Listen In On Council Meetings

THIS month Council will begin audio recording their monthly general council meeting and publish the files to their website within the week.

The standing committees of development and environmental services (D&E), finance and infrastructure services will also be recorded and available to the public. 

Steve McDonald, general manager for Upper Hunter Shire Council, said it was a good opportunity for residents to hear the meetings if they can’t attend.

“If someone can’t make it to the meeting, they can still hear what happened at the meeting and hear what was discussed,” Mr McDonald said.

“If it’s an important issue to you or you want to hear a bit more detail about what the debate was or discussion and the questions raised, the recordings will give that detail; the minutes aren’t Hansard minutes and they don’t record every word that was said, so this way they can get more detail,” he said.

“A new code has come out from the Office of Local Government and Council’s are required to comply with that and it means that we are required to tape or podcast Council meetings and committee meetings,” he said.

“It will be available within the week of the meeting and when we adopt the minutes from the meeting we’ll review if that recording stays there or not,” he said.

“Once the minutes are adopted it verifies the business that transacted at that meeting,” Steve McDonald said.

The next general Council meeting will be held at 5pm on July 28 at the Council building at 135 Liverpool Street, Scone.