15 October 2024 - Ordinary

All right. Good evening, everybody, and welcome to—do I have all the Councillors? No. Councillor Creed. Councillor Creed, what an auspicious start. Good evening, everybody, and welcome to

Hawkesbury

City Council's meeting of the 15th of October 2024. I'd like to welcome those who are attending the meeting in the gallery tonight, as well as those who are viewing the meeting online. Hawkesbury City Council acknowledges the Darug and the Darkinjung people as the traditional custodians of the lands of the Hawkesbury. We pay respect to all Elders, past, present and emerging, and acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of this country. Members of the public attending the meeting are advised that in the event of an emergency, you will 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 5.33 of Council's Code of Meeting Practice, meetings of the Council are also 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 and live stream of the 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 gallery may be seen in the live stream video, and if you do not wish to be recorded in the live stream, please move into the foyer, and we will turn the foyer speakers on for you. The recordings may be made available to other persons where such access is in accordance with the relevant regulations.

The recordings are stored on Council's record management system and uploaded to Council's website. Meetings of the Council may be separately recorded with the prior authority of the Council. Finally, it's requested that if you're attending the meeting this evening and you have your mobile phone on you, could you please either turn it off or switch it to silent. Thank you. The first matter of business tonight is the declaration of office. 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 the Council after that Council is elected. Tonight, the first Council meeting after the election, each councillor will need to take an oath of office or make an affirmation of office prior to participating in the meeting.

Councillors, I would now like to invite you to take your declaration of office. I will call out each councillor in alphabetical order to come to the lectern to take your oath or affirmation of office. First is Councillor Tom Aczel.

Okay, thank you. Good evening everyone. I, Tom Aczel, 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 of 1993 or any other Act to the best of my ability and judgment. Next

Is Councillor Mike Creed.

I, Mike Creed, swear 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. Councillor Shane Djuric. I, Shane Djuric, swear 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.

Councillor Eddie Dogramaci.

Good evening to you all. I, Eddie Dogramaci, swear that I will undertake the duties of the office of councillors 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. And to add that I will still be carrying out looking after the elderly, the veterans, little old ladies, homeless and all the others, so help me God.

Councillor Amanda Kotlash.

I, 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 of 1993 and any other Act to the best of my ability and judgment.

Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett

I, 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.

Councillor Sarah McMahon.

I, Sarah McMahon, 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.

Councillor Jill Reardon.

I, Jill Reardon, swear 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.

Councillor Les Sheather.

Good evening. I, Les Sheather, swear—excuse me. I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people of 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 of 1993, or any other Act, to the best of my ability and judgment. Councillor Paul Veigel. G'day, everybody. I, Paul Veigel, swear that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people of the Hawkesbury City Council and local government area, and the Hawkesbury City Council, that I will faithfully and impartially carry out the functions, powers, authorities and discretions vested in me under the Local Government Act of 1993, or any other Act, to the best of my ability and judgment, so help me God.

Councillor Danielle Wheeler.

I, 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

And Councillor Nathan Zamprogno.

Lucky

Last.

I, Nathan Zamprogno, swear that I will undertake the duties of the office of Councillor in the best interests of the people of Hawkesbury City 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 or any other Act to the best of my ability and judgment

That concludes the declaration. Well, first, congratulations again, Councillors

As all Councillors are present at the meeting tonight, there are no apologies to note for tonight's Council meeting.

Councillors, we will now move on to the first item on the agenda, being the election of Mayor.

Councillors, can someone please move the recommendation on page nine of the business paper, being that in accordance with Schedule 7 of the Local Government General Regulation 2021, the General Manager, as Returning Officer, conduct the election of the Mayor of Hawkesbury City Council for the October 2024 to September 2026 Mayoral term. Do I have somebody to move that way? Councillor Reardon, seconded. Councillor Zamprogno. Councillors, are there

Any speakers?

No. I'd now like to put the motion. All those in favour of the motion as moved by Councillor Reardon, seconded by Councillor Zamprogno.

Carried unanimously. Thank you, Councillors.

Councillors, the nomination forms for the election of Mayor were circulated to Councillors prior to the meeting. I have received four nominations for the election of Mayor of Hawkesbury City Council from Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Sheather, and Councillor Zamprogno. I have examined these nominations and declare them to be valid nominations in accordance with Schedule 7 of the Local Government General Regulation 2021. Councillors, are there any further nominations?

No.

Thank you very much. Councillors, as we have received more than one nominee for the role of Mayor, Council must determine the resolution, by resolution, the method of voting for the election of Mayor to Hawkesbury City Council. The options are

Open voting by way of a show of hands, ordinary ballot, being a secret ballot , or preferential ballot, being a secret ballot. Councillors , can I please have a motion as to the preferred voting for the election of Mayor? Councillor Creed?

Yes . Thank you, Councillor. A seconder? Seconded by Councillor Reardon.

Councillors, is there any discussion required? No?

Thank you. I'd now like to put that motion. All in favour of the motion moved by Councillor Creed, seconded by Councillor Reardon, please raise your hand. That is carried unanimously. Thank you, Councillors.

Sorry , I

Lost

That tally sheet. Councillors, I have, as mentioned, I have received nominations from Councillors Kotlash, Lyons-Buckett, Sheather and Zamprogno. As four nominations have been received, an election will now be conducted by way of a show of hands. Councillors, we will now prepare the tally sheet in determining the order of the names of the candidates as they appear on the tally sheet. Just bear with us while we do that.

The first position on the tally sheet is Councillor Nathan Zamprogno.

The second position on the tally sheet is Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett.

The third position on the tally sheet is Councillor Amanda Kotlash.

That will then mean the fourth position on that tally sheet is Councillor Sheather. Councillors

All those councillors in favour of Councillor Nathan Zamprogno

To be elected as

Mayor, please raise your hands. We have Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Djuric.

Councillors, all those councillors in favour of Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett to be elected as Mayor, please raise your hand. Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, and Councillor Uscinski.

Councillors, all those councillors in favour of Councillor Amanda Kotlash to be elected as Mayor, please raise your hand. Councillor Kotlash.

