By Violet Li
The call to change the Casey Council meeting time from 4pm has resurfaced among the community, as the newly elected council will have its first meeting next Tuesday, 10 December.
Casey Council meetings historically started at 6.30pm every Tuesday until the council changed the time to 4pm in April 2020.
According to the Council Meeting Agenda on 7 April 2020, the council stated that “a 6.30pm start time requires the council to provide dinner to attending staff and requires staff to work beyond standard business hours”.
It also stated that “the routine of 6.30pm commencement did not in itself increase transparency and community engagement with Council decision making” and the amended schedule would provide the council with an approximate saving of $3300 per meeting.
Casey Residents and Ratepayer Association (CRRA) has called on the City of Casey to change Council meeting times to allow for more residents to attend.
“4pm is not convenient for residents whether they work and must travel from the CBD or pick up kids or grandchildren from school. It is a real barrier for interested residents to attend council meetings,” CRRA chairperson Brian Oates said.
“Now that democracy has returned to the city with elected councillors, it is a good time to change the time of council meetings to a more convenient and sensible time no earlier than 6.30pm.
“The administrators refused to listen to the people over meeting times because it did not suit their schedule. Now it is time for our councillors to hear residents.”
At a council meeting in December last year, a council officer recommended the time be changed to 5pm for all council meetings scheduled in 2024, following a petition with more than 200 supporters, but then Casey administrator Cameron Boardman moved an alternative motion to change 5pm back to 4pm, which was unanimously voted for.
At the time, Mr Boardman said that there wasn’t significant community justification or expectation and moving the start time to 5pm would not result in any benefit to the administrators, the council, and the community as a whole.
He also said it would certainly be a matter that would be considered by a future council.
City of Casey’s newly elected mayor and councillor Stefan Koomen said he had spoken with a lot of residents and fellow councillors and believed there was a view amongst the community that the current time of 4pm was probably not the best for residents who wanted to attend.
“We want to make sure our meetings are as accessible as possible for members of the community to come and be involved,” he said.
“We haven’t decided on a time yet, but that’ll come in the meeting on 10 December.
“And there’ll be probably different motions… but we’ll work together to come to an agreement.
“But I think there’s a strong view towards having them outside of business hours to allow the community to come and be involved.”
Casey Council will have its last meeting this year on Tuesday 10 December at 4pm in Bunjil Place.
