Council takes care in Hindmarsh during tough time | Mayoral Matters

This State of Emergency has now been extended until 11 May 2020 by the Victorian government and may be extended further depending on the status of the pandemic.

The mayor and councillors do not have an operational or response role during an emergency.

The mayor and councillors will continue to show leadership by supporting the actions and messaging of the federal and state governments in dealing with this crisis.

The mayor also continues to show leadership through advocacy for our community at local, regional and state-wide virtual meetings.

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Council will always have the health and safety of its community, including councillors and council staff as its primary concern.

Under state legislation the chief executive officer has the responsibility for ensuring councillors and staff have a safe work place. This means that events that do not need to occur and might pose a risk to health and safety will not occur.

Consequently council meetings, for example, will only occur when absolutely essential. This may be necessary to fulfill statutory obligations of council which cannot be delegated.

It is worth noting that councillors must attend council meetings in person under current legislation.

This may be changed by the Victorian government in the future and this may occur at the emergency sitting of the Victorian Parliament scheduled for the 23 April 2020.

When allowable, meetings can then be held via video conferencing.

The CEO has broad delegation to ensure council operations can continue. An example of this is in the planning area. Some planning matters are required to be determined by the CEO under legislation (VicSmart permits).

Other planning matters can also be determined under delegation but this delegation is not normally exercised by the Hindmarsh CEO, except in urgent or extraordinary circumstances.

The pandemic qualifies as an extraordinary circumstance, so planning permits can continue to be issued.

At this stage work on council's budget is proceeding based on normal timelines. However circumstances may mean this is not possible, so council welcomes the Victorian government's decision to extend the time available for the adoption of budgets, strategic resource plans and the annual report.

The Municipal Association of Victoria are currently working with the minister with regards to the upcoming local council elections due to be held later this year.

There are three possible plans that could be undertaken: keep the status quo with postal voting only, a six month deferment or a 12 month deferment of the election date. A decision will be made by the end of April.

I wish our community a safe and healthy time through this hardship that we are facing. Please abide by the health regulations before us, support our local businesses where we can and we will come through a much stronger community.