And councillors, all those councillors in favour of Councillor Sheather to be elected as mayor, please raise your hand. Councillor Dogramaci, Councillor McMahon, Councillor Creed, Councillor Sheather, Councillor Veigel, and Councillor Reardon.

So we don't have a majority. Yeah.

So Councillor Kotlash, having the lowest number of votes, is excluded and further election is now required. So we'll

Go back to the top.

So councillors, all those councillors in favour of Councillor Zamprogno to be elected as mayor, please raise your hand. Councillor Zamprogno and Councillor Djuric.

Councillors, all those in favour of Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett being elected as mayor, please raise your hand. Councillors Wheeler, Lyons-Buckett, and Aczel.

And councillors, all those councillors in favour of Councillor Sheather to be elected as mayor, please raise your hand. Councillor Dogramaci, Councillor McMahon, Councillor Creed, Councillor Sheather, Councillor Veigel, and Councillor Reardon. Who's

Got

The lowest, Nathan

Councillor Kotlash, can I just clarify that you abstained from that vote? Yep.

So, Councillor Nathan Zamprogno, having had the lowest number of votes, is now excluded and a further election is required.

Councillors, all those Councillors in favour of Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett to be elected as Mayor, please raise your hands. Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Aczel, Councillor Kotlash.

Councillors, all those in favour of Councillor Sheather to be elected as Mayor, please raise your hand. Councillor Djuric, Councillor Dogramaci, Councillor McMahon, Councillor Creed, Councillor Sheather, Councillor Veigel, and Councillor Reardon.

Councillors, I now declare that Councillor Sheather is elected the Mayor of Hawkesbury City Council for the October 2024 to September 2026 Mayoral term.

Councillors, I would now like to invite the Mayor, Mayor Sheather, to come forward to be presented with the mayoral chains and to chair the remainder of the meeting. Congratulations, Councillor Sheather.

Yeah, thanks everyone. I will have something to say in a minute. We've got to get on with the meeting. Councillors, we now move into the second part, and that's the election of Deputy Mayor. Do I have a recommendation that's in the business paper on page 17? It reads that in accordance with Schedule 7 of the Local Government Act, General, that relating to 2021, the General Manager, as returning officer, conduct the elections of the Deputy Mayor of Hawkesbury City Council for the October 2024 to September 2026 mayoral term.

I'll move that way

Councillor McMahon, Councillor Kotlash.

Any discussion? Those in favour?

Do I need to read all the names out? It's unanimous. Thank you. And I now hand over to the General Manager. Councillors

The nomination forms for the election of Deputy Mayor were circulated to Councillors prior to the meeting. I have received four nominations for the election of Deputy Mayor of Hawkesbury City Council from Councillor Eddie Dogramaci, Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Sarah McMahon. And Councillor Nathan Zamprogno. I have examined these nominations and declare them to be valid nominations in accordance with Schedule 7 of the Local Government General Regulation 2021. Councillors, are there any further nominations?

No, thank you.

Mayor, as I have received more than one nomination, I'll now pass back to you for councillors to determine the method of voting.

Councillors, as we have more than one nomination for the role of Deputy Mayor, the Council must determine by resolution the method of voting, as we did with the Mayor, for Hawkesbury City Council. The options are open voting, which is show of hands, ordinary ballot, which is the secret ballot, and preferential ballot, which is also secret ballot. I

Move open voting. Councillor

Reardon

Councillor Kotlash

Those in favour of the motion?

Thank you. Thank you, Councillor.

Councillors

As mentioned

I have received nominations from Councillors Dogramaci, Lyons-Buckett, McMahon and Zamprogno. We will now prepare the ballot papers by determining the order of the names of the candidates to appear on the... On the ballot paper or the tally sheet.

First position on the tally sheet is Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett.

Second position on the tally sheet is Councillor Sarah McMahon.

Third position on the tally sheet is Councillor Nathan Zamprogno.

And that leaves Councillor Eddie Dogramaci as the fourth nominee on the tally sheet.

Councillors, all those in favour of Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett to be elected as Deputy Mayor for Hawkesbury City Council, please raise your hands.

Those voting for Councillor Lyons-Buckett are Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Aczel, Councillor Dogramaci.

All those councillors in favour of Councillor Sarah McMahon to be elected as Deputy Mayor for Hawkesbury City Council, please raise your hand. Councillor McMahon, Creed, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Veigel, Councillor Reardon and Councillor Sheather.

Councillors, all those in favour of Councillor Nathan Zamprogno to be elected as Deputy Mayor for Hawkesbury City Council, please raise your hand. Councillor Nathan Zamprogno and Councillor Djuric.

And Councillors, all those in favour of Councillor Dogramaci to be elected as Deputy Mayor for Hawkesbury City Council, please raise your hand. Councillor Dogramaci.

Councillor Dogramaci voted twice. Do I

Need to do—

So, Councillor, may I clarify which are you voting for yourself or Councillor Lyons-Buckett? Okay.

Well, in that instance, the first councillor excluded, having had no votes, is Councillor Dogramaci. We will then undertake the next round of voting, which is probably going to be the same as the first one. So, Councillors, all those in favour of Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett to be elected as Deputy Mayor for Hawkesbury City Council, please raise your hand. Councillors Wheeler, Lyons-Buckett, Axcell and Dogramaci.

Councillors, all those in favour of Councillor McMahon to be elected as Deputy Mayor for Hawkesbury City Council, please raise your hand. Councillor McMahon, Creed, Kotlash, Veigel, Reardon and Sheather.

Councillors, all those in favour of Councillor Nathan Zamprogno to be elected as Deputy Mayor for Hawkesbury City Council, please raise your hand. Councillor Zamprogno and Councillor Djuric.

Councillor Zamprogno, having had the lowest number of votes, is excluded.

Councillors, all those in favour of Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett to be elected as Deputy Mayor for Hawkesbury City Council, please raise your hand. Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Aczel, Councillor Djuric, and Councillor Dogramaci. Councillors,

All those Councillors in favour of Councillor McMahon to be elected as Deputy Mayor, please raise your hand. Councillor McMahon, Councillor Creed, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Veigel, Councillor Reardon, and Councillor Sheather.

