Reply given

Mr Evans

The Staning Orders are a Local Law established under the powers conferred by the Local Government Act 1995. They are intended to result in the orderly, efficient and effective conduct of meetings that hopefully provide better decision making by Council. They are law and as such not "just a variation of GREY", however there at times needs to be a level of flexibility to accommodate community members with little or no meeting procedure knowledge.

The Standing Orders make provision for elected members to call a point of order where they consider the Presiding Member is not operating in accordance with the local law.

In relation to obtaining a copy of the recording of the meeting, if you contact Alexis Cranfield on 9391 3267 to determine in what format you require the recording she can make the necessary arrangements. The current fee for a copy of the recording is $12.50 which is to be paid prior to the copying taking place.

Regards

Trevor Perkins
Director Governance
City of Gosnells
Tel: 9391 3270
Fax: 9398 2922


NOTE: A reply in writing was requested, to be sent to my home address A REPLY IN WRITING HAS NOT YET BEEN RECEIVED!!!

Email sent Tuesday 19th June in reply

Having found and read thru the Standing orders, it seems to me that it is in Black and White that Public Statements can only be taken before the meetings starts, my question again is "can the Presiding Member vary this at his/her discretion" I understand the circumstances of why the statement was allowed to be presented, but I do not understand how it was able to happen, are the Local Laws that the Council is operated under Black and White or just a variation of GREY, that can be changed at the discretion of its members and staff

Recent letter (March 07) published in the Examiner

Having attended the recent (Tue 6th March) workshop held at COG, my eyes have again be opened to the ways of our Local Government.
It seems that according to the Dept of Local Govt, each Council must review its wards once every so many years, to ensure that correct voter representation can be seen to be observed.
The workshop on Tuesday night was an opportunity for the public to be informed of the various options and to allow discussions on this subject.
The point that I find most interesting was that the option of leaving the current ward system was not presented as an option and that the review was not actually due this year.
At the moment there is an imbalance in the Canning Vale ward, that it is under represented according to the ratio of councilors for that ward compared to the number of voters.
But one fact that I was unaware of is that the ward system that exists only really facilitates the election of councilors for each ward, once elected the councilors actually represent each and every household within the COG, therefore it must be said that how can we be under represented when each councilor represents us.
Personally I believe in self representation, phone the council yourself, attend meetings yourself, raise issue yourself, get out there and be part of the system, the issues may not seem to not affect you but eventually they will impact upon yourself and your family.