Paul Bibby
Byron Mayor Simon Richardson would be given far-reaching emergency decision making powers under a motion to be voted on at this week’s council meeting.
In the council’s latest response to COVID-19, councillors will consider giving Cr Richardson delegated authority over all council functions that are not already delegated to the General Manager, including authorising the expenditure of council funds up to $50,000.
He would also be able to make decisions on council’s behalf where he considers that ‘an urgent decision is required for the efficient and effective administration of the Council’.
The Mayor would only be able to use the powers in the period between meetings of Council and where it is not reasonable or practical to call an Extraordinary Meeting, and when the Mayor considers that the exercise of the delegation is ‘necessary in the interests of the local community or the wider public’.
He must also first consult with the General Manager as to the proposed exercise of the delegation.
‘During the current crisis, delegations provide a means of enabling councils to continue functioning in a timely and responsive manner as events unfold quickly and urgent decisions need to be made,’ said Council’s legal counsel Ralph James who has put motion forward.
‘This is particularly so where urgent decisions need to be made between council meetings and the calling of an extraordinary meeting would not be a sufficiently responsive or feasible way of making the decision.’
Mr James also said that a number of other councils were moving to confer such emergency powers to ensure that they could continue provide goods and services needed for their communities during the crisis.
‘During the crisis, there is a strong case for governing bodies to delegate to mayors all of the functions of the council which are not delegated to the general manager.
‘Such a delegation would be complimentary to a mayor’s role under s226(d) of the LG Act ‘to exercise, in cases of necessity, the policy-making functions of the governing body of the council between meetings of the council’.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
