Hurstville Council has sworn off junkets to holiday resorts and alcohol before meetings after the mayor Con Hindi succumbed to on-going community pressure.
Cr Hindi announced at the Wednesday meeting (March 4) that councillors and staff would not be going to Terrigal in late April for the customary council planning workshop weekend but would hold that meeting in council rooms.
And they would not be enjoying a glass of wine with their dinner before council meetings on the first and third Wednesday of the month.
Cr Justin Mining, who called for the workshop to be held on council premises, and some people in the public gallery were pleased with the outcome.
‘‘Ratepayers should not be forced to foot the bill for councillors to go away to a beachside resort to meet when we have perfectly good facilities at the council or we could support local businesses,’’ Cr Mining said.
‘‘I thank the many residents who contacted councillors in the lead-up to the meeting to make it very clear they would not accept this unnecessary spending.’’
But Cr Hindi’s backtrack on Terrigal did not come without controversy.
When making the announcement, Cr Hindi quoted figures saying that it was cheaper to run meetings off-site than in council rooms.
‘‘To conduct the workshop at the council, the cost is about $17,200 while to host it off-site, the cost is about $12,500,’’ he said.
‘‘This is due to the fact that if a workshop is held at council facilities, staff are entitled to overtime as per the Local Government (State) Award 2014.
‘‘Since this term of council, when a workshop is held off-site, staff have donated their time traditionally and have only been compensated through time in lieu.’’
Some people in the public gallery scoffed at this and Cr Mining called it ‘‘bizarre’’.
‘‘Residents would quite rightly ask serious questions about the costings as it defies all common sense,’’ he said.
Cr Mining has called on the council to release current costing and details of previous workshop costs.
As for the alcohol matter, Cr Hindi acknowledged that the council had received many complaints about that.
‘‘I note this is common practice with many other councils,’’ he said.
‘‘It is my responsibility and duty as the elected mayor to listen to the concerns of residents and act accordingly.’’
This was a win for former councillor Anne Wagstaff, who was at the meeting.
She had fought long and hard to stop drinks before meetings and had done a lot of research into which council was or was not drinking.
She said Cr Hindi was wrong about alcohol being common at other councils.
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