred. As numerous residents said, so very, very little respect for the community!
Glen Eira Debates 
April 7, 2011 at 9:27 PM
Congratulations all on a significant week for democracy in Glen Eira. What an amazing turnout at the C60 meeting on Monday and great Council meeting on Tuesday. The Evil Newton empire and his gang of four sidekicks were knocked down but beware because they will strike back!
April 7, 2011 at 10:54 PM
The Minutes may be brief and missing detail, but they still manage to pack in controversy. Attendees of the meeting were told that the planning application for works in the centre of the Reserve had been withdrawn. So what is its current status? The online Planning Register lists it as “Scheduled for Plan Conf/Council Mtg” and the Planning Officer is Effie Tangalakis. That might be as accurate as the Minutes though. I doubt it could be “on hold” since there is no such provision in the Planning and Environment Act, and indeed if Council has all the information it requires to make a decision, it has a legal obligation to do so within the statutory timeframe. The officer’s report, as recorded in the Minutes, didn’t mention what section of the Act the MRC had applied under for the delay.
April 8, 2011 at 10:46 AM
Reprobate, you’ve got to realise that unless it’s specified in the legislation the way this mob work, means that they interpret this as anything goes. If it’s not written down then it’s okay. They only do and act when they are forced to and to hell with what’s right and what will help people. No provision is the green light for them to do whatever they want.