11 January 2022 - Ordinary

Good evening, everybody. I think that is my cue. I'm Elizabeth Richardson, Council's General Manager, and welcome this evening. As Council has a new Council term, Council does not have a Mayor or Deputy Mayor, and therefore a Chairperson is not present at this meeting. In accordance with Section 369 of the Local Government Act and Council's Code of Meeting Practice, the first business of the meeting must be the election of a Chairperson to preside at the meeting until a Mayor is elected. The election of the Chairperson must be conducted by myself as the General Manager. Therefore, I call for any nominations for Chairperson to preside over this meeting until such time as the Mayor is elected. Nominations may now be moved and seconded. Do I have any nominees for Chairperson of the meeting?

I'm not sure that that's within the Code of Meeting Practice, Councillor.

I'll nominate Barry Calvert, Councillor Calvert. Councillor Kotlash has nominated Councillor Calvert to chair the meeting. Do I have a seconder for that motion? Seconded, Councillor O'Konnolly. All in favour? Aye. Anyone disagreeing with that motion?

I will call it unanimous then. Thank you. Councillor Calvert, I'll ask you to come and assume the Chair of the meeting, please.

Thank you everyone. Welcome to the first Council meeting of this term. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land, the Darug, Young and the Dharug people. Pay respect to Elders both past and present. I believe everyone's here, so there's no apologies. And Madam General Manager, you'd like to read out something, I believe.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. By way of procedural matters, members of the public attending the meeting are advised that in the event of an emergency, you'll be asked to proceed in an orderly manner to the nearest exit, following the guidance of our warden. I would also like to advise that in accordance with clause 5.18 of the 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. For the benefit of any persons who will be addressing the Council tonight, it is expected that you will refrain from making any insult, allegation or personal reflection against any person, present or not, at this meeting. This request relates to both your address to Council and answers to any questions given in response to questions from Councillors. Finally, it is also requested that any person participating in or attending the meeting has a mobile phone, they either turn it off or turn it to silent.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I believe the next item is the Affirmation or Oath of Office. Can I hand back to you for that? The Local Government Act

Requires all councillors to take an oath of office or make an affirmation of office at or before the first meeting of Council after that Council is elected. As this is the first meeting of the Council after the election, each councillor will need to take an oath of office or make an affirmation of office. Each councillor has received the prescribed wording for both the oath and the affirmation. They will now need to take either the oath or the affirmation before Council. I will now ask each councillor to individually take an oath of office or make an affirmation of office by reading out the prescribed words previously provided to you. Can you also please sign the form containing the appropriate words for collection after the meeting? I'll start with the Chair, Councillor Calvert.

Left my affirmation over there.

Thank you.

I'd like to take the affirmation of office. I, Councillor Barry Calvert, solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people of the Hawkesbury City Council local government area and the Hawkesbury City Council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993 or any other Act to the best of my ability and judgment.

Thank you, Councillor Calvert. Councillor Conolly.

I, Councillor Patrick Conolly, swear that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people in the Hawkesbury City Council local government area and the Hawkesbury City Council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993 or any other Act to the best of my ability and judgment.

Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Djuric.

I, Councillor Shane Djuric, swear that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor for the City of Hawkesbury Local Government Area and Hawkesbury City Council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993. Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Dogramaci. Thank you, Councillor

Councillor Kotlash.

Are we using the microphone? Yes, please. Thanks. Has

Anyone heard?

I , Councillor Amanda Kotlash, solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people of the Hawkesbury City Council local government area and the Hawkesbury City Council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993. Or any other act to the best of my ability and judgment. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Thank you. I , Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett, solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people of the Hawkesbury City Council local government area and the Hawkesbury City Council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993 or any other act to the best of my ability and judgment

Thank you, Councillor. For the councillors not sitting at the main table, Karina from our governance team has a spare microphone, so we'll be passing that around. I believe that's Councillor Reardon there behind the screen.

