“Wollongong council’s $6mil cash crisis

BY LAUREL-LEE RODERICK

25/08/2009 Illawarra Mercury

Cash-strapped Wollongong ratepayers waiting until the last minute to pay their council rates left a $6 million hole in the council’s budget for July.”

Full story

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/wollongong-councils-6mil-cash-crisis/1604616.aspx

Public Meeting to be hosted by Wollongong Against Corruption

Guest Speaker:  Clive Small

Former ICAC Senior Investigator and  NSW Asstnt. Police Commissioner Author of Smack Express

Vebue: at Pioneer Hall, Church Street, Wollongong, 10am Sunday, 30 August 2009

We need answers:

·       ICAC’s Commissioner Cripps found “systemic corruption” in WCC.

·       Do only  11 people constitute “systemic corruption” in a city the size of Wollongong?

·       Who are the others and why haven’t they been thoroughly investigated and named?

Is there a ‘clean-up’ or a ‘cover-up’?

We need a Royal Commission into Political Corruption in NSW.

For more see  www.wollongongagainstcorruption.org.au

From Engagement Coordinator (Acting)
Wollongong City Council

“We tried to not make the Charter too prescriptive because at the end of
the day it sets out Council’s expectations for the groups we are
supporting and working closely with, but does not form the constitution
of that group. Membership is not a formal undertaking in any of the
groups as people often attend when the topic suits them or they have an
issue to raise. My understanding is that the Neighbourhood Committees
needed members to only live in the specific area as they were voting on
Council resolutions. The forums are independent and can make
submissions to Council but not resolutions as such. So applying that
rule strictly was no longer necessary. Some forums use voting as a way
to determine agreement with a group’s “position” or to formulate a
formal group response to Council. Without signatures or names however I
take a group submission as one, as it is not clear how many people
agreed with the position put forward.

The key point of the forums is community and Council working closely
together to solve local issues. How community members define local
varies according to the person and the issue. If for instance you were
concerned with coastal management you may feel that the whole LGA is
local to you. I am inclined to expect that Neighbourhood Forums will be
inclusive and encourage membership from people who feel an infinity to a
community or issue relating to that area.

At a recent NF convenors meeting we were asked to review the boundaries
included in the charter as not everyone feels that they fit the natural
community boundaries well. We will be looking at this and any further
developing our processes to ensure that they work as well as possible
for the community and Council.”

(note, Any opinion stated in this e-mail is not the opinion of Wollongong City Council unless stated or apparent from its contents.)

As i heard him, in an interview on ABC 97.3FM radio on Friday 14 August, the Member for Keira and Minister for the Illawarra was “suprised’ to learn that local people regard the return of elected Councillors as very important for the Wollongong and Shellhabour Council area.

The former WCC Lord Mayor learnt this at a talkfest on the NSW State Plan at the Shellharbour Workers Club on Thursday 13 Aug. Things must have been clearly different in the early 1990s, when he was at the centre of local government here.

The NSW ALP has recently been described as a Shakespearean tragedy.

Not so – the lack of real commitment to local democracy by the NSW ALP is the tragedy for NSW people generally, and us in the Illawarra in particular.

The NSW ALP, by contrast, is more akin to a Monty Python farce – as we shall continue to see between here and the end of the year when the wheels will probably fall off the NSW ALP.

That may be a good time for Mr Campbell to retire, and allow space for a new 21st Century spirit of democracy to emerge  in the Illawarra.

Neighbourhood Forum 3 meets in Thirroul and covers an area to the south of the Clifton to Coledale Neighbourhood Forum/NF2 area. NF3 held a successful regular monthly forum in July which also included Council’s dogs on beaches policy.

The first hour of the Forum was given over to an information session in which the Council officer provided information and, with the Chair,  encouraged people to make their submissions. There appears to have been no further discussion regarding dogs in the other agenda items or in General business.

I think the experience of the dogs on beaches policy may have been far ‘hotter’ in Coledale as a result of the fact that Sharkey’s Beach has been an off-leash dog beach for some time now, and many locals have had enough. At least one long term local resident came to the August CCNC/NF2 Forum armed with a petition.

CONCERNED COLEDALE RESIDENTS – MOTION AT JULY NF2 FORUM

A no-dogs on Sharkey’s group actually attended the July CCNF/NF2 Forum and, while some of the regular attendees tried to persuade them to hold off until the dog owners could be present at the next Forum, the no-dogs group had the numbers to pass a motion in support of their own position, which they did.

The minutes of the July CCNF/NF2 Forum record:

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If, like me, you regard the ability to learn from experience as a key indicator of intelligent life, then the events at the recent August Coledale Neighbourhood Forum provides a good test for the place of intelligence in the WCC Community Engagement process.

Prior to closing the Neighbourhood Forum, within minutes of it commencing, the Convenor (or, more accurately, NF Chair) informed the gathering that he had the power to do this.

At the August NF2 Forum, WCC’s Engamgent Coordinator was present and she certainly did not say that the Chair did not have the power to close the Forum and accepted the outcome when he so acted. This has to be interpreted as tacit acceptance of the power of the Chair to act in such a manner.

ROLE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM CHARTER

Neighbourhood Forums, while operating autonomously from Council, are (in effect) established by Council and are subject to a Charter. which spells out a number of important details about how they must operate. This Charter provides an impartial set of rules which can be called upon in the event of a dispute about process etc.

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If you want to read the WCC Neighbourhood Forum Charter to learn more about how they are set up, visit:

http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/contactus/neighbourhoodforums.asp

The Coledale Neighbourhood Forum regarding Wollongong City Council’s proposed changes to the dogs on beaches policy, on Wednesday 5 August, demonstrated a major failing in this part of WCC’s community engagement framework.

The Clifton to Coledale Neighbourhood Forum (CCNF – WCC NF2) event got underway at about 7:15 pm and large number of people attending were informed by the Convenor that, in light of the late start, it could run until 9:15. However, the Forum was all over 15 minutes later.

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Opening keynote
Government 2.0 – building a citizen-centric approach

PRESENTER: SENATOR KATE LUNDY

Senator Kate Lundy will discuss how Government 2.0 technologies and methodologies can help all level of government in building a strong citizen-centric approach in the delivery of government services, as well as for direct engagement in government processes. She will discuss her goals with the Public Spheres project, and share her experiences in this space as someone who has always pushed the envelope of digital engagement and communications for government.

Read more for some of the conference events and links

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