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RANDWICK CITY COUNCIL
PRECINCT COMMITTEES
RULES AND PROCEDURES
CONTENTS
Introduction
PRECINCT COMMITTEE OBJECTIVES
COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
COMMITTEE MEETINGS
THE COMMITTEE EXECUTIVE
THE CHAIRPERSON
THE SECRETARY
THE AGENDA
THE MINUTES
MATTERS REFERRED BY COUNCIL TO PRECINCT COMMITTEES
COMMITTEE FUNDING
COUNCIL’S COMMUNITY CONSULTATION AND LIAISON OFFICER
THE COMBINED PRECINCT CORDINATION COMMITTEE
NOVEMBER 2004
INTRODUCTION
Randwick City Council, in pursuing its commitment to community engagement, has established Precinct Committees throughout the City.
The Council’s Precinct Committees are convened by residents and supported by Council. They play a vital role in ensuring that future changes in the City of Randwick take residents’ views into account.
Precinct Committees have been established to increase the flow of information between the Council and the community and to provide residents with an opportunity to be more active in the decision making process.
Precincts Committees are not decision-making bodies, but act as a conduit moving issues and opinions between the community and Council.
Council’s Community Consultation and Liaison Officer (CCLO) assists Precinct Committees seeking information necessary to make informed decisions and recommendations on matters referred to them by Council.
In order to be effective, Precinct Committees rely on the goodwill of all who attend meetings. Precinct Committees are not to function, in effect, as resident action groups and attempts by an action group or political party to dominate a Precinct Committee or their meeting will ultimately reduce the effectiveness and credibility of that Precinct Committee.
PRECINCT COMMITTEE OBJECTIVES
· To encourage community engagement by developing a sense of community between the Council, community and the local environment
· To facilitate continuous, clear two-way communication between Randwick City Council and the community
· To provide a formal system of information transfer between residents, property owners, tenants and Council
· To encourage residents’ and property owners’ contribution to Council's decision making process.
COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
All residents, tenants and property owners within the designated Precinct Committee area are eligible to be members.
At least 20 members representing 20 different family groups must indicate their interest in establishing a Precinct Committee in their area.
Each Committee must annually elect an Executive, comprising a Chairperson and a Secretary. Executive Officers are elected at the initial Precinct Committee meeting. All residents, tenants and property owners within the designated Precinct Committee area are eligible to be office bearers, however the nominees cannot be from the same family or household.
Maps showing the current Precinct Committee boundaries accompany the Precinct Committees Rules and Procedures manual. Residents, tenants and property owners who live in or own property on the border of two or more Precincts may attend and be members of any of the adjoining Precinct Committees.
Councillors are eligible to be members of the Precinct in which they reside. However, they are only entitled to attend other Precinct meetings by invitation. Councillors can not accept nomination for Executive roles within any Precinct Committee.
COMMITTEE MEETINGS
Each Precinct should aim to hold a public meeting once per month. It is preferable that meetings are held a minimum of six times per year in different months.
It is the responsibility of the Precinct Committee Executive to inform residents of the time, date and agenda for the next meeting. This may be done by way of a letterbox drop, posters and/or email.
Each Precinct Committee meeting requires a quorum of 10 people. The number of people set for a quorum is to ensure that meetings remain as representative as possible. If a quorum is not reached, the meeting may still proceed, however the Council will note the vote count and take this into consideration when responding to the recommendations.
No resident, property owner or tenant is to be excluded from any Precinct Committee meeting.
It is necessary for each Precinct Committee to establish specific meeting procedures for the smooth running of their meetings, in line with Council’s Precinct Committees Rules and Procedures. The procedures must demonstrate respect for fellow attendees.
The Chairperson is responsible for guiding and controlling the meeting and ensuring that debate is conducted in accordance with standard meeting practice. It may be necessary to limit the number and length of time a particular person can discuss a matter, to ensure that no one individual dominates the meeting.
Matters to be discussed and voted on should be formulated as a motion. When sufficient discussion has occurred, members should be asked to vote on the motion and the number of people voting for, against and abstaining, will be recorded in the minutes.
THE COMMITTEE EXECUTIVE
The Executive of a Precinct Committee comprises the Chairperson and Secretary.
Precinct Committees may elect additional members to assist the Executive. For example the Committee may wish to elect a Treasurer or an Assistant Secretary.
The Executive is to ensure that Precinct Committee meetings are conducted in accordance with standard meeting procedures.
The Executive is to ensure that residents, tenants and property owners are given at least five days advance notice of a scheduled meeting.
The Executive may need to call a Special Meeting if a decision on a matter is needed before the next scheduled meeting is to be held. For example this may occur when comments are required for a Development Application (DA) submission.
In exceptional circumstances, when an issue affects more than one Precinct, the respective Precinct Executives may facilitate the calling of a combined meeting.
All Precinct Committee correspondence or requests to Council are to be directed to the CCLO at Randwick City Council and can only be lodged by the Precinct Committee Executive.
Committees must keep accurate financial records, which are to be prepared for the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The role of Treasurer may be performed by either the Secretary or the Chairperson.
The AGM for each Precinct Committee will be held in November of each year when the Executive office bearers are elected.
Appointment to the position of a Chairperson and Secretary will commence upon election and become vacant on the day of the next AGM in November of the following year. If a vacancy should occur for any of the Executive positions during the year, an election shall be held to fill such a vacancy at the next Ordinary Meeting.
A member may hold the same position of either Chairperson or Secretary for no more than two consecutive years. Any extension beyond this time must be through a formal request to the General Manager of Randwick City Council.
THE CHAIRPERSON
The Chairperson is responsible for preparing an Agenda for each meeting. The Chairperson should follow this Agenda, however if the meeting wishes to bring forward special items such as a guest speaker, the order of items can be voted on to be adjusted accordingly.
The Chairperson is responsible for guiding and controlling the meeting and ensuring that decisions made, are achieved after fair and reasonable debate has taken place.
The Chairperson's role is to focus the meeting on the issues, ensure that everyone gets a chance to speak and be heard, discourage repetition and irrelevance and guide the meeting to consensus if necessary.
It is the role of the Chairperson to ensure that the meeting is conducted within a two hour period.
It is appropriate to allow some discussion on each item prior to moving a motion and voting. However, if the discussion takes too long, it may lead to a particular item dominating at the expense of other agenda items or the length of the meeting will be extended.
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