I, Councillor Jill Reardon, swear that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people in the Hawkesbury City Council

Local government area and the Hawkesbury City Council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993 or any other act to the best of my ability and judgment. Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Richards.

I, Councillor Sheather swear that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people in the Hawkesbury City Council local government area and the Hawkesbury City Council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993 or any other act to the best of my ability and judgment. Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Sheather. Thank you. I, Councillor Sheather, swear that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people of the Hawkesbury City local government area and the Hawkesbury City Council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993 or any other Act to the best of my ability and judgment.

Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Veigel.

I, Councillor Paul Veigel

Swear that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people in the Hawkesbury City local government area and the Hawkesbury City Council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993 or any other Act to the best of my ability and judgment. Thank you, Councillor Veigel. Councillor Wheeler. I, Councillor Danielle Wheeler, solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people of the Hawkesbury City Council local government area and the Hawkesbury City Council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993 or any other Act to the best of my ability and judgment.

Thank you, Councillor Wheeler. Councillor Zamprogno. I, Councillor Nathan Zamprogno, swear that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people in the Hawkesbury City local government area and the Hawkesbury City Council, and that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act 1993 or any other Act to the best of my ability and judgment.

Thank you, Councillor. That concludes the taking of the oaths and affirmations of office. Councillor Calvert.

Thank you, General Manager. Congratulations, everyone. I believe there are no minutes or mayoral minutes, and takes us to the next section, which is the election of the mayor. Is there any other business before that, General Manager?

Any declarations of interest, please? Does anyone have any declarations of interest? No? Apparently not. Any other business? Now, do we need a motion to move to the General Manager?

Okay.

Oh, with my glasses. Okay. The first item is item one, election of the mayor. Councillors, can someone please move the recommendation on page 11 of the business paper that an election for the position of mayor of Hawkesbury City Council for January 2022 to January 2024 mayoral term be carried out. Someone like to move that? Moved, Councillor Kotlash, seconded, Councillor Wheeler. Anyone wish to speak against that? Declare it carried. Are there any speakers? Sorry, no. Declare it carried unanimously. I'm now going to vacate this chair and hand the meeting over to the returning officer, the General Manager.

Thank you, Mr Chair. Councillors, you have all been provided with a set of nomination forms. At this point, I have received one nomination for the role of Mayor from Councillor Conolly. Are there any further nominations?

That being the case, I can confirm I have the following nomination from the office of Mayor, and that is Councillor Conolly.

As there is only one nominee for the office of Mayor, I declare that Councillor Conolly is Hawkesbury City Council Mayor for the Mayoral term from January 2022 to January 2024. Congratulations.

I'll now ask the Mayor to come and assume the role of Chair.

Thank you, Councillors. I'll just say very briefly a couple of words. First, I wanted to thank you all for the faith you've shown in me. I'm very humbled to be re-elected and unopposed. I really appreciate the faith, and I'll do my best to work with everyone. I also wanted to say thank you to the community for participating in that big democratic process we just went through. It's really important that we go through that, even though it's a bit of a pain. And I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for going through that, for having a say, and in particular for the support shown for myself and the Liberal team. We really appreciate it, and we'll certainly work hard, as I'm sure everyone else will, not to let you down.

Congratulations also to all the Councillors on your re-election. We've got some new faces as well, and I look forward to working and getting to know each and every one of you. My priority, of course, will be to continue working to make Council an organisation that's focused on its customers, the ratepayers and residents of Hawkesbury City Council. I've always believed that Council, first and foremost, is a service provider. Our job is to make sure that we're delivering the services people want, and we're delivering them to a good quality, and that we're doing our best to make Hawkesbury a better place to live and work. So thank you very much.