As two Councillors have received the same number of votes, the election of Deputy Mayor will be the candidate whose name is chosen by lot. In accordance with Section 12 of Schedule 7 of the Local Government Regulation of 2021, I will now place the names of the candidates on similar slips of paper, fold them, and place them in the ballot box. Please note that the candidate whose name is drawn out will be elected as Deputy Mayor.

Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

And Councillor McMahon. Try not to look.

The name I have drawn is Councillor Sarah McMahon. I declare that Councillor McMahon is elected as Deputy Mayor of Hawkesbury City Council for the October 2024 to September 2026 Mayoral term. I'll now pass back to you, Mr Mayor.

Councillors, we're going to break for a couple of minutes. There's some matters we need to attend to, so it'll be about a 15-minute break.

Is there any declarations of interest on matters tonight that anyone needs to make?

Okay. In relation to item 4.2.3, elections of council representatives to the Hawkesbury River County Council, Councillors, do I have a mover to move the recommendation on page 29 of the business paper, and that is Council holds an election for two council representatives to be appointed to the Hawkesbury River County Council for October 2024 to September 2028 council term. The result of the elections to be provided to the General Manager Secretary of the Hawkesbury River County Council. Would someone like to move that way? Yep. Councillor Veigel.

I'll second it.

Councillor Reardon.

Those in favour? Yeah.

Councillor Dogramaci, are you? Unanimous. Thank you.

Okay. And the General Manager will now deal with that election.

Councillors, the nomination forms for the election of council's representatives to the Hawkesbury River County Council were circulated to councillors prior to the meeting. I have received three nominations from Councillor McMahon, Councillor Wheeler and Councillor Zamprogno. I have examined these nominations and declare them to be valid nominations in accordance with Schedule 9 of the Local Government General Regulation of 2020-21. Are there any further nominations, councillors?

Thank you. Councillors, in accordance

With the Local Government General Regulation 2021, the method for voting for electing Council representatives to the Hawkesbury River County Council will be by preferential ballot. In other

Words, by placing a one , two or three against the candidate of the councillor's choice in the preference for all candidates. As mentioned, I have received nominations

From Councillors McMahon, Wheeler and Zamprogno. Councillors

And we

Will now prepare the ballot papers by determining the order of the names of the candidates to appear on the ballot paper.

The first position on the ballot paper is Councillor McMahon.

The second position on the ballot paper is Councillor Zamprogno, and the third position on the ballot paper is Councillor Wheeler. Staff will now prepare the ballot paper, so if you can please bear with us for a couple of moments while we prepare, print and distribute those ballot papers to you, councillors. Please hold. Well

I won't say much of it then . All right, then I'll move to this

There you go. We can move. We can always move on.

Thank you, Councillor Wheeler. Very entertaining

Councillors ,

The ballot papers will now be distributed by the Director of Corporate Services for each councillor to conduct their vote. The Director of Corporate Services will collect the ballots in the ballot box and return the ballot box to myself as the returning officer at the completion of your voting. Councillors, the manner in which the election is conducted requires that for the first councillor elected must have a majority of the votes. At the first round of voting and distribution, I do not have a councillor with a majority, so we will now proceed to the second round of counting. At the first preference, I have Councillor McMahon with six votes, Councillor Zamprogno with three votes, and Councillor Wheeler with three votes.

Because we have two councillors with the equal lowest number of votes, we will now determine by lot which councillor is to be excluded from the election of the first position on the County Council. So we'll do that by lot. So that is Councillor Zamprogno and Councillor Wheeler. So this is— did I say that? From the first vote. But did I announce that's what I was doing? Okay. Councillors, the councillor excluded from the first vote is Councillor Wheeler. So Councillor Wheeler's preferences will now be distributed. Sorry, General Manager, can you just explain

That ? Because the

12 of us are

Fairly affluent, or

You

Know

We understand how preferential voting works. Can you just explain how you've come to that conclusion to knock out one of the candidates? Sorry , just

Through you, Mr Mayor. The voting for county councils varies somewhat from general election councils. So the voting is conducted, the first round of voting is conducted in accordance with Schedule 4 of the Local Government General Regulation. What that means is effectively a preferential vote until a single councillor has a majority of votes, okay? Then what happens is that councillor, because we have two councillors on the equal lowest, their preferences are drawn out by ballot, but that councillor is not necessarily, they're not excluded from going back into the second position.

Yeah, that's okay. Thank you.

Councillors

I declare that Councillor McMahon, as having an absolute majority

Of votes, is elected as a representative to the Hawkesbury River County Council for the October 2024 to September 2028 Council term. We will now conduct the distribution for the second position, Councillor.

The votes there, Councillors, Councillor McMahon has a majority at seven votes, with Councillors Zamprogno at five votes

Councillors, I will now be distributing those six votes for Councillor McMahon between Councillors Zamprogno and Councillor Wheeler. Councillors

I have

Eight

Votes

For

Councillor

Wheeler and four votes for Councillor Zamprogno. Councillors, I therefore declare that Councillor Wheeler is now having an absolute majority of votes as elected as a representative to the Hawkesbury River County Council for the October 2024 to the September 2028 term. Thank you.

Back to you, Mr Mayor.

Thank you, General

Manager.

The next item of business is 4.2.4, and it's appointment of committees, delegates and representatives.

Would someone like to move the recommendation on page 30?

Councillor Veigel. Councillor Creed.

Those in favour? Against? Carried.

Okay. There's quite a few committees here. The first one being the Heritage Committee. There's four councillors for that position.

Councillor Wheeler.

Sorry, I didn't hear you, Mr Mayor.

That's the Heritage Committee. Yep, sorry. The Heritage Committee, there's four councillors. Could we have some nominations, please?

Sorry . I'm nominating

Myself. Yeah, yeah, that's appropriate. So we've got Councillor Zamprogno,

Mary Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Wheeler,

Councillor Djuric and Councillor Jill Reardon.

