Thursday night (8pm) will see the first meeting of this council. The agenda items make for interesting reading.
- Council has generally left the frontispiece on its Agenda and Minute papers for Special Council Meetings blank apart from the date and logo. Not this time! There’s a nice little subliminal ‘message’ reading – “The primary object of a Council is to endeavour to achieve the best outcomes for the local community having regard to the long term and cumulative effects of decisions.” – s3c(1) Local Government Act”.
- Councillors, apart from signing the Oath of Office will also be “invited” to sign the Code of Conduct.
- There are also 4 options in relation to the Mayoral election – 1. Vote for a 1 year term for Mayor and Deputy Mayor; 2. Vote for a 2 year term for Mayor and Deputy Mayor; 3. Defer till next Ordinary council meeting or (4) Defer until no later than 30th November.
- There’s also a notice about Councillor Expenses policy and remuneration.
We’ve done a quick search to determine how other councils may be approaching the first meeting of the new councils. Whilst not too many agendas are up as yet on other councils’ websites, we have located the following – none of which make any mention of the election of Mayors, nor of the ‘offer’ to sign the Councillor Code of Conduct. Most councils appear to be taking the sensible option and allowing a couple of weeks for councillors to come together and work out who will nominate, and how they will each vote. (See: Port Phillip, Boroondara, as examples).
The outcomes of Thursday night’s meeting will reveal much about the new dynamics and the power structures within Council. Meanwhile, the administration is still up to its old tricks we feel.
Glen Eira Debates 
October 30, 2012 at 7:08 PM
Round them up early is the name of the game. Subtle reminders of the 2010 municipal inspector’s report plus try and get your crony as mayor and bob’s your uncle. The icing comes with the code of conduct. Sign them all up and no problems down the track. Newton’s got them by the short and curlies.
October 30, 2012 at 8:55 PM
It would be stupid if a mayor was elected first off. It wouldn’t look good either.
October 30, 2012 at 9:57 PM
The current Councillor Code of Conduct dates back to 2009 and has been universally rejected, gradually and inexorably, by all councillors of the previous Council, 6 of whom have been re-elected. It’d be silly to expect them to sign it under these circumstances. They should at least be given a chance to remove all clauses that they find so difficult to comply with. 2.4.4 “Respecting the diverse needs, views and nature of the greater Glen Eira community” surely has to go—some of us don’t even identify as Christian or Jewish or Liberal/Labor/Greens.
October 30, 2012 at 10:26 PM
Is the Code of Conduct taken seriously? I mean the last council was noted for its secrecy yet the Code says:
“Councillors have a duty to be as transparent as possible about their
decisions and actions, giving reasons for decision and restricting
information only when the wider public interest clearly demands”
October 30, 2012 at 10:39 PM
It become serious when someone’s gagged or he’s taken to a code of conduct panel. Otherwise it’s meaningless and trampled on all the time. Its best use is as a threat hanging over anyone who might have the idea that they want to be transparent and accountable to the people who’ve elected them.
October 30, 2012 at 10:43 PM
“You might very well think that; I couldn’t possibly comment.”—Francis Urquhart [FU], House of Cards
October 31, 2012 at 12:12 PM
The vote in Camden ward does not pass the smell test in my view. You would expect the majority of Dempsey’s preferences to Sounness but not Forges. Very odd indeed. Frank should request a re-count.
October 31, 2012 at 12:19 PM
Forge was listed first on the voting card. Mere speculation of course, but possibly people chose their candidate and then for the remainder of the vote it was straight “donkey” voting?
October 31, 2012 at 12:40 PM
Yes. Most likely donkey votes.
October 31, 2012 at 1:56 PM
That must be a record. A sitting Councillor receives just over 600 votes, the majority of which are donkey votes!
November 1, 2012 at 8:41 AM
i’d agree with that
October 31, 2012 at 1:54 PM
not if you knocked out
October 31, 2012 at 1:38 PM
Judging by many of the comments up on the past few posts the libs are taking the results pretty hard. Otherwise there wouldn’t be the criticisms of Delahunty and Souness even before they set foot in council. I wish them well and truly hope that they are progressive and can counter the born to rule mentality that has been in evidence for years now from the gang. I would say that their first test will come with the election of the mayor. It should be close and there’s probably much going on already behind the scenes.
