22 September 2020 - Ordinary

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Council's Ordinary Meeting for the 22nd of September 2020. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of this land, the Dharug and Young and Dharug people, and pay respects to Elders both past and present. I'll now hand over to the General Manager for some procedural matters.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. Members of the public observing this meeting are advised that, in accordance with Council's Code of Meeting Practice, meetings of the Council are recorded. In the terms of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act, this may involve the recording of personal information provided at the time of the meeting. The recordings are made to assist staff in compiling the minutes of the meeting and to enable the podcasting of Council meetings. The provision of any information that is recorded is voluntary. If any person does not wish to be recorded, they should not address or request to address the meeting. The recordings may be made available to other persons where such access is in accordance with the relevant regulations, and the recordings are stored on Council's record management system .

Finally, this request that if any person participating in the meeting has a mobile phone, that they either turn it off or turn it to silent. Thank you, Mr Mayor.

Thank you, Mr Conroy. I've been told that all councillors are present. Is that the case?

Yep.

Are there any apologies then? No Everyone's present. All right. And do we have any declarations of interest, please? Nope. The minutes of the last meeting, in the meeting of 8 September. Do we have someone to move that way, Mr Zamprogno? Moved by Deputy Mayor, seconded by Councillor Garrow. Is there anyone wishes to discuss the minutes or speak against them? If not, I'll put the minutes. All those in favour, say aye. Aye. Declare it carried. Thank you.

There are four items on the agenda tonight. The first item is item 177, the election of the mayor. Would someone like to move the recommendation that's on page 11 of the business paper? Move that way, Mr Mayor. Councillor Rasmussen , seconded Councillor Garrow. Is there any discussion? No one wishes to speak against it. If not, I will put the motion. If you're in favour of the motion, please raise your hand. In favour is Councillor Calvert, Councillor Reynolds, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Ross, Councillor Garrow, Councillor Rasmussen, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Tree, Councillor Richards, Councillor Conolly, Councillor Zamprogno and Councillor Kotlash. Did I leave anyone out? No. Declare it carried unanimously. So I will now hand over to the General Manager to run the election that we just decided to run

Thank you, Mr Mayor. Councillors, as we are conducting this meeting both in the chamber and via audiovisual links, I'd like to confirm some protocols for this evening's meeting. Firstly, for councillors in the chamber who wish to speak, can you please raise your hand to indicate that that's the case. And for councillors attending by audiovisual link, can you please raise your blue hand. And for those councillors involved, you know what that means. The first item of business is the election of the Mayor until the ordinary local government elections are held on the 4th of September 2021. Councillors, you have all been provided with a set of nomination forms, a copy of the fact sheet prepared by the Office of Local Government to assist us in ensuring that we adhere to the relevant legislation.

Copies of that fact sheet have also been posted on Council's website to assist members of the public following this evening's proceedings. At this point, I've received two nominations for the role of Mayor, nominations from Councillor Conolly and Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Are there any further nominations? That being the case, I can confirm that the following nominations for the role of Mayor are Councillor Conolly and Councillor Lyons-Buckett. I've also received confirmation from all of the councillors that they have accepted their nominations. As we have more than one candidate, we must now determine by resolution the method of voting for the role of Mayor. Given that some councillors are attending by audiovisual link, Council's legal advice indicates that the only available method for voting is open voting by show of hands.

I'll now call for a motion to elect the Mayor by open voting.

Moved that way, Mr Returning Officer. So moved

Councillor Rasmussen. Seconded, Councillor Zamprogno. Any discussion, councillors? That being the case, Councillor Rasmussen, right of reply, if you wish to

Not necessary, Mr Conolly. Thank you.

I will now then put the motion. Those in favour raise your hand. In favour of the motion are Councillor Richards, Councillor Conolly, Councillor Calvert, Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Kotlash , Councillor Tree, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Rasmussen, Councillor Garrow, Councillor Ross, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Reynolds. Is that everyone? That being the case, everyone's voted in favour. There are no motions against. I declare it carried. Councillors, it has been resolved that the preferred method of voting for the role of mayor is by open voting, show of hands. We have two candidates, and it's been resolved that we will pursue that by a show of hands. Each councillor is entitled to vote for only one candidate in each round of voting.

I will now write each candidate's name on a slip of paper and deposit it in a box. Do I have to? No. Have to do the tally sheet, yep. First name of the barrel will be the first written on the tally sheet, the second name out being the second written on the tally sheet.

So, Councillor Conolly, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Conolly, Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

So, Councillor Conolly has position one on the tally sheet and Councillor Lyons-Buckett has position two on the tally sheet. Would those councillors voting for position one on the tally sheet, Councillor Conolly, please raise your hand. Councillor Richards, Councillor Conolly, Councillor Calvert, Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Tree, Councillor Ross. That's, I think, everyone. And then for position two on the tally sheet, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, please raise your hand. Councillor Rasmussen, Councillor Garrow, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Reynolds, Councillor Wheeler. Have I called out everyone's name? Is that everyone? Okay. So Councillor Conolly has the highest number of votes, formal votes, and as a result, I declare Councillor Conolly is elected mayor for the next 12 months.