That's five.

Mr Mayor, we've had, I think we've had up to five in the past. I'll move

That we change that to five.

I'll second it.

I'm glad to see there's so much encouragement for older things in our community. You're looking at one of them.

We don't need to take a vote. Anybody opposed to having five councillors? Good. Sorry.

Do you mind if I just provide comment? Through you, Mr Mayor, what we can simply do is note if you're agreeable to a part of the resolution that Council simply amend the terms of reference, or whatever they're called, for the Heritage Committee to provide for five councillors.

Okay. Those councillors that I spoke of, can we vote that those five be accepted, please? Those in favour?

Against? Carried unanimously. Thank you. Disaster and Emergency Committee, that's all of us that sit around the table. Hope we don't have to do it too often. The General Manager's Performance Review Panel. That's myself, a councillor nominated by Council, and a councillor nominated by the General Manager.

Sorry. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor, a councillor nominated by Council, and a councillor nominated by the General Manager.

So I'm in there, Deputy Mayor's in there, a councillor nominated by the Council. Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett

Are you nominating yourself?

I'm nominating myself.

Good.

Yep I'm

Nominating. Well, can I just show of hands for the people who would be interested? Three. Councillor Veigel.

And Councillor Kotlash . Okay.

Sorry

Yep

Yeah. There's only one councillor we need, so we're going to need to vote on it.

Are we happy just to go with an individual councillor at a time?

Mr Mayor, could we please speak to it?

Yes, by all means.

Thank you, Mr Mayor. I'd like to participate mainly to ensure a breadth of information is captured into the process. I know in the past that some councillors have felt disenfranchised from the process, and I think to be constructive and to make it a positive exercise, I think it's really important to get the diversity of views that is most spread throughout the council chamber. So I nominate myself to give that different perspective.

Thank you,

Councillor. Not entirely different, just another angle.

Yep. Appreciate.

And we had Councillor Veigel. I guess just for speaking for myself. I've been in senior executive management roles, as some people around this room knows, for a long, long time. And of course, a part of the appraisal process is always KPI and performance review. So the reason I'm nominating is just to be experienced into that process, okay

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Councillor Kotlash.

Sorry. No, okay. All right. Well, we'll go from left to right. The councillors that support Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

Councillor Zamprogno, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Buckett,

Dr. Aczel, Shane Djuric, and Eddie Dogramaci and myself.

Seven That's

Seven votes for

Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett. Councillor Kotlash.

Thanks, Councillor Kotlash.

Thank you. Councillor Veigel.

Thank you. Thank you.

Councillor Lyons-Buckett, thank you. Floodplain Management Committee. There's two councillors. It's something that I'd like to be involved in, but I certainly want someone— we've got some big talking to do on floodplain management in the next few years. I need somebody that's really enthusiastic. Do I have a nomination for a councillor on the five plan committee? I nominate Councillor Reardon.

And Councillor Wheeler.

Okay. Would either of you like to speak on the matter?

Okay.

All right.

I'd like to speak on the matter.

Thanks.

I think we're at a very interesting history with our flood study, very interesting stage in history, and I think it's very important that we follow through with it.

Couldn't agree more. Okay. Councillor Wheeler, those in favour of Councillor Wheeler?

Five .

Councillor Zamprogno? No. Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Buckett, Councillor Aczel, Councillor Djuric, and Councillor Dogramaci. Sorry, Councillor Kotlash.

Okay.

Sorry. Councillor Reardon. Two,

Four, five.

Mr Mayor, I'd equally be prepared to move that we expand the representation on that committee to whomever wishes to attend. Can we do that as

Well? As chairman, that's been the invitation since I've been chair, and it'll stay that way

Rather than put this to a protracted vote, I think we should just expand, make this committee elastic-sided as needed, and then allow councillors not merely to be observers, but voting members of that committee. Okay

Councillor. When I chaired that, and I certainly want all councillors to be involved as they can be, there's a lot of professional people that serve on that committee, and it works really well. I gave the invitation to councillors, and many of you took that up. They were invited to speak, not to vote, but to speak, and they did. They could ask questions at any time, but the meeting times usually go for about two hours, maybe longer than that. And while I would like the councillors to be well informed, the questions, and I'm prepared to take them as chair at any time, I think the meeting has to flow. So while I still offer that invitation to councillors, I think we probably need to stick to what we've got. Thank you, Councillor.

Sorry, Mr Mayor, I was just going to suggest that we just expand it to the three councillors that have nominated and be done with it. So yourself, Councillor Reardon and Councillor Wheeler, and then we just move on.

Good idea.

Is that a problem? If that's possible through you, Mr Mayor, to the general manager.

And change the terms of reference. Yeah. Sorry. Okay. Everyone happy with that? Okay, we've got two. Other councillors on the committee? Councillor Reardon. Councillor Wheeler, thank you.

The Audit Risk and Improvement Committee.

Can everyone hear me all right? There was a comment. Thank you. Okay, non-voting, one councillor, and it can't be me.

Mr Mayor, I'm not nominating to do it, but I would recommend somebody does it because it's a really good insight into council. I don't have the time at the moment to do it, but I think Councillor Creed is probably going to nominate, so good on him

I was only going to nominate if nobody else did. But if someone else would like to nominate, by all means. Okay, all right, yes. I know it's going to be a fascinating time, so I will nominate myself. Thank you, Councillor

Creed. Any others

For a break his arm or anything? Okay, that being the case,

Councillor Creed, thank you. The Local Traffic Committee, there's one councillor. I'd like

To nominate Councillor Creed. I'll accept, thanks. Any other nominations? Thank you. Thank you

Councillor Creed. Committees, groups, bodies in which the councillor has a financial community interest. McMahons Park Committee, one councillor, one alternate.

I'd like to nominate your Councillor Reardon, sorry. Thank you.

Mr Mayor, I'd happy to be the alternate. I do often attend with Jill anyway, so.

Thank the both of you.

No other nominations?

Councillor Reardon's the nominated delegate, Councillor Lyons-Buckett is the alternate. Thank you.

