By Violet Li
Casey Council has moved the Council Meeting time from 4pm to 6pm for 2025.
At the December Council Meeting, a motion was passed to move the start time.
Council officers originally put forward a motion to move the start time to 5.30pm, but the recommendation was lost with a vote of three versus nine.
Councillor Michelle Crowther proposed an alternative motion for the commencement time of meetings to be 6pm, and Cr Lynette Pereira seconded the motion.
The motion was carried with a vote of 10 versus two.
Cr Crowther said the Casey community had demanded transparency and accessibility to the council meetings.
“Under our governance rules, public questions will only be answered publicly if the questioner is in attendance in the gallery. The current 4pm time and proposed 5.30pm does not allow accessibility for our community to participate in the council process,” she said.
“We have a very large municipality and we must allow time for our community to travel to Bunjil Place outside of work hours and participate in the council process.
“I feel the 6pm meeting time would increase the opportunity for more residents to attend and have their questions answered publicly.”
Cr Kim Ross was among the two who did not favour the new motion. She said people made decisions best earlier in the day.
“For me having an earlier time is better than a later time,” she said.
“And I recognise that a lot of the community can’t get here until later, but there’s also a fair part of the community that later doesn’t suit either. For example, parents with young children who are trying to get their kids settled, people who rely on public transport, so that’s why I’m in favour of an earlier time rather than a later one.”
She also said that the council meeting was only one forum for residents.
“It’s really important that we do offer other opportunities and other days to give people the opportunity to put questions and discuss things with councillors and to remind residents that they can always make appointments to talk with their councillors as well.
“This is not the only forum you have.”
Casey Residents and Ratepayer Association (CRRA) talked to Star News last week to call on the City of Casey to change Council meeting times to 6.30pm.
CRRA vice president Anthony Tassone said CCRA believed that the change of Casey Council meeting times to 6pm was a step in the right direction to provide greater opportunities for more residents to attend.
“Following feedback from residents and our members, CRRA previously suggested a meeting time of 6.30pm which would be more in line with many other council’s meeting times of 7pm including our neighbouring municipalities Frankston, Greater Dandenong, Cardinia, and Knox City councils,” he said.
“Time will tell whether 6pm is the right time for meetings to maximise the opportunity for resident attendance.
“The CRRA believes another matter needing attention for council meetings to increase transparency and engagement with the community is for the City of Casey to return to previous arrangements that did not require submitters of a question for public question time to be physically present in the gallery at the meeting for the question to be read out.
“This is a simple and sensible change that residents would welcome.“
Casey Council meetings historically started at 6.30pm until the council changed the time to 4pm in April 2020.
At a council meeting in December last year, a council officer recommended the time be changed to 5pm for all council meetings scheduled in 2024, following a petition with more than 200 supporters, but then Casey administrator Cameron Boardman moved an alternative motion to change 5pm back to 4pm, which was unanimously voted for.