We'll move on to item two, which is the — I've got a script for this. Okay. The next item is item two, election of the Deputy Mayor. So Councillors are looking for a recommendation for someone to move the recommendation on page 16 that the election be carried out. Moved Councillor Lyons-Buckett, seconded Councillor Kotlash. Any discussion? All in favour? Declare it carried, and I'll hand over to the returning officer.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. Councillors, you've all been provided with a set of nomination forms and a copy of the fact sheet provided by the Office of Local Government to assist us in ensuring that we adhere to the relevant legislation. Copies of the fact sheet have also been posted on Council's website to assist those following this evening's proceedings. At this point, I've received one nomination for the office of Deputy Mayor from Councillor Calvert. Are there any further nominations?

I've received a further nomination from Councillors Impronio.

Any further nominations?

That being the case, I can confirm I have the following nominations for the office of Deputy Mayor from Councillor Calvert and Councillor Impronio.

As we have more than one candidate, Council must now determine by resolution the method of voting for the role of Deputy Mayor. The options are open voting, a show of hands, an ordinary ballot being a secret ballot, or a preferential ballot. Do I have a mover for the preferred method of ballot? Moved. Councillor O'Connell, is that seconded? Councillor Richards for an open ballot. Do I have any other methods?

Do I have a seconder for that motion?

Councillor Djuric.

I'll first of all put the Conolly-Richards motion that the method of voting for the role of Deputy Mayor be by open voting, being a show of hands.

Sorry, is that second motion not an amendment, or is it more on the table yet?

I would be thinking that the first motion would now be the primary motion,

And the second one's a foreshadowed motion.

So we'll move the primary motion initially. Can I please see a show of hands for those in favour of—

At this stage we're voting on the primary motion being that the method of voting for the role of Deputy Mayor be by open voting, show of hands. Okay.

So I will now call for the vote, please. Show of hands for method of open voting. I have Councillors Conolly , Reardon, Richards, Sheather, Calvert , Kotlash. Lyons-Buckett, Wheeler and Veigel. And against? Councillor Zamprogno and Councillor Djuric. With that, I will declare that motion carried, and the foreshadowed motion then lapses. Okay. So with that dispensed with.

Mr Mayor— sorry, General Manager, sorry. Are we taking a vote on the period of time for the Deputy Mayor? Can we move a motion on that?

Sorry , that was in the motion you already carried.

Yep. That motion was at point where Council then moved recommendation item 16 on the business paper for the Mayoral term.

So it has now been resolved that the method of voting for the position of Deputy Mayor will be 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 in a box. The first name out of the barrel will be the first on the tally sheet, with the second name out being written second on the tally sheet. Do you

Want to shake the box? Very illustrious

Role

We will now draw the names out of the box and record the details on the tally sheet in order of selection.

Position one, Councillor Zamprogno.

Position two, Councillor Calvert.

Okay. Would

Those councillors voting for position one on the tally sheet, being Councillors Zamprogno, please raise your hand.

Councillor Zamprogno. Councillor Djuric.

Would those councillors voting for position two on the tally sheet for Councillor Calvert, please raise your hand. Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Veigel, Councillor Sheather, Councillor Richards, Councillor Reardon, Councillor Calvert, Councillor Conolly. Councillor Dogramaci, did you wish to vote?

I have no idea about Councillor Calvert, so I don't know what he has done in the past. I'm responsible to these people, so I don't know where my...

So that's two. That's two votes for... That's two votes for Councillors Zamprogno, and nine votes for Councillor Calvert. Councillor Calvert has the highest number of formal votes and as a result, I declare that Councillor Calvert is elected as

The Deputy Mayor for the Mayoral term until January 2024. Thank you very much.

I'll now ask the Mayor of Hawkesbury, Councillor Conolly, to chair the balance of the meeting.

