Adelaide City Council rejects bid to start meetings earlier
After enduring council meetings that go as late at 3am, Adelaide Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor wanted to give elected members more time for shut eye. However, her calls fell on deaf ears.
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A push to start Adelaide City Council meetings in the afternoon to prevent staff and elected members sitting past midnight has been knocked back.
At a meeting on Thursday night, the council decided it would continue to start full meetings at 5.30pm rather than bring them forward to 2pm.
The bid to change the time was to ensure sittings ended at an “appropriate” and “reasonable” time.
But it failed to get unanimous support – as required under the Local Government Act – with councillors Anne Moran and Phillip Martin voting against the change.
It comes just weeks after Cr Moran threatened legal action against the council for the “ridiculous” length of monthly meetings, which have ended as late as 3am.
The veteran councillor wanted the council to revert back to two full meetings a month – not start earlier – to accommodate the large number of motions and questions on notice.
Cr Martin said changing the start time to 2pm would have been a “discriminatory” move.
“What is proposed is not a solution, it is, in fact, a means of discriminating people who wish to participate in democracy,” Cr Martin said.
“If you meet at 2pm in the afternoon, you discourage people who have appointments, child minding or other responsibilities from attending council, listening to debate (and) participating in deputations.”
He said “ordinary people” would be discouraged from standing for council or attending meetings because they were during business hours.
A report showed the council considered more motions and questions on notice than any other metropolitan council last financial year.
Adelaide Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor there would be 16 or 17 questions and motions on notice per meeting, with each taking about 20 minutes to deliberate.
A council report said starting the meeting earlier would have mitigated work health and safety risks associated with fatigue and reduce overtime payments for relevant staff and security contractors.
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Cr Jessy Khera said the change would have improved monthly meetings.
“Any councillor that does not have a very good and valid reason for opposing this motion is going to be putting the health, safety and wellbeing of admin at risk, make no mistake,” Cr Khera said
Ms Verschoor said she was an “optimist” and had hoped for the change.
She said she would have allowed the public to make deputations after business hours.
“I was hoping we could find a way forward for all of us,” she said.