By JOLENE OGLE
NOOSA Council isn’t afraid to air its laundry, dirty or clean, according to Councillor Tony Wellington who has hit back at critics of council’s decision-making process.
Cr Wellington, who has sat on both Noosa Council and the Sunshine Coast Council, said he is in a unique position to compare each council’s approach to decision-making.
“I see it as chalk and cheese,” he said.
“The Sunshine Coast Council (SCC) was far more secretive in its decision-making.
“Noosa Council, by contrast, is happy to hang out its laundry, be it dirty or clean.”
Cr Wellington said the meeting systems themselves are evidence of the two different approaches, with SCC holding a private agenda review meeting before every ordinary meeting compared to Noosa Council who holds three open meetings prior to the ordinary meeting.
“This (SCC) preliminary meeting is not open to scrutiny by residents or the media,” Cr Wellington said.
“At the agenda review, councillors get to question staff and thus, much of the process that leads towards a final decision is completely hidden.”
All preliminary meetings in the lead up to the Noosa Council ordinary meeting are open to the public, including the Infrastructure and Services Committee, Planning and Organisation Committee and General Committee meetings.
“(The public and the media) can witness the questioning of staff as well as the debate that leads to a final decision,” Cr Wellington said.
But Cr Wellington said what is even more telling of the differences between the two councils, is the number of items that each council holds “in confidence”, which means onlookers are removed from the room.
“In 2013, when I was on the SCC, we dealt with 285 items in council meetings.
“Of those, 114 or 40 per cent were dealt with in confidential sessions,” he said.
“Compare that to the first year of the new Noosa Council.
“Here, 276 items were dealt with and only seven – or a measly 2.5 per cent – were discussed in confidential session.”
Cr Wellington said its clear Noosa Council has chosen to allow full scrutiny of its processes, with only issues involving legal proceedings held in confidence.
“On one occasion we had to deal with a land purchase matter in closed session… other than that, everything we decide is on public view,” he said.
“By comparison, the SCC contemplated all manner of issues behind closed doors, not just legal matters.”
Cr Wellington said it was time to make it clear how open Noosa Council is when it comes to decision-making.
“Readers of the letters page of our local papers will have noted that Noosa Council’s regular critics like to imply that our council is making secretive decisions and concealing financial matters,” he said.
“Yet almost every decision we make is open to scrutiny, with departmental reports and financial performance reports appearing regularly in meeting agendas that are available on the website.”