Thank you, General Manager. Congratulations, Councillor Calvert. So the next item is item three. So we have a—

Recommendation that Council nominate and appoint its delegates and representatives to the various committees and seek expressions of interest for the Community Membership of the Heritage Committee. So I think we could probably move that and then work through each committee one by one. Is that what's intended? Yes. Okay. So motion to move the recommendation. Moved that way . Moved Councillor Kotlash, seconded Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Any discussion on that part of it, or do we keep going?

Keep going. Okay. All right. So the motion's on the table and now we can work through the representatives for each committee. So we might just, I think the way we'll try and do it, if we can, is call for expressions of interest for each committee and see where we need to make a decision. Might be the simplest way. So the first committee is the Council's Community Services Committee , and there's up to five councillors. Councillor Lyons-Buckett, wish to nominate yourself? Yep. Who else is interested? Yeah, I think that's a good way forward. Councillor Richards, Councillor Calvert. Someone , can I? Essentially, this is a councillor wheeler. So I've got Wheeler, Lyons-Buckett, Calvert, Richards

Anybody else? And Councillor Sheather. So that is five. Was there anyone else interested?

All right. If not, we'll make a note of that and keep moving. Is that—

I think so.

Are we adding that as a point of the motion, or?

I think we'll just work our way through. I think we're just capturing those as we go in the minutes, and

We'll

Move it all at once at the end.

Yeah, and when we need to make a decision, we'll deal with that when we get there. Okay. So the Environment Committee also has up to five councillors. Who's interested in serving on the Environment Committee? So Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Lyons-Buckett. I would like to serve on that committee.

Anybody else wish to serve on the Environment Committee? Councillor Reardon.

Again, that's five, so that's pretty easy if everyone's happy. Yep. The Innovation and Partnerships Committee. Councillor Veigel,

Zamprogno, Reardon.

I'd like to be on that, so I'll note that down. Anybody else wish to serve on that committee? That's four councillors we're up to so far. There's a Calvert. Any others? No

Okay. Again, that's fairly straightforward. Let's keep going. The Heritage Committee, which has three councillors on the Heritage Committee. Councillor Wheeler is interested. Councillor Djuric. Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Councillor Reardon.

So we've got four people interested in that, in being on that committee. I might just go outside the code a little bit and just ask Councillor Wheeler, as the previous chair, would there be any issue with having four people on that committee ? So the councillor that is open to council if council wants to go a different way, we just amend the constitution to add four councillors. Yep.

The Disaster and Emergency Committee is all councillors, so that doesn't need any change there. The General Manager's Performance Review Panel has the Mayor. And two councillors. So there's two spots there: Councillor Calvert and Councillor Richards, Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

So we will need a decision there.

I guess, are we happy to take an informal poll here and then stick it in the motion? Is that the way we do that? Yep. So,

Somebody want to make a suggestion on who the two should be, and we'll see if there is support for that.

Otherwise, we don't. I don't know how we get there.

Yeah, but we could do that.

So what I'm proposing is that there's two spots here. We've got three people that are interested. We're trying to get to a point where we've got one motion which the council can carry, listing all the decisions we've made through the committees. So I'd like to sort of find a way to informally decide who those two will be so that we can keep going on this one motion rather than have—

I'll withdraw, Mr Mayor, so we can keep going because I know the numbers are stacked against, but maybe the general manager will choose someone else at the time.

Okay. So we've got Councillor Richards and Councillor Calvert. The audit committee. Anybody wish to serve on the audit committee?

Since there's no rush of takers, I'd be happy to serve on the audit committee. There's also, I believe, an alternate. Is there? It doesn't say that in here, but there has been in the past. No. No? Okay. No alternate. Everyone’s happy with that then. The Local Traffic Committee, Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Any others? No? Okay. This Greater City Local Land Services, is that the one we’re not doing? That’s on the screen. Okay.

Councillor Lyons-Buckett was the traffic committee.

The Bush Fire Management Committee require the nomination of the mayor, a councillor or senior staff representative.

I’d be happy to serve on that, but was there a recommendation from staff that it should be a senior staff person?