Hawkesbury Sports Council, unless someone wants to break a heart. I'd like

To nominate yourself if you are allowed to be.

I am an R. Well,

You am an R. Well, I will nominate you, Mr Mayor.

I appreciate that.

I nominate Councillor Paul Veigel as the second. There

Is only one delegate— oh, sorry, there's an alternate delegate. There

Is an alternate, yes. Councillor Veigel?

Well, I'll do it if nobody else wants to do it.

Happy to, Mr Mayor.

Thank you. That being the case, thank you, Councillor. Peppercorn Services, one Councillor and one staff member.

Can I ask a question on that, please? Is that valid? Because I didn't believe when we changed the board with the merger there was a representative on Council. So could we get clarification, please?

That is the case at the moment.

Yeah, thank you through you, Mr Mayor. The constitution makes provision for one representative from the Hawkesbury Local Government Area being either a councillor or a council staff person.

If that's the case, we might have a delegate and sort out the nuts and bolts later.

Can I suggest that we defer this to a discussion in a briefing? It has ramifications for councillors when— When it , because it's, because it's not,

It may have implications for the councillor who votes on council's budget allocation to Peppercorn, depending on how we do that. And I think we need to have a discussion about whether we're better off having someone from the staff or from the elected body. It was a real concern of mine when— Corn merged with Active Transport that we lost that political representation position on the board, but the way the board is structured now is not the same as it was before with a councilor representative. So I think this is something we need to thrash out before we jump to take, you know, given that it used to be two staff positions and a councillor position, I think it's something we need to thrash out before we jump to change it.

That's the nuts and bolts I was talking about. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Wheeler. And question, you General Manager, in relation to what's in the document, there's no implications of us deferring that position?

Through you, Mr Mayor, no, not at this stage.

Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. Civic risk mutual as one councillor.

I'd like to nominate Councillor Creed.

Yep, thank you. Busy boy for a new one. Any other councillors?

Thank you, Councillor Creed. Western Parklands City Councils is the mayor.

Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, WesROC. I'd like to

Nominate Councillor Kotlash, please.

There are two councillors, one alternate. I'd like to nominate myself.

Sorry, Councillor Kotlash has been nominated. Yeah, I would like to also nominate myself for the allocation. And

I'll nominate myself as well.

Okay.

There's only two councillors required. Does anyone wish to defer, or we'll go to a vote?

Okay. Councillor Kotlash was nominated.

Councillor Creed, and Councillor Mary-Lynes Buckett, was it?

Yeah.

Yeah, it was Councillor Kotlash, myself and Councillor Lyons-Buckett. So three of us. Yep.

Okay.

We'll start on the left again with those who support Councillor Buckett.

Councillor Brogno, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Mary-Lynes Buckett, Councillor Aczel, Councillor Djuric, and Councillor Dogramaci. One, two, three, four, five, six.

Okay. For Councillor Creed.

Advice, General Manager.

Mr Mayor, I'll pull out and I'll just be—I'll nominate myself for the alternate position if that helps. So we don't have to vote. It'll be Councillor Lyons-Buckett and Councillor Kotlash as the two councillors, and I'll nominate myself for the alternate councillor position if Councillor Lyons-Buckett

The second councillor is alternate.

No, there's two councillors plus an alternate. Sorry

Thanks, Councillor. That's right.

That takes care of that. Thank you very much.

Hawkesbury City Association, two councillors.

I'll nominate Councillor McMahon, the Deputy Mayor.

And I'll nominate myself.

Any other nominations ? Thanks, councillors. I'll see you there.

The forum on Western Sydney Airport.

Mr Mayor, sorry, if I could have a word. Yes. As you know that I was the elected councillor on that matter. I went to— I'm just expressing my thoughts and warning whoever is going to nominate himself or herself. The first time I went, about 20 minutes in the meeting, not only the chairperson couldn't speak, you had to sit next to him to hear, and 20 minutes in the meeting, there was a coffee break, tea break, cakes or whatever, and about 10, 15 minutes later we had another one. Again, some half an hour talk. Everyone, almost every attendees, they discussed what kind of scientific background they have, BSc, PhD.

This and that, have another meeting and have another break. So I'm warning every one of you, just prepared, and the discussion usually—well, discussion was about how angry they were, what kind of a flight path was coming from mountains, from other directions. And after the meeting, I have spoken with a couple of people and they told me that they were just wasting their time. The decisions were already made, and no one is going to add anything to change the plans or the directions or whatever. So just a warning for you.

Yeah, thanks, Councillor. Thanks. May I, Mr Mayor? Yeah, I'd just make a comment that the council's representative on committees, if they feel the committee's not operating in the way that it should be, it's your obligation to let myself or the general manager know. This Western Sydney Forum, it's a massive exercise. We need to be involved with it, and , you know, we expect a lot from governments and opportunities, and the airport's certainly an opportunity, even though we're a fair way away from it. So it is an important committee, and I'd suggest, with the comments that Councillor Dogramaci made, if there's issues there that don't come up to scratch, that would be reported

Can I make a comment? Councillor Dogramaci go up that position, and I've been on that position. I've been to two meetings. The meetings have been taking two and a half hours. It's been constructive, okay. So much though they've changed the flight plans of the night flights out of that Western Airport away from the Hawkesbury and down to the south, and very much to the south of Linden. So I don't know what happened beforehand. He may have had a valid point. All I know [is] that they've got their act together and it takes about two and a half hours. It is represented by most of the mayors of the Western Sydney region. Not only the member for Macquarie, the member for Lindsay is also there, and dare I say there'll be an invitation there for the member for Hawkesbury and of course our councillor's representative.

So I'm happy to go on it again, and there's another meeting coming up in two weeks, and I've responded and I will be attending down at Penrith, which is a very nice venue at the Pullman. Thank you very much. Thank you,

Councillor Veigel.

Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett, you go to the light on.

