Coffs Harbour Councillor Jan Strom speaks out about Mayor using casting vote

Ex-Councillor speaks out about Mayor using casting vote.

Jan Strom in the public gallery during a meeting in July 2019 about the Cultural and Civic Space.

Jan Strom stepped down from her role as a Coffs Harbour City Councillor in March 2019 due to medical advice.

She was elected in 2016, but was absent from meetings for several months prior to her official retirement.

"I have always prided myself on being a finisher, so it's with much regret that I submit my resignation," Cr Strom said at the time.

The resignation came within 18 months of the next elections - then planned for September 2020 - but later postponed due to COVID-19 to September this year.

Councillor Jan Strom with Cr John Arkan during a meeting in early 2018.

This allowed Council to avoid an expensive by-election which could cost as much as an ordinary election. The 2016 ordinary election coast approximately $425,000.

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But her retirement left an even number of Councillors and the potential for a tie with the option of Mayor Denise Knight using her casting vote.

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Cr Knight has been criticised for using her casting vote with anti-Cultural and Civic Space protesters even claiming democracy is dead.

Protesters against the Cultural and Civic Space prior to the March 4 extraordinary meeting.

Jan Strom has responded to this in a letter to the editor:

Incorrect and dangerously misleading

I was alarmed to see that some people protesting against the Cultural Civic Space (CCS) suggested that the process of voting in the Council Chamber in regard to the CCS has "killed local democracy".

This statement is incorrect and dangerously misleading. Like federal and state government, local government is a representative democracy.

In a representative democracy the elected members vote on items before them.

If the vote is tied the meeting Chair (known as the Person Presiding) has the casting vote as per the 1993 Local Government Act Section 370, Part (2) "However, the person presiding at a meeting of the council has, in the event of an equality of votes, a second or casting vote".

I hasten to add that all members of our community have a right to express their opinion and to try and influence the decision-making process.

This is an important part of local government.

However it is also important that in our enthusiasm to garner support for our own views we do not misrepresent the truth.

Jan Strom

Bucca

Originally published as Coffs Harbour Councillor Jan Strom speaks out about Mayor using casting vote