Rodney Stevens

Clarence Valley Councillors have passed a motion to delegate authority the General Manager after a decision at last Tuesday’s ordinary meeting effectively left council unable to make decisions until an extraordinary meeting was held three days later.

At the February 27 council meeting the motion moved by Cr Ian Tiley and seconded by Cr Greg Clancy:

1. That, in compliance with Section 380 of the Local Government Act 1993, Council hereby delegates to the General Manager the powers presently exercised, excluding those which, under Section 377 of the Government Act may not be delegated.
2. That in accordance with Section 381 of the Act, Council endorse the exercise of functions conferred or imposed on council employees under other Acts.

This motion was carried six voted to three, with Cr’s Debrah Novak, Karen Toms and Allison Whaites voting against.

But when councillors realised this could cause issues for council’s operations, Mayor Peter Johnstone and Cr’s Clancy and Bill Day signed a rescission motion resulting in an extraordinary meeting being called.

At the extraordinary meeting at the Maclean chambers on March 1, apologies were received from Cr Ian Tiley and Cr Allison Whaites who were unable to attend, while Deputy Mayor Jeff Smith and Cr Greg Clancy joined the meeting remotely.

General Manager GM Laura Black declared a non-significant, non-pecuniary interest in the motion as she is the incumbent in the role the delegations apply to, and she remained in the meeting.

Cr Bill Day moved the rescission motion which was seconded by Cr Karen Toms that: council rescind the resolution made at the February 27 council meeting – Delegation of Authority – GM.

Councillors then voted unanimously to rescind the February 27 decision.

When Cr Bill Day proposed a motion that the delegations of authority to the GM be discussed at a workshop, which Cr Greg Clancy seconded, Ms Black explained the potential impact if the decision was delayed.

Ms Black explained “If the council does not have delegations, then we are unable to operate.”

“For the last couple of days, we have significantly reduced our risk by not undertaking regulatory action that may result in challenge or litigation, and we’ve been quite careful about what activity we have undertaken.

“We’ve managed to do that for a couple of days, however a whole month without being able to approve DA’s, issue certificates, issue orders, issue notices of orders, seize dangerous dogs, would impact the organisation’s capacity significantly.”

Cr Day’s motion was lost four votes to three, with Cr’s Johnstone, Novak, Pickering and Toms voting against.

Then Cr Steve Pickering’s foreshadowed motion, seconded by Cr Toms became the substantive motion that council:

1. Delegate to the General Manager all the powers, duties, functions and authorities of the council, except those unable to be delegated as specified in section 377 of the Local Government Act 1993 and subject to the limitations specified in paragraph 2.
2. Council’s delegation to the General Manager subject to the following limitations. All functions delegated to the General Manager must be exercised in accordance with the applicable statutory requirements as well as any resolution or policy adopted from the council from time to time. The General Manager has authority to enter into leases and licences limited to those that have an annual rental of $50,000 or less GST inclusive that have not been objected to as part of the public exhibition process.
3. The General Manager does not have authority to determine development applications, applications to modify a development consent, and applications for a complying development certificate in the following circumstances.

(i) applications that involve the variation of a development standard and that variation exceeds 10 per-cent of the maximum standard set by council.

(i) Where a submission by way of objection to an application has been submitted to council during the public notification period, unless in the General Managers opinion the objection is unreasonable or can be satisfied by the imposition of a condition consent.

(iii) The Development does not comply with any adopted council policy including a development control plan unless, in the General Managers opinion, compliance of the policy is unreasonable and unnecessary in the circumstances.

(iv) Any section 455 modification application, other than a modification application made pursuant to section 455.1 of the EP and A act to correct a minor error, misdescription, or miscalculation concerning a development determination previously made by the council

4. This delegation shall remain in force until it is specifically altered or revoked by subsequent resolution of the council.

The motion, which Cr Pickering said were the previous delegations the GM had, was carried four votes to three, with Cr’s Johnstone, Day and Clancy voting against.