October 31, 2012 at 1:51 PM
Does progressive include Aboriginal funerals paid for the Glen Eira ratepayers. Does progressive mean spending $1.5 mill. on a climate change policy. Does progressive mean using ratepayers funds to subsidise child care. (Port Phillip)
October 31, 2012 at 2:00 PM
Who is this silly bitter person, taking such vile nonsense. There are counselling services for people like you, “yes” often subsidised by tax payers, take it up mate!
October 31, 2012 at 3:28 PM
We live in a pluralistic society. Just because someone dares to question your values you go off. There is no doubt who needs the counselling in this case. All I did was to echo just a small part of Port Phillip Council’s work. Was I taking or talking? You must have really been pounding the keyboard.
October 31, 2012 at 2:15 PM
Lobo will decide, HYAMS for mayor and LIPSHUTZ, Dep/mayor.
Lobo has to pay back for De’ATHs preference votes.
October 31, 2012 at 2:26 PM
He mightn’t show up again like last time
October 31, 2012 at 3:30 PM
I reckon even money.
October 31, 2012 at 2:37 PM
When the going gets tough, Lobo get going, Time to run Oscar.
October 31, 2012 at 3:45 PM
C’mon new councillors- we voted you in because you showed strenghth of character. Be brave- we dont want the same mayor or more of the same incompetent poor governace, lack of transparency & poor decison making that was so evident over the last 4 years.
Be brave use your muscle & elect as mayor someone NEW.
October 31, 2012 at 5:31 PM
LOBO for Mayor, he will be somone new and fresh and he knows how this council operates with regards to back room deals.
November 1, 2012 at 10:02 AM
The “new” administration isn’t off to a great start. The Special Council Meeting appears not to have been called with the obligatory 7 days’ notice. Item 4 states the current Allowances for Councillors and Mayor but doesn’t reveal that these are in fact the absolute maximums that can be paid. Previous Councillors decided to pay themselves the absolute allowable maximums, so the Allowances get bumped up by the 2.5% Adjustment Factor [s73B(4) notice gazetted, effective 27 Oct 2012] until such time as Council gets around to reviewing them. Anybody going to bet against Council giving themselves the maximum possible? Curiously Item 4 doesn’t mention s74A(3) “A Council does not have to pay an allowance to a Councillor or Mayor who does not want to receive an allowance”. Councillors should be aware of their options. BTW Caulfield Glen Eira Leader states that the first meeting of the new Council will be at 7:30pm on Tuesday, November 13.
November 1, 2012 at 10:46 AM
Amazing – pay themselves the maximum allowable allowance whilst not charging the developers the maximum allowable open space levy
November 3, 2012 at 4:27 PM
Please check out this page and the links – it will help explain some of the peculiar planning arrnagements in Australia, most of whose councils have signed up to the UN’s Agenda 21, a program designed to override the sovereignty of democratic countries.
(I am not associated with the website below, but it provides useful information for those who do not know about this UN program.)
http://www.actforaustralia.com/articles/threats-freedom-agenda-21
Paul Keating signed us up to the UN project known as Agenda 21.
To understand why we now have a carbon tax you need to understand what Agenda 21 is about. It is a global treaty.
If you combine the threat of the fake religion of “environmentalism” with the totalitarian belief system of radical Islam you will understand why our freedom is very much under threat.
Listed below are various links that will explain Agenda 21.
Agenda 21 in Australia
Agenda 21 in Australia: Water Issue
United Nation’s Agenda 21 for dummies (so called: Sustainable Development.)
Agenda 21 United Nations
Agenda 21: Freedom Advocates
Agenda 21 – The UN Blueprint for the 21st Century
‘The Plan’ – Agenda 21: The Death Knell of Liberty
Agenda 21 – Sustainable Development
Agenda 21 Australia From the United Nations.
After looking through this you will see that both political parties have betrayed us.
Attachments
agenda21.pdf
November 3, 2012 at 4:35 PM
We’ve put this comment up since we don’t believe in censorship. However, we wish to alert readers that under the ‘About Us’ link on the cited URL, there is this sentence “We are an Australia-based organisation, which is part of a global alliance dedicated to upholding Freedom, Democracy and Western Values against the rising tide of Islam.”. We do not in any way endorse or support this site and its members.