Item 11.4 - Attachment 1 |
Community Advisory Committee Minutes 3 December
2009 |
NOTES FOR THE COMMUNITY
ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD IN MEETING ROOMS 1 & 2, GROUND FLOOR,
PRESENT
Marivic Manalo, Paul
Hurley and Phillip Russo
IN ATTENDANCE
Brian
Richardson and Val Squires- community members,
1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE
TRADITIONAL OWNERS
2. WELCOME
3. APOLOGIES
An apology was received for the absence of Chris Bertinshaw
4. CONFLICT OF INTEREST DECLARATION
There
were no declarations made regarding conflict of interest at this meeting.
5. Election of
Chair and Deputy Chair
Due to the lack of a quorum this matter was held over until
the next meeting.
6.
Confirmation of Minutes
Due to it being a new Committee there are no previous
minutes.
7. Business
Arising
Due to it being a new Committee there is no business arising.
8. Purpose and operation of the Community Advisory
Committee: LGA Wide Issues Program and the Neighbourhood Issues
Council Officer
8.1 The LGA
Wide Issues Program
The following was discussed:
(a) The Committee will host 4
forums a year that will involve Committee members taking a strategic role
including identifying what the priority issues are; providing advice on
promoting the Forums and where possible promoting them through their own
networks; providing advice on the structure of the Forum; Chairing the Forum and
identifying key issues that arise in the Forum to include in a report to
Council. It was noted that Council Officers will be responsible for ensuring
the required operational work is done.
(b) To identify priority issues, the Committee
will be provided with advice from Council Officers on current community
concerns, knowledge from research, and refer to their own knowledge of
communities’ concerns/ priorities.
(c)
The Committee’s role is to provide an opportunity for community members
to advise Council on their needs/ priorities and concerns. In contrast the
Residents Panel usually consults the community regarding a particular project/
piece of work of Council’s.
(d) The Forums will be run using a
standard ‘Issues Forum’ model i.e. information about a topic is presented and participants
(those who attend the Forum) then have the opportunity to reflect on the issue,
tease out and identify their perspective and priorities concerning it. Due to
their design, Issues Forums may seed further action, however the Committee is
not responsible for supporting or resourcing that action. Depending on the action, a Council Officer/s
or representative of an external agency/service may support and resource
further meetings.
8.2
Neighbourhood Issues Programs
The following was discussed:
(a) The Neighbourhood Issues Program is an
intensive suburb- based program of open forums for residents, workers,
volunteers and other key stakeholders which will identify and address local
soft and hard infrastructure issues as defined by those who attend the forums.
Eventually the forums will be held in each of the 5 wards, however it was
agreed that for the first 12 months the Committee will aim to hold 3 forums in
different neighbourhoods, 1 in each ‘arm of the propeller’ that is the shape of
the LGA.
(b) These forums are a vehicle to
tap into existing networks to raise issues that might need to be addressed by
Council or another agency or service. They are also a vehicle to feed back
information gained from the Forum participants to the Committee, Council and/or
other services/ agencies to the community.
(c) It was acknowledged that there would
be some ‘hard’ community issues regarding for example rubbish, paths or other
infrastructure issues. Other appropriate
Council Officers e.g. Council Place Officers, will be invited to attend the
Forums to provide advice/input on specialised areas. The Committee’s focus
would be on the ‘soft’ social and community issues for example housing, crime,
employment and/or health.
(c) As with the LGA Wide Issues
Forums, the Committee’s role is a strategic one including pre planning the
events, providing advice on promoting the Forums and where possible promoting
them through their own networks, providing advice on the structure of the
Forum; Chairing the Forum and identifying key issues that arise in the Forum to
include in a report to Council. Again, it was noted that Council Officers will
be responsible for ensuring the required operational work is done and in
briefing the Committee on the profile of the particular Neighbourhood including
providing demographic information, identifying any known current priorities,
concerns or needs.
(d) Promotion of the Forums would
be through Council Officers’ and Committee members’ networks, email mailing
lists, flyers, pamphlets and posters distributed to service providers,
volunteers, community leaders, local businesses, libraries etc. Information of
the Forums may also be included in Council’s pages in the local press.
(e) It was agreed that it may be
challenging to go into a neighbourhood and encourage people to talk about
problems and priorities and then feed the communities’ ideas, opinions and
views back to Council. However it was also noted that the forums are likely to
be an effective and therefore valuable way of improving the link between
Council and communities, resourcing and supporting communities’ actions to
address their priorities and needs and to educate people about local government
and other external forums that can assist communities to address their needs/
priorities.
(f) The reporting conduit back to council
is through a bi-monthly report that will summarise the Forums. It is hoped that
this will assist in allowing Council to hear from a broad range of people. It
was also noted that as with all Advisory Committees, whilst the Committee can
make recommendations to Council, these may not be ratified by Council. Councillors
will be invited to attend Forums.
9. Calender of Meeting/ Programs
Due to the lack of a quorum this matter was held over until
the next meeting. The Committee decided to meet next on the first Tuesday in
February 2010.
10. General
Business and Information Sharing
10.1
Membership
The Committee discussed the fact that more members will be
needed, especially as the Parramatta LGA consists of a large geographical area,
has a range of communities with diverse socio economic status and has new and
established communities.
The Committee discussed the fact that due to the time of the
meetings, people, especially younger people, who work in the city, would not be
able to attend.
The Committee also discussed the fact that the formal
structure of the Committee and application process can be very
intimidating.
10.2 Other
Forums
The Committee discussed the other ways residents who cannot
attend meetings could still participate for example using virtual forums such
as a web based forum or blog.
NEXT MEETING
6pm, 2 February 2010
Meeting Room B
Council Chambers
Building
The meeting concluded at 7:45 pm