Bulk waste and climate change among motions moved at Joondalup annual general meeting of electors

BULK waste, climate change, community consultation and meeting procedures were some of the items brought up at the City of Joondalup’s annual general meeting of electors last night.

Edgewater resident Joanna Quan moved several motions at the meeting.

The first was to improve the City’s bulk hard waste collection to eliminate health and safety risks for residents and to compare the cost and effectiveness of the City’s current green and hard waste collection system with the City of Swan’s on-call verge collection system.

She said the City of Swan system allowed residents to put their green or hard waste on the verge and call the City to collect it.

“It would avoid massive disturbance of the streetscape and keep our residents safe,” she said.

Her next motion related to meeting procedures, requesting that public statement time be able to be extended twice for 15 minutes each time during both briefing and council meetings, as is allowed with public question time.

She also requested all agendas be published seven days before any meeting, rather than four days, and that the AGM of electors be held on a date when there is no scheduled council briefing or meeting.

Regarding the budget, her next motion requested it be discussed at the council briefing, rather than just at the meeting, that the rates not be determined before the budget is decided by the council and that the budget be discussed from the April council meeting instead of the June meeting.

She said the budget was a big issue and people were concerned about increasing rates so the City needed to give people more time to discuss it.

Her final motion requested the City notify interested parties when State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) appeals are lodged, and within seven days of lodgement, or when matters are to be considered at council briefings and meetings, Development Assessment Panel meetings and SAT hearings open to the public, again at least seven days prior.

Similarly, Kinross resident Mary O’Byrne moved a motion to request amended development plans have a compulsory public consultation period for deferred applications, SAT appeals or amended local laws.

She also moved a motion for the City to make the audio recording for all briefing sessions available to the public, as it does for its meetings.

She said deputations were only made in briefing sessions and these were usually full of history, research and information that could be used to keep residents better informed.

She said making the audio available would be a much-needed resource and could enhance future submissions.

Also regarding the City’s website, Beldon resident Nicky Dangar moved a motion that the old website information be restored in an archived section of the new website because she believed this information was no longer available.

Though the motion was accepted, Governance and strategy director Jamie Parry said all information from the previous website should be available on the new website and offered to help any residents to find what they needed.

Regarding climate change, Duncraig resident Martin Dickie moved a motion that the council notes Australian cities are getting hotter and that it resolves to use “all means in its power to seek and implement much stronger measures… to leave to our children an environment that is not massively hotter and more stressed than the one we inherited”.

“This is another area which Joondalup can take the lead and keep championing these kinds of measures, reminding homeowners they owe it to the next generation to conserve the planet,” he said.

Edgewater resident Sandra Wilberforce also moved a motion for the City to make an annual payment to the newly formed WA Ratepayers and Residents Association at the same dollar-for-dollar amount as the subscription fee the City pays to the WA Local Government Association (WALGA) in the applicable year.

She said the association aimed to “facilitate and promote community consultation, participation and co-operation between ratepayers and residents and local government authorities to ensure full compliance by the local government authorities and elected members”.

She said in a proposed change to the Local Government Act, WALGA has requested on behalf of local governments that the number of signatures required for a special meeting of electors be increased from 100 to 500.

“This clearly shows WALGA is not acting in the interest of the community but is acting to make it more difficult for the community to have a voice,” she said.

“The motion is simply asking for community funds to be directed back to the community to facilitate and promote community’s participation and consultation.

“With greater participation and transparency, there’ll be less local government resources required to deal with ongoing disputes and freedom of information requests and reduce the stress on employees of the local government and the community.”

A similar motion was also moved by Gnangara resident Chris Webb at the Wanneroo annual general meeting of electors on Monday night.

As WALGA deputy president, Mayor Tracey Roberts was required to leave the room before four residents supported the motion.

All Joondalup motions were also supported, with no one voting against any.

The Joondalup council is expected to consider all motions at its February meeting.