Thank you, Mr Mayor, and I support Councillor Veigel's nomination. Just to reinforce, I do think it's extremely important, particularly as he outlined, it has evolved because it's an ever-evolving situation, and as the objective of the committee is to raise community concerns, I would just like if Councillor Veigel could report back just as he did then around any issues, because it's our vehicle for getting in any of the concerns that are raised. So before a meeting's coming up, maybe if we could be alerted to the agenda. So if anyone's heard anything, as there's been a bit of rumblings around the Bilpin area and so on around that issue, it would be really good to be able to get you to take our concerns to that meeting.

Yeah, no, that's a point. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

Okay, Councillor Veigel. New South Wales Public Libraries, one councillor.

I'd like to nominate Councillor Reardon.

Councillor.

No other. Councillor Reardon. Thank you. Western Sydney Academy of Sport, one councillor.

Sorry, I would like to nominate Councillor Creed.

I had been that person, but

Councillor Creed.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. Previously, when I was on Council, I served on the Western Sydney Academy of Sport and then also served on their board, so I would like to, if allowed, to do the same thing again.

Thank you. Any other nominations? Councillor Creed, thank you. Okay.

Councillors, there's information after that, the notes. If you hadn't had a chance to look at them, it's probably appropriate. It covers some of the stuff that Councillor Wheeler spoke of with Peppercorn and West Rock and the like.

The next item is filling casual vacancies in civil office. It's in relation to if there's a position on council within 18 months. Would someone like to move the recommendation? Mr Mayor. I'll second it. Someone moved it, sorry. Councillor Kotlash.

Councillor Reardon.

Can I seconded, please?

Discussion? Sorry.

As part of the previous item, Mr Mayor, we didn't deal with the two existing working groups, Enhancing the Arts and Windsor Bridge Artefacts.

Mr Mayor, Council's already resolved on Part 4 to indicate a further report on the re-establishment of both of those groups to come back to council. Thank you

Thanks, Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

Okay. Would someone like to move the recommendation?

Councillor Kotlash, seconded by Councillor Reardon, for the casual vacancies.

Any discussion? Not a great deal. This is something that is quite straightforward. It's pushing the time limit to 18 months, which I think is fair, and I think it is a sensible way forward.

I'd just like to

Say that it would save Council $500,000 for a by-election if we go down this path

Thank you. I don't expect we're going to head down that path.

Any other discussion?

Right of reply?

Thank you. Those in favour?

Councillor Zamprogno, Wheeler, Mary Lyons-Buckett, Aczel, Councillor Djuric, McBain, Councillor Creed, Dogramaci, Goddard, and Veigel and Reardon. Thank you.

It's the coffee. Lack of it. Okay.

Next item is 4.2.6, Local Government Annual Conference. There's a recommendation on page 45 that says consider, point one, nomination of up to five delegates and participation in the conference and the results of that. Would someone like to move the recommendation?

I'll move

The recommendation. Councillor Mary Lyons-Buckett

Councillor Veigel.

Discussion? Councillor Buckett.

As I've said in here before, I think that these conferences are particularly important for their value

Can you pull your speaker in, please?

Sorry. I don't know, we're sort of in odd spots at the moment. I think these are very important. The New South Wales Local Government Conference is particularly important, and when there's a new council in, I think it's a great way to meet some new people, but also hear about what's happening, particularly when it's held in a regional area like Tamworth, so that we can see the various challenges that are faced in our regional counterparts. So I put forward the motion and support it and will also nominate to go.

Any further discussion?

Thank you, Mr Mayor. As part of the recommendation in part three, where it says that if you go to these conferences, you need to provide a report to the general manager. In the past, whilst that's happened, and there's no problem with that, I wouldn't mind it if we actually had a process that we could hear about that in a briefing. And I don't know whether we, if everybody wants to tack that on, but I think that it's really important. I don't think it should be public because things that are discussed are sometimes just ideas, but to come to a briefing I think would be really important. And I'd be prepared to do that personally, and I just wanted to throw that out to the council. I

Second that, if that wants to be, or I would add it into the motion as an inclusion.

Sorry to interrupt you, Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Councillor Creed just said instead of that written report, but I think both. You do a written report and then you embellish that.

Some of us might need to write it down to remember it. That's

Right,

Exactly. Older

People . Thank you.

Yeah, what we're going to do—

The general manager's just looking at just rearranging the word, some of the words there. It's been a concern of mine for some time. It's sometimes really hard to— there is a lot of information, and I encourage anybody that hasn't been to one to go. But all that stuff's available on the website and stuff. You know, the information that comes back, you get heaps of documents. Even the speeches and stuff that's given by the different professional people on an array of different things. And you get not only government agencies there, but ministers that speak about their portfolios, what they might have in mind or where they're up to. It's certainly worthwhile. To attend these conferences.

Just getting the wording up.

Happy with that, councillors?

Everybody read it? Okay. Okay. Any further discussion?

Okay. Councillor Buckett, any right of reply?

Not necessary.

Thank you. Okay. I'll put it to a vote, those in favour?

It's unanimous. Councillor Imbrogno, Councillor Wheeler, Mary-Lyons Buckett, Councillor Axtell, Shane Djuric, Councillor McMahon, Councillor Creed. Here we go again. God damn.

Councillor— I apologise, Councillor Kotlash. Councillor Dogramaci, Veigel and Reardon. Thank you.

We do. Okay. The nominations— sorry, we can nominate up to five councillors.

Sorry, it's up to five voting delegates. So it's not limited to five councillors, five voting delegates. Voting's—

It just gives you the opportunity to speak at the conference as a delegate. You must speak in relation to council resolutions in the positive. It doesn't mean to say you can't speak on other issues that may not relate to matters of council. But if you get up to speak, you present yourself as a councillor from Hawkesbury City Council, and you speak in regard to, in a positive manner, in relation to council's resolutions. Could we have people who might like to nominate? Can

I nominate Councillor Lyons-Buckett and myself?

Yep.

And Councillor Wheeler. I didn't see your hand there. I do apologise. Anybody else? Do I need anybody else?

Two more

Three of us. I want to go. Mr Mayor, I'll nominate you. Thank you. Anybody else? No? Sweet.

