Reform Wollongong City Council

At the last Neighbourhood Forum i attended (NF2 July) i gained the distinct impression that the new attending Council officer was attempting to tell me how i should think, and she sought to argue the toss with me about some important matters of record and of process.

I consider this kind of attitude quite out of line. The previous Council officer had understood very well what her role was. The role of the attending Council officer is to act as a liaison between our community and Council, ensuring a timely flow of information.

They are not active participants in community discussion (see the WCC media release below which stresses that NFs are independent from Council).

The new Council officer also seemed not to understand that when we request information from Council her job is simply to make an accurate record of it and process it. Doing this is not at her discretion.

The WCC Neighbourhood Charter says:

Format of meetings

Each Neighbourhood Forum meeting will be run according to the following format and allow for a maximum two [2] hours duration of any meeting:
· The meetings will be attended by a Council officer.
· Discussion will be about Council related business.
· The Council officer will provide information, record issues for action and provide follow up information.
· The Council officer will act as a liaison between meeting participants and Council where required.

…

10 Minutes

The Council Officer will not record minutes of each session however a record of actions required will be made on an Action Template. The actions will be responded to by an appropriate Council Officer. Council will send the completed Action Template to the Neighbourhood Chair and members of the Neighbourhood Forum. The completed Action Template will also be placed on Council’s Website. The Council Officer will also endeavour to address each action at the next meeting.