Meeting Tuesday 12th June 2007

The following email was sent to the Director Governance

Good Evening,

Having attended the Council Meeting tonight (Tuesday, 12th June 2007), I must ask, are the meetings run under some set rules or standing orders. and are these available for public examination, I am interested in this because I noticed that two events occurred during the evening did not seem right and I wish to clarify this by understanding the procedures.

The first was that a statement was allowed to be presented tonight after the meeting had officially started, this did not seem correct, when the following is stated on the Public Statement form: "With the consent of the Presiding Member, members of the public may make a statement on any matter contained within the Council Meeting Agenda at Item 6.2 "Public Statements", provided that the person has completed this form in full and submitted it in person to the Chief Executive Officer prior to commencement of the meeting at 7.30pm or via fax to the City of Gosnells 9398 2922 prior to 4.00pm on the day of that meeting." or is it that the Presiding Member can vary this at his/her discretion.

The second was that the Presiding Member seemed to make a personal comment after a councilor spoke against an agenda item, this comment was that "I concur ..." my understanding is that a Presiding Member should remain impartial, but then again this may be something that the Presiding Member can vary at his/her discretion.

I understand that these queries may seem out of place, that is why I ask can you inform me of what standing orders the meetings are run under, and are these available for public reading, so that I may better understand how the meetings are run, I have looked over the web site and have found nothing that seems to fit this description.