THE City of Melville has acknowledged the ‘need for cultural change’ following comments from Local Government Minister David Templeman imploring the council to make changes.
More than 400 residents packed the Mt Pleasant Baptist Community College last month for a Special Meeting of Electors, calling on the City to do more in its response to the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries’ authorised inquiry.
The electors called on the City to acknowledge Mr Templeman’s call for cultural change after its initial response to the inquiry was to simply just accept its recommendations.
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At Tuesday night’s council meeting, the councillors did that – ticking off on the addendum being sent to Mr Templeman and supporting the call for cultural change.
The council also noted other requests that came out of the electors meeting, confirming it will review policies as per its usual cycles, continue to work with residents to address concerns and acknowledge its failures to comply with the Local Government Act. The electors had also called on the City to withdraw delegated authority that allows its planners to submit Responsible Authority Reports to the Joint Development Assessment Panel without council approval.
The council deferred making a decision until November pending legal advice.
The electors asked for Bert Jeffrey Park to be included in the Active Reserve Infrastructure Strategy (ARIS) process and for the council to stop all changes at the park, renew the long-term lease with the Melville Bowling Club and confirm the proposed review of Tompkins Park will include community and stakeholder engagement.
The council confirmed that Bert Jeffrey Park was included in the ARIS process but stopped short of committing to stopping changes.
The council reiterated that it supported existing lease changes until the review of the Tompkins Park Redevelopment project was completed and confirmed there would be stakeholder engagement as part of that process.