Item 13.1 - Attachment 1 |
Summary Councillor
Workshop |
Summary
Council Workshop: Advisory Committees
1. The Workshop was chaired by Lord Mayor, Clr
Tony Issa. Clrs Garrard, Bide, Elmore,
Lim, Wearne, Maitra and McDermott attended.
2. Representatives
of the following Advisory Committees attended and in turn, presented
information on the Committees to Councillors: Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander (ATSI); Access; Arts; Community Safety; Cycleways; Heritage;
Multicultural and Youth.
3. Following
the presentations, Councillors, in turn, responded.
4. The
ATSI Advisory Committee was represented by Chairperson, Bruce Gale. The key
points of the presentation were:
· the Committee focuses on community events
including NAIDOC and Sorry Day
· these events are well supported and resourced by
Council
· they have helped to raise the profile of
Indigenous communities and strengthened
the profile of Parramatta as Australia’s second settlement city
· the Committee has a five year plan (Attachment
1)
· the Committee recognises it can improve its work
5. The
Access Advisory Committee was represented by John Moxon.
The key points of the presentation were:
· the
Committee’s members have considerable expertise
· the
Committee can help Council enable people with disabilities to participate in
Parramatta
· Council
must meet legislative requirements and demonstrate they have considered and met
the needs of people with disabilities
· the
Committee can have input into pre-planning which will reduce costs for Council,
prevent decisions which are discriminatory and therefore protect Council’s
profile
· the
Committee would like to work with the whole
of Council and develop an efficient, effective and appropriate input
mechanism
6. The
Arts Advisory Committee was represented by Katherine Knight.
The key points of the presentation were:
· the Committee has played a critical role in
lifting the importance and profile of
the arts in the area, particularly in its early years when there was only one
Council Arts Officer
· the Committee has a number of achievements including increasing participation in the arts, and the
setting of a strategic framework for the arts for the City
· however, the Committee has largely
and effectively completed its work. It is now time to roll out the plan
· there are now several additional stakeholders in
the arts that are not part of the Committee structure. In addition Council has
a larger team of arts staff
· the general view of the Committee is
that they do not want to be re-established. The Committee suggests starting a
new way of consulting which needs more input from diverse people/ groups/
agencies. These could take the form of biannual forums etc.
7. The
Community Safety Advisory Committee was represented by Christine Berle.
The key points of the presentation were:
· ‘community safety’ extends beyond crime
prevention
· initially the Committee was very busy, however,
it has since become less active, membership has been low and attendance poor
· if the Committee continues it should not focus
on the CBD alone and other groups’ safety needs/ concerns need to be addressed
8. The Cycleways Advisory Committee was represented by Ian Macindoe and Michael
Goard.
The key points of the presentation were:
· The
Committee’s primary concerns are safety (on road and off road) and engineering/
designs that improve safety
· the
Committee holds a high level of technical expertise which it provides to
Council staff. One member of the Committee attends Council’s Traffic Committee
· an outline
of various important issues which the Committee has discussed at various times
was presented including: Northwest T-way
cycleway and Liverpool to Parramatta Rail trail (actions forwarded to RTA)
· Examples of
more recent Committee priorities were also given including: pot holes Station
Rd/ Fleet St
9. The Heritage Advisory Committee was
represented by Carol Liston.
The key points of the
presentation were:
· the function of the Heritage Advisory Committee has
changed over time from being a lobbyist to responding to consultant and officer
reports
· the Local Heritage Fund is considered a success,
but the Committee notes it is no longer involved with Committee grants
· a matter of importance to the Committee is the 150
items of State significance in the LGA which should be on the State Heritage
Register
· the Committee remains enthusiastic and wishes to
help Council in any way possible and to be involved in relevant heritage issues
10. The
Multicultural Advisory Committee was represented by Mlinder Kumar.
The key points of the presentation were:
· as
time has passed since the Committee was established, the number of members has
dropped, their interest has fallen away and increasingly there is a lack of
focus
· there
are now many other multicultural platforms in Parramatta LGA
· some
CALD communities are not represented on the Committee
· public
involvement is very important and meetings could be open to the public
11. The
Youth Advisory Committee was represented by Lisa Kim
The key points of the presentation included:
· the
Committee has been involved in a number of projects in the last 4 years
· it
has planned a number of actions which have not eventuated
· the
membership profile (Year 11 and 12 school students) has meant there are many
months in the year when there has not been a quorum
· support
from Council has been strong
· the
current format of the Committee (face to face monthly meetings) does not suit
the needs of young people in terms of how they want to have input. They would
prefer electronic input
12. Responses
from Councillors
· All
Councillors expressed thanks to the Committee representatives for their
presentations and acknowledged the value of the voluntary work of all members
(a) Clr
Paul Garrard
· recognized
that some committees have problems and that perhaps alternatives would be
better options
· suggested
that committees are set up to do certain jobs
(b) Clr Andrew Bide
· questioned
whether committees should be better utilized by Council
· acknowledged
all the work of members and that volunteers get tired and need re-invigorating
· questioned
the extent to which membership is representative of all wards and suggested a
membership base of 30-40 people across all wards to avoid being ‘city-centric’.
Councillors could identify potential representatives from wards
· made
himself available to committees unless he was otherwise busy
· recognized
expertise available through committees to Council
(c) Clr Glenn Elmore
· it
is important that Council know what some groups want/ need – e.g. Youth and
people with disabilities
· suggested
committees are given more direction
(d) Clr Chiang Lim
· suggested
new committees be established regarding the environment, families and
technology
· concerned
at the reports of some Committees as they suggest terminating them; he is not
comfortable with terminating volunteers
(e) Clr Lorraine Wearne
· suggested
committees are reinvented and re-invigorated
· need
to listen to what the membership wants to ensure input mechanism structure is
relevant
· Access,
Cycleways, Heritage have a strong skills base in their membership which Council
needs to tap into
· asked
how Committees could be refocused/ restructured, e.g. could YAC look at
engaging through technology such as facebook?
· up
to Committees to say why they should be wound up – decision of committees, not
Council
(f) Clr
Prabir Maitra
· suggested
re-invigoration of Committees e.g. multicultural committee which could try to
get representation from a broader range of cultural groups
· it
is important to set goals for the Committees
(g) Clr Michael McDermott
· acknowledged
all the work of members
· recognised
the importance and value of diverse voices in discussions about community
issues
(h) Lord Mayor, Clr Tony Issa
· recognised
there needs to be commitment on the part of Councillors to serve on Committees
· the
link between Committees and Council is the Councillors and it is important that
all Councillors attend one or two Committees
· representatives
from each ward should be on Committees