Notice of Meeting

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Communications Panel Meeting

A Communications Panel Meeting of Byron Shire Council will be held as follows:

Venue

Conference Room, Station Street, Mullumbimby

Date

Monday, 17 May 2021

Time

4.00pm

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Arnold

General Manager

I2021/802

                                                                                                                             Distributed 10/05/21

 

 


CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

What is a “Conflict of Interests” - A conflict of interests can be of two types:

Pecuniary - an interest that a person has in a matter because of a reasonable likelihood or expectation of appreciable financial gain or loss to the person or another person with whom the person is associated.

Non-pecuniary – a private or personal interest that a Council official has that does not amount to a pecuniary interest as defined in the Code of Conduct for Councillors (eg. A friendship, membership of an association, society or trade union or involvement or interest in an activity and may include an interest of a financial nature).

Remoteness – a person does not have a pecuniary interest in a matter if the interest is so remote or insignificant that it could not reasonably be regarded as likely to influence any decision the person might make in relation to a matter or if the interest is of a kind specified in the Code of Conduct for Councillors.

Who has a Pecuniary Interest? - a person has a pecuniary interest in a matter if the pecuniary interest is the interest of the person, or another person with whom the person is associated (see below).

Relatives, Partners - a person is taken to have a pecuniary interest in a matter if:

·                The person’s spouse or de facto partner or a relative of the person has a pecuniary interest in the matter, or

·                The person, or a nominee, partners or employer of the person, is a member of a company or other body that has a pecuniary interest in the matter.

N.B. “Relative”, in relation to a person means any of the following:

(a)  the parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, lineal descends or adopted child of the person or of the person’s spouse;

(b)  the spouse or de facto partners of the person or of a person referred to in paragraph (a)

No Interest in the Matter - however, a person is not taken to have a pecuniary interest in a matter:

·                If the person is unaware of the relevant pecuniary interest of the spouse, de facto partner, relative or company or other body, or

·                Just because the person is a member of, or is employed by, the Council.

·                Just because the person is a member of, or a delegate of the Council to, a company or other body that has a pecuniary interest in the matter provided that the person has no beneficial interest in any shares of the company or body.

Disclosure and participation in meetings

·                A Councillor or a member of a Council Committee who has a pecuniary interest in any matter with which the Council is concerned and who is present at a meeting of the Council or Committee at which the matter is being considered must disclose the nature of the interest to the meeting as soon as practicable.

·                The Councillor or member must not be present at, or in sight of, the meeting of the Council or Committee:

(a)     at any time during which the matter is being considered or discussed by the Council or Committee, or

(b)     at any time during which the Council or Committee is voting on any question in relation to  the matter.

No Knowledge - a person does not breach this Clause if the person did not know and could not reasonably be expected to have known that the matter under consideration at the meeting was a matter in which he or she had a pecuniary interest.

Non-pecuniary Interests - Must be disclosed in meetings.

There are a broad range of options available for managing conflicts & the option chosen will depend on an assessment of the circumstances of the matter, the nature of the interest and the significance of the issue being dealt with.  Non-pecuniary conflicts of interests must be dealt with in at least one of the following ways:

·                It may be appropriate that no action be taken where the potential for conflict is minimal.  However, Councillors should consider providing an explanation of why they consider a conflict does not exist.

·                Limit involvement if practical (eg. Participate in discussion but not in decision making or vice-versa).  Care needs to be taken when exercising this option.

·                Remove the source of the conflict (eg. Relinquishing or divesting the personal interest that creates the conflict)

·                Have no involvement by absenting yourself from and not taking part in any debate or voting on the issue as of the provisions in the Code of Conduct (particularly if you have a significant non-pecuniary interest)

RECORDING OF VOTING ON PLANNING MATTERS

Clause 375A of the Local Government Act 1993 – Recording of voting on planning matters

(1)  In this section, planning decision means a decision made in the exercise of a function of a council under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979:

(a)  including a decision relating to a development application, an environmental planning instrument, a development control plan or a development contribution plan under that Act, but

(b)  not including the making of an order under that Act.

(2)  The general manager is required to keep a register containing, for each planning decision made at a meeting of the council or a council committee, the names of the councillors who supported the decision and the names of any councillors who opposed (or are taken to have opposed) the decision.

(3)  For the purpose of maintaining the register, a division is required to be called whenever a motion for a planning decision is put at a meeting of the council or a council committee.

(4)  Each decision recorded in the register is to be described in the register or identified in a manner that enables the description to be obtained from another publicly available document, and is to include the information required by the regulations.

(5)  This section extends to a meeting that is closed to the public.


BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL

BUSINESS OF MEETING

 

1.    Apologies

2.    Declarations of Interest – Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary

3.    Adoption of Minutes from Previous Meetings

3.1       Adoption of Minutes from Previous Meeting.............................................................. 5

 

4.    Staff Reports

General Manager

4.1       Media and Communications Report.......................................................................... 11

4.2       Community Strategic Plan.......................................................................................... 14

4.3       Alert system for DA Tracker....................................................................................... 16     

 

 


BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL

Adoption of Minutes from Previous Meetings                                                   3.1

Adoption of Minutes from Previous Meetings

 

Report No. 3.1 Adoption of Minutes from Previous Meeting 

Directorate:                General Manager

Report Author:          Annie Lewis, Media and Communications Coordinator

File No:                       I2021/192

 

  

 

RECOMMENDATION:

That the minutes of the Communications Panel Meeting held on 17 May 2021 be confirmed.