So I'll now ask the mayor of Hawkesbury City Council, Councillor Conolly, to chair the balance of the meeting

Thank you, General Manager. I might just take a very short moment just to thank the council for the support that's been shown in me tonight. We've got only 12 months of the term left, a number of really important priorities. We've got an LEP to deliver, livability funding needs to be rolled out, a number of governance and risk issues we need to look at. So we've got not a lot of time, and my ambition will be to work with the whole council, like the ratepayers expect us to, and try and get this done in the time we've got left. So thank you very much. Pardon.

Item 41, is it ? Okay, so the next item is item 178, the election of Deputy Mayor. So, councillors, can someone please move the recommendation on page 16 of the business paper that an election for the position of Deputy Mayor of Hawkesbury City Council for the 2020 to 2021 mayoral term be carried out.

Moved

Councillor Kotlash, seconded, Councillor Richards. Any speakers? If not, I’ll put the motion. All those in favour, raise your hand. In favour of the motion are Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Zamprogno , Councillor Calvert , Councillor Richards, Councillor Reynolds, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Ross, Councillor Garrow, Councillor Rasmussen, Councillor Wheeler, and Councillor Tree, and Councillor Conolly. I declare the motion carried. So I’ll now hand the meeting over back to the returning officer to conduct the election of

Deputy Mayor. धन्यवाद, Mr Mayor. The next item of business is the election of Deputy Mayor until the ordinary council elections held on the 4th of September 2021. Councillors, you’ve all been provided with a set of nomination forms, a copy of the fact sheet prepared by the Office of Local Government to assist in ensuring that we adhere to the relevant legislation. Copies of the fact sheet have also been posted on Council’s website for the benefit of those members of the public following this evening’s proceedings. At this point we have three nominations for the role of Deputy Mayor from Councillors Calvert, Lyons-Buckett, and Reynolds. Are there any further nominations? Councillor Reynolds wants to speak. Councillor Reynolds, you wish to speak?

Yes, thank you. I wish to withdraw my nomination, please.

Thank you. That being the case, we have two nominations for the role of Deputy Mayor from Councillors Calvert and Lyons-Buckett. I've also received confirmation from all of those councillors that they have accepted their nominations. As we have more than one candidate, we must now determine by resolution the method for voting for the role of Mayor. Again, given that some councillors are attending by audio-visual link, Council's legal advice indicates that the only available method for voting is by open voting, by show of hands. I now call for a motion to elect the Deputy Mayor by open voting. So we've got Councillor Richards, Councillor Calvert, Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Kotlash. Are we voting or are we just moving a motion?

That was just moving a motion. Yeah

That's— sorry

Yes

Do we have a seconder? Councillor Kotlash. Any discussion?

No discussion.

Right of reply. No right of reply. I'll now put the motion. For those in favour, can you please raise your hand. Those in favour are Councillor Richards, Councillor Calvert, Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Conolly, Councillor Tree, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Rasmussen. Councillor Garrow, Councillor Ross, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Reynolds. That being the case, that's unanimous. I declare it carried. So we'll now move to voting. As we've got two candidates, we'll similarly again determine the tally sheet. So I'll be writing each candidate's name on a slip of paper and depositing in a box. The first name out of the barrel will be written first on the tally sheet, the second name out being the second name written on the tally sheet.

First on the tally sheet is Councillor Calvert. Second on the tally sheet is Councillor Lyons-Buckett. So, with those councillors voting for position one

On the tally sheet, Councillor Calvert, please raise their hand. Councillor Richards, Councillor Calvert, Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Conolly, Councillor Tree. For those people voting for position two on the tally sheet, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, can you please raise your

Hand.

Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Rasmussen, Councillor Garrow, Councillor Ross, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Reynolds. Okay, so we have a tie for the position of Deputy Mayor. In accordance with Clause 12 of Schedule 7 of the Local Government General Regulations 2005, we will now write the names of the candidates on similar slips of paper, fold them and place them in a box. Please note that the candidate whose name is drawn out first will be declared the Deputy Mayor. Councillor Calvert . Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Is the name that I've drawn out of the hat.

Councillor

Kelvitt was the second name. I declare Councillor Lyons-Buckett as elected Deputy Mayor until the ordinary local government elections are held on the 4th of September 2021. I'll now ask the Mayor, Councillor Conolly, to chair the balance of the meeting.

Thank you, General Manager. Congratulations, Councillor Lyons-Buckett on your election. Sorry, are there any items on block? Yeah. Two. So, items 179 and 180 are on block, so if someone wants to move those. Moved, Councillor Richards, seconded Councillor Kotlash. All those in favour, please raise your hand. In favour is Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Calvert, Councillor Richards, Councillor Ross, Councillor Tree, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Garrow, Councillor Reynolds, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Conolly. Against? Didn't read out your name, Councillor Rasmussen. Oh, sorry. I voted for it. In favour is Councillor Rasmussen also. Of course, I declare that carried. There being no further items of business, yep, I declare the meeting closed at 6.52. Thank you, everybody.