Mr

Mayor, if we only have four delegates, we should organise a proxy for the fifth vote. I think we have to organise that in advance. I don't think we can do that on the night. I don't think we can do that when we get to the conference. I think we have to organise that in advance.

It's got to be done in advance of that. Okay. We don't have to have five voting delegates. We can have up to five.

Yes, but we get allocated five votes. Yes, we do. And we should use them all.

Yep.

Because they're based on our financial contribution to the organisation, so we may as well get our money's worth.

No, no, no. I don't disagree with that. So if the mayor's coming, I would suggest giving the mayor the proxy, if you're happy with that, and then it's just the three of us have our single vote, and the mayor will have the proxy vote, if you're happy with that.

Thank you.

Okay. All right. We'll move that those nominees be delegates. Those in favour?

Against?

Thank you. Unanimous. Councillor Brogden. Councillor Wheeler, Mary Lyons-Buckett, Councillor Ackland, Councillor Djuric, Councillor McMahon, Councillor Creed.

No, it doesn't. Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Dogramaci, Councillor Veigel and Councillor Regan. Now, is there anybody else that was of a view to go?

Thank you.

Okay.

The next item.

Is 4.4.1, financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2024.

Everyone's been issued with those. Would someone like to move the recommendation on page 53? I'll second it. Councillor Veigel.

Followed by, seconded by? Councillor Kotlash.

Any discussion? Those in favour?

Councillor Creed.

Unanimous. Councillor Brogno, Councillor Wheeler, Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Got to be an easier way. Councillor Aczel, Councillor Shane Djuric. Councillor McMahon, Councillor Creed, Councillor Kotlash, Councillor Dogramaci. Councillor Veigel, Councillor Regan.

And I think that's about it.

Mr Mayor, I'd like to bring a motion of urgency, please.

Of course. Have we got a copy open so you can— I've heard it. Yeah.

I'll speak to urgency while they get the motion up, if you like,

Mr Mayor

So the matter is urgent because it relates to a development application that will be heard by the Hawkesbury Local Planning Panel on Thursday. This is the first sitting of Council in the time that we've known that this DA has been coming to the Planning Panel. We've not had an opportunity to discuss it in a Council meeting before, and it'll be too late if I bring it as a notice of motion.

It's a matter of urgency. Of great urgency.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. So look, it's exactly— I'll second it, Mr Mayor.

Sorry. And I'll third it.

So look, it's exactly what it says on the tin. Three of us—

Can I just interrupt you?

Yes, of course. If I may,

I'd like to declare an interest. It's a significant non-pecuniary interest. I live very close to the subject matter, so I will be stepping out.

Thank you, Councillor Kotlash

Councillor.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. Look, it's exactly what it says on the tin. It's a request for Council to reach a position regarding this DA because of the legislation we are not able to determine it. We're not able to have any input, and it will be heard by a Planning Panel. I'm a bit dismayed that it's got this far, frankly, and that it's on its way to the Panel with a recommendation for approval. As you can see from the motion, it's not consistent with the zone objectives for E1. It's outside the, well outside the scale of the area, and I'm a little bit shocked, frankly, to see— Council and the previous council came to a similar determination to address the regional planning panel regarding the demolition of a landy cottages within the same precinct.

Council put in a significant amount of effort and resources to fighting that demolition because of the impact on the streetscape of Kurrajong Heights and the impact on the heritage precinct in that area. This development will have a similar impact, but it's a construction, not a demolition. It feels very much like one part of council is fighting to preserve this area, the Kurrajong Heights precinct and its visual amenity, and the other half is recommending something that will have a really significant deleterious impact on it. I don't know who wants to address the panel. It's the right of the mayor to represent council. We would have to determine another council to do it. The community is up in arms about this.

There's been 235 objections to it. There will be significant impacts on the people who live around Douglas Road and Warks Hill Road, particularly Douglas Road, for example, will have its access blocked when the pump-out truck pays a visit. The fact that we are putting more development onto effluent pump-out in 2024 is frankly staggering. I'm personally really perturbed by an approval for a venue that contains more poker machines. The Hawkesbury lost around $60 million to poker machines in the previous... Calendar year. The fact that we would add to that, I think, is really devastating for much of the area. There's a temporary— there's a 12-month fix recommended, or a 12-month trial recommended, with reduced patron numbers that will have significant compliance impacts on Council, I think, and this has the potential for compliance concerns down the track.

All of this development will require additional resources for Council out of what is a particularly limited budget. There are safety and traffic concerns, but most particularly there are scale and amenity concerns. There are concerns with light pollution, both for residents and wildlife in the area. Frankly, I can see nothing good from this development for the Hawkesbury. I'm, as I said before, dismayed that we are at this point with a recommendation for approval. So I hope that you can support us approaching the planning panel and one of us, the mayor or the mayor's representative, speaking to the panel to at least support our community in fighting this in the limited capacity that we have left.

Thanks, Councillor. Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

Thank you, Mr Mayor, and I think you may have been one of the councillors who attended a public meeting about this some time ago. I think this is a real example of when there's a need for us as local people to input the local peculiarities to such a development application. The local people have spoken at length about this to us when it was around before and now again, and the inconsistencies, I believe, are quite hard for some people in the community to understand, particularly around the effluent disposal, where we haven't had time, really, I guess, to seek clarity around that. But there is some confusion around how having a commercial pump-out truck somehow overcomes the regulatory clauses in the DCP, which would generally not prevent that kind of development going ahead in an unsewered area.

I think, from a local perspective, for those of us who know the area well, as I do, the topography and the streetscape and the unique nature of what Kurrajong Heights is would be forever altered in this situation. It would change it from the particular place that has such a rich history and a rich vibrancy around it into something much different. And I just think that reading through briefly, because we've not had this for long, but reading through the various documents around the assessment, I really was struggling to see how it was permissible to fit in with those zone objectives, which are really intended to give some protection for places of that particular nature in that particular area.

