We feature 2 more items from Tuesday night’s council meeting – the Delahunty Request for a Report on recording council meetings and the non-answer to a public question. The latter comes from the now published minutes.

DELAHUNTY: said that there had recently been a ‘flurry’ of councils providing recordings and videos of their council meetings. ‘I think it’s a great idea’. If people can’t show up to the meeting then they can watch it at their leisure. It will also help people ‘understand the values we impart’ and ‘how we come to a decision’ and ‘helps with participation’. Not fully supportive of visual recordings but if the issue is to be investigated then ‘might as well’ have all the information up front. ‘What’s said is most important’. It’s ‘moving into the area’ of ‘what other municipalities are doing’ and it’s ‘old fashioned’ to ‘expect people to rock up’ to council meetings all the time.

MAGEE: likes the idea but didn’t at first. Residents often ask ‘what happened at the council meeting?’ and he can’t always remember what was said. Recording would therefore be ‘an opportunity for people to look back at particular items’. Said that he’s been watching the videos of Kingston and Dandenong ‘and they are atrocious’ so ‘we would really have to life our game if we looked like that’. In those council meetings the Mayor tells the gallery that it’s being recorded so there are legal questions that could be added to the report. Since the town hall is a ‘heritage building’ then every ‘infrastructure we put in we have to be very careful of’ and that ‘maybe we can’t facilitate’ the recordings. Thought that in 2013 ‘there is a need’ for recordings.

LOBO: ‘excellent idea’ and it’s like a ‘performance report on a monthly basis from residents’. They can be seen by residents on ‘how we perform’. ‘We should not be scared’. ‘Directors have to be appraised by Andrew Newton’ and for councillors when people want to ‘look how they behave, professional or unprofessional’ then the recordings will tell them.  ‘Even if a mayor acts unprofessional…has to be seen by the residents’. Residents ‘should know’ so when the elections come up they know (hand gestures) who to vote for (the implication).

DELAHUNTY: would be amazed if there was any consequences about heritage. Couldn’t see how placing a tripod with a camera in the corner could be a heritage problem. Hoped that councillors would support the call for a report which was to tell them if they can do this and not the merits of doing it.

MOTION PUT AND CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

PUBLIC QUESTION

Subject: Marara Road Reserve
“Glen Eira Council has a written strategy, as part of the Open Space Strategy 1998, to plant out the Marara Road Reserve with indigenous species so as to form a corridor for native fauna to move to and from the parks of Glen Eira, a strategy
widely accepted by ecologists. Earlier this year, after rows of exotic trees were planted in Marara Road Reserve, the council explained that the 1988 written policy had been superseded.
1. If the 1998 policy is superseded then where is this decision recorded, and
2. who made the decision, and
3. why was the policy superseded, and
4. when was the policy superseded? “
The Mayor read Council’s response. He said: “Since the finalisation of the 1998 Open Space Strategy, Council has completed the trail.
In the recent past Council’s Park Services Department planted shade trees along the shared path in Marara Road Reserve, a combination of Acer platanoides and Fraxinus pennsylvanica both exotics.

Council’s arborist selected these species because:
 They are medium to large trees when mature providing good shade;
 They are suitable for the soil profile in the park;
 They do not have aggressive roots, unsuitable for planting near the path;
 They do not cause excessive leaf litter that may cause a hazard to path users; and
 They are not prone to tree diseases present in the current tree population in the area.

Although the strategy did specify native trees, natives were not appropriate in this instance because the larger native trees:
 Have aggressive root systems that would damage the path over time; and/or
 Have woody fruit litter which may cause the path to become slippery; and/or
 Are susceptible to leaf skeletoniser pests which are current active in the area.”

At this point the following exchange took place –

DELAHUNTY: Wondered if she ‘could ask a question’

HYAMS: ‘You can make a statement’ or give your own answer ‘but you can’t ask a question’

After giving her statement Hyams then said ‘it’s been pointed out to me that’ this isn’t a ‘policy, it’s a strategy’

Delahunty then went on to state – “I don’t feel that the answer given there actually answers the substance of the question which was has the policy been superseded and so in my statement what I will seek to do is ask that question myself and put that through our Councillor request system and see if I can’t get an answer to that question to Mr XXXXXX (omitted)  of Balaclava Road Caulfield North.”