Byron Labor councillor Asren Pugh wants to move meetings to evenings

A newly elected councillor claims a scheduling change would open up local democracy to more of the community. The mayor says he won’t support the proposed new timeslot.

Newly elected Byron Shire Councillor Asren Pugh wants his colleagues to consider moving meetings to the evenings. Picture: Liana Boss

Byron has one of the few NSW councils to hold its meetings during the day.

One newly elected councillor wants to change that.

The council’s Labor newcomer Asren Pugh will bring a motion before the council’s extraordinary meeting on Thursday seeking to have meetings moved to 5pm.

Typically, the council holds its ordinary meetings from 9am and planning meetings from 11am.

Other commitments like workshops also take place during business hours.

Mr Pugh believes changing to a later time would make local government more accessible to a broader range of people.

He said a vast majority of people were busy with work during the day.

“This means it’s very difficult, if not impossible, for them to come along to council meetings, make a submission in the public access period or even to watch council proceedings online live during the day,” Mr Pugh said.

Covid-19 restrictions aside, Byron Shire Council regularly has a strong turnout for public access during its meetings.

Mr Pugh said daytime commitments also had an impact on the type of people who put their hand up for local government.

“It narrows the type of person who can come and participate in council,” Mr Pugh said.

“It narrows the group of people in our community who can actually be engaged because they’ve got to work.

“Most councils across NSW, the vast majority, meet during the evening.”

Councils in the Tweed, Lismore, Kyogle, Richmond Valley and Coffs Harbour areas meet in the evenings.

The Clarence Valley’s meetings run from 2pm while Ballina and Bellingen Shire Councils begin their meetings in the morning.

Mr Pugh said a primary concern raised by other councillors about moving to evening meetings related to childcare implications for those with young children.

“I’ve got young children myself and it would be much better for me to be able to meet during the evening,” he said.

Mayor Michael Lyon was not on board with the proposed change.

“We’ve investigated this over the last couple of terms of council and the answer always comes back the same, which is that it doesn’t suit our council area,” Mr Lyon said.

“I’m certainly opposed to it.

“Our experience from last time shows it doesn’t increase public engagement, actually the opposite.”

He said the implications of extra staffing costs also weighed against evening meetings.

“If you look at the average meeting time we run it’s just going to shorten meetings to the detriment of proper analysis,” he said.

“For parents with children, particularly if you’re a single parent, it makes it almost impossible.”

In comments attached to Mr Pugh’s motion, the council’s director of corporate and community services, Vanessa Adams, said the Local Government Performance Excellence Program 2020 report found councils in Australia and New Zealand had a median meeting length of 2.28 hours.

Byron Shire mayor Michael Lyon wants to see the council’s meetings to continue being held in the daytime. Picture: Liana Boss

In comparison, the Byron Shire’s meetings run for an average of six hours, including breaks.

Only two councils had longer meetings, according to that report.

Mr Lyon said the “extremely high development pressure” on the shire contributed to this, in part because of lengthy, enthusiastic public access.

“It’s not uncommon for us to have a two hour public access session,” Mr Lyon said.

In her written comments, Ms Adams said the council would need to consider the length of its meetings, public participation, penalty rates and workplace health and safety implications.

“A 5pm start would potentially see council meetings ending around 11pm,” Ms Adams said.

“A potential solution would be to commence public access at 4pm and impose a hard limit of finishing by 10pm.”

She said this “may be achievable” if public access was constrained to one hour and recess breaks were removed.

“This is still quite late for effective decision-making on complex matters,” Ms Adams said.

“Given the length of agendas it is not impossible that council would not get through all its business and would have to convene an extraordinary meeting the following day to conclude matters.”

She said that scenario had “regularly occurred” at Lismore City Council.