Shire of Augusta-Margaret River council shakes up calendar by ditching meeting for Q&A session

Augusta-Margaret River shire councillors have voted to turn one of their regular meetings each month into a public question-and-answer session instead.

The move, which was backed unanimously at last fortnight’s Shire of Augusta-Margaret River council meeting, will amalgamate the council’s workload into one main meeting each month.

In line with other local governments that at times hold committee rather than full council meetings, the Times understands the other ordinary council meeting would replace briefing sessions held before council meetings.

The change starts from April and includes meetings held in Augusta, as well as one early session for high school students to take in the workings of local government.

The Times was unable to determine how the schedule change would affect councillor sitting fees after all elected members received a pay bump last year.

Former councillor Lyn Serventy forced the introduction of open briefing sessions last decade after they were held without public access.

She told the Times she was content with the new arrangements provided transparency didn’t suffer.

“If the briefing sessions are part of the proposed Q&A sessions and are well advertised, then the new system could assist in increasing valuable communications between councillors, who are our elected decision-makers, and the community,” she said.

“As a councillor, I always valued the ability to gain information from the community to assist me to make good decisions.”

Recent ex-councillor Brian Daniel — a critic of the shire under former chief executive Stephanie Addison-Brown — was against the switch to just one main meeting per month.

He said council meetings affected decisions for major projects and issues ratepayers were concerned about.

“To maximise efficiencies and improve productivity, businesses (such as) the shire have to be business agile and so going from two meetings a month to one doesn’t fit that mould,” he said.

“These tend to be items of value and/or importance, so for there to now be only one meeting a month doesn’t make sense.

“My view and observations of having recently been a councillor is that unless they address their current culture, these (Q&A) sessions will be disappointing to those ratepayer attending these meetings.”

A shire spokesperson said councillors could still call special meetings for urgent items, but Mr Daniel questioned the criteria for considering an item urgent.