At last night’s meeting of Hawkesbury Council I presented a Notice of Motion to review our ‘Provision of Facilities to Councillors’ policy. The text of my motion is at this link.
When I was elected to Council in September 2016, I was surprised to be given a Windows laptop, a new iPhone with a SIM card, a printer, and a wireless modem & router to facilitate Internet access at home.
I didn’t need or want most of these resources. I handed the laptop and iPhone back, and have never used the wireless modem router. Some of my fellow Councillors did the same. Representing the community is a privilege, and I was happy generally to use my own resources for Council business.
Frankly, the current policy is both wasteful and outdated. It refers to installing extra landlines and fax machines in Councillor’s houses. It refers to arrangements for receiving a tape (an actual tape!) of Councillor meetings, even though we’ve been podcasting meetings for years.
I felt that the least we should do is update this policy so that the new Council elected in a few months are asked first what resources they may need – hopefully in the expectation that this will save ratepayers some money.
The motion was passed unanimously, which was very pleasing.
A new policy will be drafted and placed on exhibition for adoption before the elections in September.
