In light of the City of Casey’s May meeting having only 10 of the 80 registered attendees, Mayor Stefan Koomen is nevertheless keen to have the council back in person.
“Obviously, there were those who registered and did turn up, and it was good to see some residents there, but there were others who didn’t attend, and that was a bit unfortunate,” Koomen said.
“Overall, though it was a good meeting, it’s good to be back in person and good to have residents in the gallery.”
Looking ahead to the Tuesday, 17 June meeting, he added that the council as a whole is looking at ways to “fine-tune our registration process”.
“It’s to make sure that those who register are valid and legitimate and that they do attend.
“Hopefully, we have better attendance at our next meeting, but we’ll continue to look at ways that we can improve the registration system.
“We did feel it worked quite well in maintaining a good council environment and a way for residents to attend in a safe fashion,” Koomen said.
The first council meeting that was held in February this year was attended by well over 300 people, the gallery brimming with verbal protests, conjectures, and disruptive behaviour that prompted the early adjournment of the meeting.
For the next two months of March and April, both council meetings were held online, and it was recently introduced prior to the May in-person meeting that an 80-person gallery cap was introduced.
In line with occupational health and safety measures, as well as neighbouring councils’ similar limits to their galleries, the registration tickets sold out almost immediately as they opened.
However, as the night of the meeting approached, with nine police officers and a number of security personnel present, only 10 residents attended.
Touching on the current limit of the gallery, Koomen said that he is confident of the council’s decision, and that it is “consistent with other councils”.
“It’s at the top end of the limit, and it’s also based on safety and risk assessment done by both the [council’s] security, and Victoria Police, so we’re confident that it’s the right way forward,” he said.
The upcoming 17 June meeting will open its online registrations on Thursday, 12 June, by 9am.
For more information on how to attend and register online, visit www.casey.vic.gov.au/register-attend-council-meeting
