By Emily Chapman Laing
Narre Warren local Stephen Matulec is rallying the community to pressure Casey council to amend their meeting times.
The monthly meetings are currently held on Tuesdays at 4pm, and Mr Matulec has started both a paper and e-petition to present to the council administrators in favour of changing this to 7pm.
“A lot of people are upset because they want to attend meetings but can’t because of the start time,“ Mr Matuelc said.
“Being a ratepayer I’d like to attend, but unfortunately I have to work at that time,“ local Cheryse Schembri said.
Casey Locals Wayne Delaney and Tony Jones said being “public servants“, the administrators should be providing council meetings with the highest availability to their constituents.
“It should be 7:30 pm so all can attend, they work for us not themselves,“ Mr Jones said.
“They work and are paid by us,“ Mr Delaney said.
Sotiria Stratis said 4pm is a “ridiculous time“ for the council meetings.
Casey local Elizabeth Kirkwood said the council plan their meetings to suit their “work days, time [and] staff availability“.
“Unfortunately regardless of what time or day it is there will always be someone who isn’t happy cause it doesn’t fit into their schedule,“ she said.
Emma Materne said she doesn’t see any benefit or difference to changing the time.
“You need to pre-submit your questions before the meeting anyway and in my disappointing experience, the entire question I put forward was reworded and summarised in a way that it was turned it into something totally different and pointless,“ she said.
“Which ironically proved my point- [the administrators] aren’t accountable for anything.
“And 4pm just shows the community they aren’t inclusive of all- parents would not be able to attend for one, and if you were able to finish work earlier, you would still likely be stuck in endless traffic trying to get back into the area at that time anyway.“
Tania Sacco said she feels like Casey residents are the “losers“, being robbed of their “representation“ and “support“.
“Three administrators are being paid more than all the councillors put together,“ she said.
“They halved the meetings, and changed the time to one that worked within their working hours, rather than staying at a time where the general public could attend.
“Surely once a fortnight, time in lieu and a little common sense could have prevailed.“
Local resident Paul Mathew offered a solution, suggesting the council “change the day and time frequently, so to give the rate payers the opportunity to plan around it, so they can attend if they wish“.
South East Metropolitan MP David Limbrick, under whom Mr Matulec works, raised the issue of the council meeting time in a State Parliament meeting on 4 May.
City of Casey Head of Governance, Integrity and Legal Support, Michelle Tipton says the council’s governance rules prevent the administrators from changing the meeting time until 2024.
However, Mr Matulec explained “The Local Government Act 2020 allows for Councils to adopt its own local governance rules“.
“Currently under Casey’s local governance rules, the meeting time cannot be reviewed until December,“ he said.
“But The Local Government Act 2020 60(3) says ’A Council may amend its governance rules.’.“
Mr Matulec said the council has the power the amend these governance rules at any time.
“Since the administrators have the power to change the rules, we want them to amend them as soon as possible to consider a better meeting time,“ he said.
While Mr Matulec is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he said the petition was something he decided to pursue for the community independently.
“I believe this petition should be above politics, because if people are being excluded, then we can’t even discuss politics or express our opinions,“ he said.
“Every other council in the area have their meetings at 7pm, so I don’t know why Casey can’t do the same.
“Is it because they want to knock-off at five o’clock or because they don’t want public attendance to criticise them?“
Cardinia Shire Council, City of Monash, City of Greater Dandenong, City of Frankston, City of Kingston and City of Knox each hold their monthly council meetings at 7pm.
Mr Matulec is hoping to be out and about in Casey gathering signatures for the petition.
“Check my socials for updates,“ he said.
The link to the e-petition can be found at https://chng.it/ZTqRLdLD
