MAKING MOVES: Council revitalises meeting format, schedule

The Southern Downs Mayor also has big plans to bring ‘council business’ directly to residents.

IN SESSION: Ross Bartley addresses Southern Downs Regional Council SDRC chambers via livestream. Picture: SDRC

SOUTHERN Downs Regional Council has overhauled its meeting format in the hopes of putting more residents in touch with local representatives.

Councillors voted unanimously at this morning’s special meeting to instate two ordinary SDRC meetings a month, beginning in October.

Meetings will be held on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month in Warwick for the rest of 2020, with Stanthorpe chambers to be included from next year.

The ordinary meetings will replace the infrastructure and sustainability-focused committees trialled over the past two months, a move Deputy Mayor Ross Bartley strongly endorsed.

“I think (everyone here) will know I have moved a motion moving to two ordinary meetings a month previously,” Cr Bartley said.

“I think it’s innovative, we will conduct business more fluently, and flow business to the community better.”

Mayor Vic Pennisi said once meetings were reopened to the public and no longer needed to be livestreamed, he hoped councillors could travel more throughout the region.

“What I’m hoping to do, now we have our legs under the table a little bit and we’re getting a bit more time, I’d like to take council out to the regions as well,” Cr Pennisi said.

“Not with general meetings, but with workshops and those sort of things. Go to Leyburn for half a day to let the public sit down and interact with us while we conduct our business.

“The regions have the right to access us as well, because it isn’t just Warwick and Stanthorpe – that’s what I’ll be proposing down the track.”

The removal of the committees mandated changes to the Council Meeting Policy, the finalisation of which was pushed the ordinary meeting on September 23.

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Beloved camping spot reopens

Southern Downs roads to receive $2.4M in upgrades

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