We do have an emergency management coordinator now. Could we nominate that the person occupying that position could be a representative? Yep. Everybody okay with that?

Mr Mayor, I would really like the mayor or a councillor to be on it as well, or at least as an alternate for someone to go. I think it’s really important. I’m

Sure I’ll continue to be invited and happy to attend.

Okay.

If we make the LEMO our formal representative, we get some continuity. Civic Risk Mutual, Councillor Veigel. Any others?

No

McMahon Park Management Committee, Councillor Reardon. There’s also one representative and then anybody else interested in being the representative, or what about—

You happy to be the alternate? Anyone else interested in being either the representative or the alternate? No?

Okay.

The Hawkesbury Sports Council, one councillor and one alternate. Councillor Sheather.

Any other one? Anybody else interested?

Councillor Richards would be the alternate.

Okay, so we'll have record Councillor Sheather as the representative and Councillor Zamprogno as the alternative.

Peppercorn Services.

Councillor Richards. Any other interest? No Okay. Wesrock. There's two councillors and one alternate councillor. So interest from Councillor Calvert, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Zamprogno.

Anyone want to be the alternate, or should we need probably need to vote on that one?

Okay. Somebody wish to move who they think those two should be, and we can maybe vote on it that way

We'll need some direction. We can't increase the membership of that one. Yes? Yeah

Do a show of hands on that, if you're in favour of that. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven against. A couple . Okay. So for the purposes of this motion, if it's okay, that wasn't the formal motion, but we'll just record that in the motion that it'll be Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Calvert as the councillors, with Councillor Zamprogno as the alternate.

Hawkesbury River County Council is a separate process. Yep. The Hawkesbury Sister City Association. Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Sheather.

Do we want to vote on that or is there any discussion there?

No, that's the different— it's not us, it's a separate organisation. No, there's plenty of work to be done too. Yes. Yeah, I think that that can work. I think if we record those three as making up council's two representatives, would that be okay? We'll run that by them anyway for now and come back if there's a problem. Yep.

Hawkesbury Western Sydney University on the selection panel, Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Any others? Okay, we'll record that. Forum on Western Sydney Airport. I'd be happy to do that, or Councillor Dogramaci. Any others? Okay, in which case I'll withdraw that and we'll record Councillor Dogramaci as our representative for that. New South Wales Public Libraries.

The absence of anyone else, I'll do that. Yep. Western Sydney Academy of Sport. Councillor Richards.

Okay, no others. And Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Advisory Committee.

Isn't Councillor Kotlash on that for a fixed term?

Yeah, I think that, I don't think that we need to choose anybody because I was appointed by the minister and then other councils that are within that, within the World Heritage area get to have a turn. So I don't know when my term is up, but they'll tell me no doubt and then they'll go to— It must

Be soon, but— Yeah. So I

Don't know whether we should—

It's a rotational.

I think maybe perhaps we leave that out and come back to council if required. It's a bit

I think at this point we were just simply unclear on that Councillor Kotlash, so we felt that it was probably no harm in council nominating a representative, but if it was redundant, then it was redundant

I'll offer to do it should it come up if you want to record it.

Yeah. Okay, we'll put Councillor Lyons-Buckett, if applicable or something.

Yep.

So that's all the committees we have to go through. That was fairly easy. Well done, Council. So if we've got that motion up on the board, we can vote on that. Anybody wish to speak for or against the motion? No

Of course. Just— sorry, Councillor Dogramaci, if you could just use your microphone when you're speaking, just turn that light.

That's it. Okay, is that— that's okay now? That's better. Now, since you were kind enough to appoint me to that position with the airport or whatever, obviously we are all expecting some kind of a business coming this way, which I am involved with every single one of the contractors in that area, which I will try to bring them in here to create jobs and opportunities. Now, is this the right time or the place to ask if we could also form some kind of a committee for tourism and business so I could bring people from overseas?

