Emma Pritchard
Clarence Valley Councillor Lynne Cairns has expressed her disappointment after a Notice of Motion (NOM) she put forward during the Ordinary Council Meeting on November 21 proposing, “council increase the amount of advertising to a full or half page contribution (depending on requirements) in the highest circulating, printed, local, weekly newspaper, the Clarence Valley Independent.
Such advertising to include (but not limited to) that which is provided in Council’s weekly noticeboard email, development proposals, notices of development consent, events, what is on exhibition, scheduled work, council and committee meetings, and updates on projects”.
The NOM was ultimately lost following a lengthy debate in the Maclean Council Chambers.
While addressing her concerns, Cr Cairns said it is paramount people are provided with up-to-date information on a regular basis, referring to it as “how Council relates to the community.”
Cr Cairns said while Council currently provides information via Clarence Conversations, Facebook, and a weekly noticeboard which is distributed via email, she identified these means as only being accessible to Clarence Valley residents who have internet access, adding “not everybody does.”
In referencing the Clarence Magazine, which is published by Council four times per year as “beautiful and includes loads of information”, Cr Cairns noted that a lot of its editorial content was out of date being a quarterly publication, adding it is also “not widely distributed.”
Speaking of recent conversations she had had with residents in Grafton, Maclean, Iluka, and Yamba, Cr Cairns informed her fellow councillors that many had told her they appreciate being notified of up to date information via print format.
“The Clarence Valley Independent advertises Council matters for the benefit of the community as a community service, and has been doing so for quite some time, without being paid to do so,” she said.
“In my opinion, this is not appropriate.
“The Clarence Valley Independent is a business, and we as Council should respect that and pay for all advertising and articles.
“We need to ensure the Clarence Valley Independent continues to thrive as a local business and provide news to all the Clarence Valley.”
Councillor Debrah Novak questioned the community consultation undertaken by Cr Cairns, asking her how it could be substantiated for accountability and transparency, and what research she had completed to quote the Clarence Valley Independent as the highest circulating newspaper within the Clarence Valley.
When Cr Cairns revealed she had spoken to the Clarence Valley Independent Editor, Cr Novak raised the issue of councillors not being allowed to speak to service providers in a commercial capacity and asked her if she was aware of the policy.
Cr Novak went on to say she wouldn’t be supporting the Notice of Motion put forward by Cr Cairns as she didn’t believe it to be factually correct or researched, adding she felt Council would be cutting the community short by advertising with the Clarence Valley Independent.
“I feel that by putting this Notice of Motion forward without doing the appropriate research, it’s just not up to the standard the community would expect to see us have here.
“We aren’t about propping up businesses.
“Our role is to provide timely information which is what we have been doing through our community newsletter and Clarence Magazine.
“I’m not quite sure how all of a sudden, we are propping up one business when we’ve got 4285 other businesses out there.
“When they hear that we’ve approved this, they will come knocking on our door as we will set a precedent if we approve this.”
Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy spoke in favour of the motion and revealed he could not work out how supporting it would “take away” from the community.
“We’re not doing this to support a business, we’re doing this to inform the community,” he explained.
The Deputy Mayor also pointed out that by contributing more content in the Clarence Valley Independent, Clarence Valley residents would have access to all options in order to find out what Council is doing in a timely manner compared to utilising other informative platforms including websites and social media.
“I actually like the Clarence Magazine, but as Councillor Karen Toms pointed out (during the meeting), it’s a report, it reports on what we (Council) have been doing, but we’ve got to ensure that we reach as many community members as possible (in a timely manner).”
Deputy Mayor Clancy said a lot of people rely on reading the Clarence Valley Independent… it focuses specifically on news within the Clarence Valley Local Government Area (LGA).
In her right of reply, Cr Cairns said it is important for everyone to be kept up to date with the latest information.
“Do we (Council) exclude people because they do not have internet access or don’t wish to access information via the internet?”
Cr Cairns said after looking at results from a 2022 customer satisfaction survey undertaken by Council which revealed a significant number of people aged 60 and above preferred other media (TV, radio, and newspapers) as their preferred means of accessing news and information.
She went on to state she had been in touch with residents of Grevillea Waters, an over 50s retirement village in Yamba, and said about 90-95 percent of the people she spoke to indicated they don’t use the internet at all.
“It’s very important that we (Council) need to consider everybody and do not exclude anybody and let’s advertise as much as we possibly can to keep our community up to date and well informed.”
Prior to councillors voting at the conclusion of the debate, CVC General Manager Laura Black clarified the source of funding regarding the possible carrying of the motion and said the motion needs to “include the source of funding.”
“Otherwise, another report will come back to Council seeking the source of funding,” she explained.
The motion was lost 3-6.
Councillor Allison Whaites voted against the Notice of Motion and referred to the code of meeting practice point 3.12 when explaining the reason behind her decision.
“When a councillor brings a Notice of Motion to an Ordinary Council Meeting, they must provide an explanation of where the funds will come from,” she said.
“Cr Cairns gave no evidence or explanation of where the extra funds would come from.
“An experienced councillor knows they must follow the code of meeting practice, and the motion should never have been brought to council until correctly written.
“Cr Cairns had no clear evidence of why council should spend further rate payers’ money on one form of media over others while it only took a matter of hours for Cr Novak to find all evidence needed for the debate.
“If Cr Cairns did the correct research and timing, the vote may have been different.
“Bringing a Notice Of Motion to councillors to vote on spending funds above the budget should be timed closer to the June Ordinary Council Meeting for councillors to add into the annual budget.
“Councillors are not able to deal with day to day operational matters, nor get involved with council contractors.
“This is not the role of a councillor.
“Code of meeting practice 3.12: A Notice of Motion for the expenditure of funds on works and/or services other than those already provided for in the council’s current adopted operational plan must identify the source of funding for the expenditure that is the subject of the Notice of Motion.”
Cr Cairns said Mayor Smith suggested she add a point three to identify the source of funding and explained she had asked the General Manager for assistance with identifying it.
“The General Manager said she would provide it and therefore I expected that it would have been included,” she said.
Speaking with the Clarence Valley Independent last week, Cr Cairns said she was really disappointed and surprised by the reluctance to take her Notice of Motion on board, and said with a lot of informative material and content only being available online, Clarence Valley residents would benefit greatly by having more content readily available to them in an accessible format.
Cr Cairns stood by her previous comments and said her focus remains on ensuring more people are informed of the latest news and information throughout the Clarence Valley.
“I think the Clarence Valley Independent is the main newspaper for this area, and Council should be advertising in our local newspaper,” she said.