Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting of the Greater Geelong City Council held at the Council Conference and Reception Centre - City Hall on 14 July 2015, commencing at 7:00pm.
Alan Manson
Crs:
T Ansett
L Ellis
J Farrell
K Fisher
B Harwood
M Heagney
J Irvine
E Kontelj
Cr S Kontelj
Cr R Macdonald
A Richards
K Spiller (Interim Chief Executive Officer)
D Frost (General Manager Strategy & Performance)
P Bettess (General Manager Economic Development, Planning and Tourism)
W Tieppo (General Manager City Services)
L Quinn (Acting General Manager Community Services)
J McMahon (Acting General Manager Projects, Recreation and Central Geelong)
J Brown (Manager Administration and Governance)
R Bourke (Governance Co-ordinator)
J Merlo (Senior Media Officer)
A Paterson (EO - Mayor)
The Deputy Mayor declared the meeting open at 7:00pm.
Council acknowledges Wadawurrung Traditional Owners of this land and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People who are part of the Greater Geelong community today.
Cr D Lyone (Mayor)
Cr R Nelson
Cr Farrell moved, Cr Macdonald seconded –
That Leave of Absence be granted to:
Cr Irvine from 10 August until 20 August 2015, inclusive;
Cr Heagney from 17 September to 8 October 2015, inclusive.
Carried.
Cr Irvine moved, Cr Harwood seconded -
That the Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held on 23 June 2015 be confirmed and signed.
Carried.
Nil.
Question Time is an opportunity for questions to be addressed to Council and while the minutes record the general content, they do not purport to be a transcript of what was said by individuals. Likewise Councillor or Officer verbal responses are in summary form only. Views expressed may not be the views of Council.
Council's practice is to provide a separate document on its website setting out questions and responses including any more detailed written responses which may be provided subsequent to the meeting.
Alan Manson asked the following questions regarding Fracking (Unconventional Gas Mining):
Why is it that the Councillors don’t respond to emails from ratepayers?
Cr Heagney advised a response was provided to your email by Rodney Thomas.
Cr Farrell responded that it was unrealistic for all Councillors to respond individually and that the expectation is that one person provides a response. Cr Farrell indicated she had seen the submission that went to Rodney Thomas a week ago so she was aware a response was made. Although an individual reply is not provided, I would say that most of us are carefully monitoring incoming emails.
Why is it that my Ward Councillor Andy Richards did not respond to either of my emails or to my voicemail message on his phone?
Cr Richards advised he received the emails which were forwarded onto the Manager Environment who was dealing with the issue.
When the Surfcoast Shire chose to make a submission to the inquiry, they stated so in the Geelong Advertiser – yet there appears to be nothing similar issued from CoGG to help inform the Geelong community. If this claim is correct, why is this so?
Cr Richards responded he could not recall seeing anything, but was happy to issue a media statement that we have provided a submission.
Has the CoGG made a submission to the inquiry and if so, when did it do this?
Cr Richards advised Council has made a submission.
Does the CoGG intend making available a copy of their submission to the public? If so, when will this become available?
William Tieppo responded that the document would be soon be made public on the Inquiry’s website. A written response by the General Manager City Services in relation to the submission will be forwarded.
Can the CoGG confirm that it remains opposed to Fracking? If so, how does it intend to oppose Fracking (if at all) should the State Government determine that the Unconventional Gas Industry is safe and that mining activities can commence in the region?
Cr Irvine added he concurred Council receives hundreds of emails and we assume they are dealt with. From a Councillors perspective we made it quite clear that we do not want fracking in our region.
Nil.
Contents | Next Page: Section B – Reports