Yeah, so the correct way to do that would probably be to discuss with the general manager before the next meeting of council and bring forward a motion to the next meeting to set up that committee.

Yeah . So we could do that?

Yep, we can do that at the next meeting. Just need notice. Yep. Thanks No worries. Any discussion for or against the motion? Are we all— it's not up there yet, but are we all comfortable on— Were we all comfortable on what that was as we went through there?

Yeah, if you want to read that through before you vote on that, please.

Just while the list has been put together, maybe I can just read out roughly what's the motion before Council. So the motion before Council at the moment is that Council, one, nominate and appoint its delegates and representatives to the following various committees for the period from January 2022 to January 2024 as follows. So I'll just read these out, what was moved earlier. The Community Services Committee: Councillors Lyons-Buckett, Richards, Calvert, Wheeler and Sheather. Environment Committee: Councillors Wheeler, Kotlash, Lyons-Buckett, Conolly and Reardon. Innovation and Partnerships Committee: Councillors Veigel, Zamprogno, Reardon, Conolly and Calvert. Heritage Committee : Councillors Wheeler, Djuric , Lyons-Buckett and Reardon, and that the constitution of the Heritage Committee be amended to reflect that four councillors be members of that committee.

The Disaster and Emergency Committee: all 12 councillors. The General Manager's Performance Review Panel: Councillors Calvert and Richards and the Mayor, Councillor Conolly. The Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee: Councillor Conolly. The Local Traffic Committee: Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

Clubs Grant Local Committee: the Mayor, Councillor Conolly.

The Bushfire Management Committee. That will be a senior staff member representative. Civic Groups Mutual, Councillor Veigel. McMahon Park Management Committee, Councillor Reardon. Alternate is Councillor Veigel. Hawkesbury Sports Council, Councillor Sheather. Alternate Councillor Zamprogno. Western Parklands Committee, the Mayor, Councillor Conolly. Peppercorn Services, Councillor Richards. Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, Councillors Calvert and Kotlash. Councillor Zamprogno, the alternate. Hawkesbury River County Council will be a separate process. Hawkesbury City Association, Councillor Wheeler, Lyons-Buckett and Sheather. Hawkesbury Western Sydney University, Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

Forum on Western Sydney Airport, Councillor Dogramaci. New South Wales Public Libraries, Councillor Conolly. Western Sydney Academy of Sport, Councillor Richards. Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Advisory Committee, Councillor Lyons-Buckett if applicable . And the, sorry, the second part of the resolution was that Council seek expressions of interest for community membership of the Heritage Committee.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Any further discussion? If not, we'll put the motion. All those in favour, please raise your hand. In favour of the motion are Councillor Conolly, Councillor Calvert, Councillor Reardon, Councillor Richards, Councillor Sheather, Councillor Djuric, Councillor Dogramaci, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Veigel. Against. And, Councillor Wheeler, I didn't record a vote from you.

I'll declare that carried, and then we'll come back. We'll certainly answer that question there before we move on.

I think, Councillor Wheeler, that's not what we ordinarily do. When those expressions of interest come back, I'm sure we could, at that point, change the term of those. Yeah. Yeah.

Yep. Okay. Next item is the election of—

Council representatives of the Hawkesbury River County Council. So there's a recommendation here that we carry out that election. Someone wants to move that? Moved, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, seconded Councillor Calvert. All those in favour? Against? I didn't record that, did I? Sorry. All those in favour, please raise your hand. In favour, Councillor Conolly, Councillor Calvert, Councillor Reardon, Councillor Richards, Councillor Sheather, Councillor Djuric, Councillor Veigel, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, and Councillor Dogramaci. Declare it carried. So now I'll hand over to the general manager.

So I'm now going to vacate the chair and hand the meeting over to the returning officer, the general manager. All right

Councillors

Nomination forms were circulated in advance of the meeting. At this point, I have received three nominations for representatives of members of the Hawkesbury River County Council from — looks like I've got a fourth in coming. Oops. We'll say we now have four— from Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Wheeler,

Councillor Dogramaci, and Councillor Zamprogno.