So I do think this is one of those instances. As Councillor Wheeler alluded to, similar to the Alambi issue where Councillor Wheeler went and spoke on our behalf, that we do have to take this stand when we've had our planning powers taken away from us to determine anything like this. But it's a time when we have to speak up for the residents, and we just go in, and if we have a unanimous agreement here tonight that we have concerns around this, that we can assist the panel with at least having a better understanding of what the local issues are around this particular application.

Thank you, Councillor Lyons-Buckett.

Councillor Creed.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I won't take up too much of your time. Councillor Wheeler and Councillor Lyons-Buckett have pretty much covered the majority of things. I think the majority of councillors around this chamber went to a speed dating candidates forum up in Carrajong Heights at the bowling club, and this was one of the most brought up issues that we had during the campaign in regards to a local issue up there. This, to me, is complete overdevelopment for the area. I'm not against development. I'm also not pro-development. You need to have a balanced approach and make sure that, you know, again, that it's in keeping with the area. To me, this DA is completely out of whack with the local area.

The amount of patrons we're saying that this is going to be, we'll be able to house, essentially, the closeness of the actual building itself, that will have a detrimental effect not only on the neighbouring residences, our residents' living standards, but you will have noise. You've got all sorts of problems that, especially the— Immediate neighbours will feel, as well as the wider area. One of the issues that was brought up to me was the local church, and already they have some issues with the delivery trucks that we get. You know, this will just be detrimental to their area, and, you know, they're supposed to maintain their car park. I don't see this DA has enough parking. The amount of submissions, public submissions that we've had from residents on this, and I understand we no longer have say on whether we approve DAs or not.

I think when I spoke to Councillor Wheeler and Councillor Lyons-Buckett and other councillors last Thursday evening, after we were made aware that this was going to the local planning panel this Thursday, I didn't hear anybody actually say to me that they weren't surprised that it was approved. All of us were like, I can't believe that was approved. You know, we as councillors no longer have essentially a say on what DAs are approved or not, but we still have an obligation to the residents to be able to turn around and say, you know what, we're not okay with this. Sometimes we will disagree with staff recommendations, and that is no disrespect to the staff here at Council, but it is our job to be able to advocate on behalf of the community, and I think that's what this motion does.

Thanks, Councillor Creed.

Thanks, Mr Mayor. I think this is a bit of a no-brainer, so I'll be supporting this motion. Thank you. I'd like to thank the councillors that put their name to it. Very short period of time, dare I say, to get this through, and the cooperation that was sent through around by WhatsApp, email or whatever, dare I say, since we're all IT... I suppose dead, if that's the right

Word, if we haven't got our council emails up at the moment.

Yeah, I am not anti-development, but there's appropriate things for appropriate places, and this is not one of them. So thank you again, I guess, we're just going to decide who's going to represent us at the panel meeting on Thursday. Thank you. Anybody else

Yeah, look, I've got a long way to go before I understand the workings of council, but I'm staggered that this proposal has gotten to this point. It is just so inconsistent with the area in every conceivable way. Even the management of runoff, we're just going to have a huge concrete development with nowhere for the water to go. The ecological environment is incredibly fragile in that area already. This is only going to make it worse. The traffic will be chaotic, and one of my terrible bugbears is the opportunity for money laundering. There's just going to be so much dirty cash going through those poker machines, and I don't want to be part of it. So I'm dead set against this. Thank you. Anybody else?

Just to make comment, the community up there have done a lot of work for this, and I'm really grateful for the councillors that have taken it on board and the work that's been done to get to this tonight. It's a development site. The issues in relation to what we're talking about is fine. A couple of comments made by a couple of councillors in relation to— The money laundering or the like, being passed, Director of Windsor RSL. If there's money laundering done here, I don't know how the hell we're doing it. The protocols and stuff that's in place now for that sort of stuff, and the fines, I can assure you, Hawkesbury residents can't afford the fines for that sort of stuff. I take on board the comments by Councillor Lyons-Buckett that it's a problem.

Everyone agrees in that, but I'd suggest it's perhaps done by other ways than clubs in our city. In saying that, I absolutely support the motion that's before us, and so we will vote on the motion and then ask for a delegate.

So the motion has been put — and I close me book — by Daniel Wheeler, Councillor Wheeler.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Yep, it was put by Councillor Wheeler, and seconded was Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Those in favour? Unanimous

Thank you. Councillor Zembrogno

Councillor Kotlash absent from the room

And Councillor Zembrogno, Councillor Wheeler, Lyons-Buckett. Everyone had their hands up. Councillor Axell, Shane Djuric, Councillor McMahon, Councillor Creed, Councillor Dogramaci, Councillor Veigel, Councillor Regal, and Councillor Sheather

That is carried. In relation to a delegate, while it might be the mayor's role, I can assure you, Councillor Buckett and Wheeler and Councillor Creed have done a lot more. And from the discussion that I've had with councillors about it, I would happily offer to any of those three people that's been involved. Councillor Buckett's a past mayor of our city and understands probably better than most of us the obligation there. But I would ask the three of you who might be—

Mr Mayor, just to save you, can I just nominate Councillor Lyons-Buckett to speak on as that bottom part of the motion, if you're happy with that, Councillor Wheeler? Yep. So am I. Thank you.

As councillor— well, do we need to vote on that? No. Councillor Lyons-Buckett. Thanks very much.

And that's the end of the business paper. But there's a couple of things that I'd like to say. The effort that's gone into each of us sitting around the table is probably

I was going to say the hardest, that's probably not the word. It's certainly intense, of all my time on council. And personally, I was disappointed. And when people stop voting for you, it means you're not doing your job properly. So I've got a bit of picking up to do. But in saying that, each one of us that's been elected, there's an expectancy by the community to pull our weight. And if tonight's meeting is any example of pulling our weight and working together, I can live with that.

To the people in the community who have helped in every way, with a democratic process to achieve an outcome, I thank them on behalf of all of you. I've sat in this seat a couple of times, never as mayor, and yesterday I didn't know it either. So I thank you all, and I hope I do justice. Is there any councillor that wishes to make a comment before I close the meeting?

Well, I thank you all.

I thank you all, and look forward to four years. Thanks very much.