 

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Attachments:

 

1        Minutes 29/10/2020 Communications Panel, I2020/1708 , page 7  

 


 

Report

 

The attachment to this report provides the minutes of the Communications Panel Meeting of 17 May 2021 . 

 

Report to Council

 

The minutes were reported to Council on

Comments

 

In accordance with the Committee Recommendations, Council resolved the following:

 

 


BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL

Adoption of Minutes from Previous Meetings                                         3.1 - Attachment 1

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BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL

Staff Reports - General Manager                                                                              4.1

Staff Reports - General Manager

 

Report No. 4.1       Media and Communications Report

Directorate:                         General Manager

Report Author:                   Annie Lewis, Media and Communications Coordinator

File No:                                 I2021/784

Summary:

This report provides the Panel members with an update of the activities of the Media and Communications team from February – April 2021.

 

  

 

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Communications Panel notes the report.

 

 

 


 

Report

From February to April 2021 the Media and Communications team put out 34 media releases and responded to 65 media enquiries.

Media Releases

·    Byron bypass open

·    Drill Hall opening

·    Centennial Circuit postponed

·    Tree clearing fine

·    Lighthouse Rd improvements

·    Mozzie program

·    SKED v BCC

·    Centennial Ct traffic trial

·    COVID restrictions

·    COVID testing

·    Farmers market cancelled

·    Get tested

·    Disaster recovery

·    Economic outlook zoom

·    Mullumbimby parklets

·    Groundwater contamination

·    Byron Bay planning controls

·    Ocean Shore Community Centre

·    Rain

·    Rail corridor

·    Byron Bay skatepark plans

·    Tallow Creek art exhibition

·    Bruns Bridge restoration

·    Mullumbimby hospital remediation

·    Ocean Shores road upgrade

·    Mayor retirement

·    Three bridges funding

·    Main Beach erosion

·    National Youth Week

·    Seniors Festival

·    Emergency Dashboard

·    Illegal dumping

·    Bus shelter project

·    Masks for businesses

 

Media Enquiries – 65

Social Media

·    Page views – 8,422

·    Post reach – 127,261

·    Videos – 53,129

·    New followers - 421

·    Engagements – 90,322

Website (March)

Page views: 96,553

Top 10 most popular pages (Page name - Page views):

·    Home - 10922

·    COVID-19-Latest-news - 5481

·    COVID-19 landing page - 4703

·    Apply-for-a-pay-parking-permit - 3274

·    Media-releases/COVID-restrictions-for-Byron-Shire-from-5pm-31-March - 2869

·    DA-Tracker - 2606

·    Current-vacancies - 2114

·    Your-bin-collection-days - 1853

·    Anzac-Day-Services Byron-Shire-2021 - 1799

·    Council – 1158

Technology:

·    40% of users accessed the site via Desktop

·    57% of users accessed via a Mobile

Financial Implications

NA

Statutory and Policy Compliance Implications

NA


BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL

Staff Reports - General Manager                                                                              4.2

Report No. 4.2       Community Strategic Plan

Directorate:                         General Manager

Report Author:                   Annie Lewis, Media and Communications Coordinator

File No:                                 I2021/786

Summary:

This purpose of this report is to provide the Panel members with a brief overview of the communications and engagement activities that will be done as part of the development of the Community Strategic Plan.

  

 

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Communications Panel notes the report.

 

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Report

The Corporate and Community Services Directorate has started to plan for the development of the new Community Strategic Plan that will be delivered to the new Council.

This report is to simply alert the Communications Panel to the fact that this project is starting and a comprehensive engagement plan will be developed to gather a wide range of community views and sentiment to ensure the document is representative of these  visions and aspirations for the Shire for the next 10 years.

Financial Implications

NA

Statutory and Policy Compliance Implications

NA


BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL

Staff Reports - General Manager                                                                              4.3

Report No. 4.3       Alert system for DA Tracker

Directorate:                         General Manager

Report Author:                   Annie Lewis, Media and Communications Coordinator

File No:                                 I2021/787

Summary:

This report follows up an item discussed at the last meeting (2021/123) asking for the Media and Communications Coordinator to investigate whether an alert sytem for DA submissions is available as part of DA Tracker.

  

 

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Communications Panel notes the work being done to introduce a subscription newsletter to inform/prompt people about DAs that have been lodged with Council.

 

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Report

The DA Tracker software is a ‘plug in’ in that it sits on Council’s website but is not an actual part of the website that we operate.  Currently there is no function that will allow members of the public to be notified about development applications that have been lodged near them, or in other areas of interest.

There is a possibility that CIVICA could be making some updates to DA Tracker and should this happen Council staff will have the opportunity to suggest improvements which could include an ‘alert’ system.

In the meantime, staff are looking at the possibility of setting up a newsletter which would ask people to subscribe to receive a weekly notification link (via email) to the DAs on exhibition.

Financial Implications

NA

Statutory and Policy Compliance Implications

NA