I've examined these nominations and declare them all to be valid nominations in accordance with Schedule 9 of the Local Government General Regulation 2021. Are there any further nominations?

No.

So therefore— I've received four nominations for members to the Hawkesbury River County Council from Councillors Zamprogno, Dogramaci, Wheeler and Kotlash

As we have more than two candidates, a vote will be undertaken using the method of preferential ballot. Council is to proceed by preferential ballot for the election of members of the Hawkesbury River County Council. As I've indicated, I have nominations being received from Councillors Zamprogno, Dogramaci, Wheeler and Kotlash. Ballot papers will now be prepared and distributed to all councillors. Please bear with us. Councillors

The ballot papers are now being distributed. I need you to at least

Nominate one and

Two

I now declare that voting for the Hawkesbury River County Council has closed. First preference votes are, I have, I should record, I have 11 formal votes and

One informal vote. For Councillor, I have Councillor Dogramaci, I have zero formal votes. Councillor Kotlash, five. Councillor Wheeler, four. And Councillor Zamprogno, two. Therefore, I do not have a clear majority, and also Councillor Dogramaci has been eliminated. We will now move to redistribute Councillor Zamprogno's preferences. Just bear with us.

Thank you. As there are only two

Continuing candidates remaining, I declare that Councillor Wheeler and Councillor Kotlash as Council's representatives on the Hawkesbury River County Council until the next appointment opens in the election in 2024. Congratulations.

Thank you, General Manager. We'll move on

To item five .

Five , which is consideration of a countback election to fill casual vacancies. Motion moved , someone wish to move the recommendation, Councillor Kotlash? Yeah, I'll move that. Seconder for that? Seconded, Councillor Calvert. Any discussion?

Nope. It's easy. All right, we'll put the motion. All those in favour of the motion, please raise your hand. Favour are Councillor Conolly, Councillor Calvert, Councillor Reardon, Councillor Richards, Councillor Sheather, Councillor Djuric, Councillor Veigel, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Against? Nobody. And Councillor Dogramaci, were you voting in favour or? I record you against just for the purposes of the minutes, but that's okay.

And then our final item for this evening, councillors, is the item six, the Local Government NSW Special Conference. The recommendation is that we replace Councillor Ross. I'm also unable to attend, so I'd suggest that I be replaced as well if Council wishes. So if someone wants to move the recommendation with that addition, Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Yep . Seconder for that, Councillor Veigel, and then we can just identify those two people we're replacing, two councillors that wish to attend.

If anyone wishes to attend the special conference that isn't already on the list?

No.

If there is nobody, then I'd suggest we remove point one from the motion, if that's all right, Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Yep Okay. So it's now just points two to four. Any discussion?

All right, there being no discussion, we'll put the motion. All those in.

And, well , we've got till 18 January to... Yeah, I think that's okay. Councillor Sheather

At the moment it doesn't have any motions. It says in the business paper we've got until Monday, I think it is, the 18th of January, to submit any motions to the General Manager, and they'll be reported to the next council meeting

Not that I've seen, no.

All right, there's no further discussion. We'll put the motion, which is points two to four in the recommendation, not on the screen. All those in favour, please raise your hand. Favour: Councillor Conolly, Councillor Calvert, Councillor Reardon, Councillor Richards, Councillor Sheather, Councillor Djuric, Councillor Veigel, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Yes, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, is that right? Were you in favour? Yeah, sorry, I didn't see, but that's okay. Against

You're abstaining, so record Councillor Dogramaci as against and Councillor Kotlash absent for the vote, and declare it carried.

So that was our final item of business, Councillors, for this evening. So thank you very much for your attendance, and we'll close the meeting now at 7.36. Thanks everybody.