Yass Valley Council meeting times changed

While the adjustment is not set in stone and will operate only on a trial basis for now, both former mayor Nic Carmody and Allan McGrath said there shouldn't be a change at all.

In a statement, Yass Valley Council told the Tribune that councillors believe the change will provide a better format for decision making and provide more opportunity for detailed debate over important issues facing the community.

Mr Carmody and Mr McGrath claimed it will do the opposite.

"The saddest part about any government is the lack of interest people take in it and I think council should be proactive in making it available to the general public," Mr Carmody said.

"The more people that take an interest the better it is for the community, and for council to be making it more difficult to become engaged definitely makes them more aloof from the community and obviously makes it more difficult for the average 'Joe Blow' to have his input."

Mr McGrath added that it will have a negative effect on the makeup of council representatives into the future.

"I think council should be all about inclusiveness and this makes things exclusive because it does exclude a good proportion of the population from attending council meetings," he said.

"The Yass Valley deserves a vibrant, diverse and healthy council and if that excludes almost everyone that has a job and can't get off work in the middle of the week I think that's definitely a bad thing for the town. I was in local government as a councillor for almost 30 years and that wouldn't have been possible if meetings were held during the day."

Mayor Rowena Abbey is in favour of the change but reiterated it wasn't locked in.

“We want to stress that this decision hasn’t been made lightly and that it will be a trial to see if this new time suits the community and improves the format of meetings for decision making and debate,” she said. 

“We understand that this new meeting time may not suit everyone, but nor did the original 5pm meeting. This new meeting time may suit people who were unable to make the original time, but can I emphasize that this is a trial.”

Yass Valley Council management distanced themselves from the move saying it was a decision of the councillors. They did, however, refute the idea that earlier meetings were unfair for many workers and would stop them from having a say.

"Open forum was 4.30pm so people would have had to take time off work to attend anyway. Residents who are unable to adjust their work arrangements to speak at the new open forum time still have the opportunity to have their say by writing a written submission to Council."

Other local councils that hold their meetings during the day include Ballina, Bellingen, Bourke and Narrabri (9am), Cowra and Upper Lachlan (9.30am) and Parkes (2pm).

Council’s next monthly meeting will be held on Wednesday December 16, with open forum commencing at 1.30pm and the main meeting commencing at 2pm.