Wed 05 Nov 2008				Recipient: 6123Ob12
						REF:AEAYK4R1
TO:	Cr Dom LOPEZ  OAM		cc	KSAS Parents
	Mayor					Councillors
	MOSMAN MUNICIPAL COUNCIL		Interested Parties

	RECORD: COUNCIL MEETING TUE 04 NOV 2008

Dear Mr Mayor			Link to Mosman Council Meetings

This is my record of the Council meeting Tue 04 Nov 2008

A	Background to attending Council Meeting
B	Timetable for 6 items discussed
C	Summary of 6 items discussed

BACKGROUND

A copy of the Question re "GM/53 Council Directors' Contracts and 
Council Economics" had been delivered to the Mayor and the General 
Manager on Mon 03 Nov 2008

The copy of the letter to the General Manager had the written authority 
for Stephen GOULD to ask the question.

At 18:40 at the Council meeting I registered to asked that question. 

GM/53 was item 5 out of 27 Items on the agenda for that evening

During the course of 4 hrs only 6 items including 1 Mayoral Minute
were discussed by Council.

Each of the 5 items reviewed by Council had Members of the Public 
wishing to speak about the issue.

There were about 25 people in the Public Gallery.

For the first time the Councillors could vote electronically and the
voting appeared on the screen behind the Mayor.

The Agenda was 104 pages

The Attachments were 198 pages.

The Attachments are not available at the Council meetings but can
be viewed and copied in the library at 20p per sheet.

It is estimated that around 100 copies on the Agendas are produced
for each Council Meeting - copies for the Councillors and copies
for the attendees.

Hence around 10,000 Agenda pages are printed for each Council meeting

TIMETABLE OF COUNCIL MEETING - 27 Items on list 5 reviewed in 4 hrs 

Council Meeting Timetable 19:00 - 23:00

19:00-19:45	Discussion re Mayoral  Minute for placing of Sculpture 
		"Daisy"

19:45-19:50	Councillors nominating items of Interest

19:50-20:50	EP/156	8 Stanton Road

20:50- 21:30	T/34	Rangers Avenue Traffic Management

21:30-21:45		refreshments

21:45-22:30	T/35	The Crescent 10 Minute Drop off Zone

22:30-22:42	CS/57	Road Closure & Sale

22:42-22:48	GM/53	Director's Contracts and Council Economics

SUMMARY OF 6 ITEMS DISCUSSED

A	45 Minutes 	Discussion re placing of Sculpture "Daisy"

Cr WILTON  spoke for 5 minutes to state that this Sculpture had been
offered for free to the Council and that it had to be placed in a Park.

Hunter Park was nominated

Cr SHERLOCK said he had a petition from 57 Residents against the 
Sculpture as they considered it dangerous for children in the park. 

The debate continued back and forth for 45 minutes.

It was agreed to place the Sculpture on a plinth in Hunter Park

B	60 mins	EP/156	8 Stanton Road			30 pages

There were 10 speakers on this issue including Richard SMYTHE former 
Director General Planning Department in the Wran Government

Richard SMYTHE confirmed in his opinion the DA was not a demolition 
although 79% of the building was going to be replaced.

This was the 3rd time that this 30 page DA had been placed in the 
Council Agenda papers.  

Previous dates were 

2	EP/145 21 Oct 2008 - 30 pages 

1	EP/132 02 Sep 2008 - 30 pages

At the end the Council agreed to the DA

C	40 mins	T/34	Rangers Avenue Traffic Management

There were 2 speakers about the problems of lights or a pedestrian 
crossing in Rangers Road.

The RTA require $ 220 K to fund the crossing and the Council has a 
current funding deficit of $ 500 K according to the General Manager

D	45 mins	T/35	The Crescent 10 Minute Drop off Zone

There was a major discussion about 6 parking places and a drop off 
zone

E	12 mins	CS/57	Road Closure & Sale

There was 1 speaker and the Council agreed not to sell the land

F	6 mins	GM/53	Directors fees and Council Economics

I pointed out that the Council had exceed the estimates on a number 
of projects including

1	Balmoral Baths {$200 K overrun) 

2	The Drill Hall ($300 K overrun)

3	the 2008/2009 Land and Environment Court Legal expenses 
	stated a $ 100,000 overrun for the year

The very recent Financial Markets Meltdown and Housing Market Crash was 
costing the Council a lot of money and the Sustainability issues were 
becoming expensive and incurring special rate rises.

There was a special 5% Environmental levy introduced in 2000-1012, a
Infrastructure Levy $ 45.00  and a Green Electricity levy $6.00 introduced
in 2008

KSAS-2088 suggested that the Directors' Contract should be linked to 
performance and not automatically increased each year particularly
as the Council was not complying with the NSW Child Protection Legislation
on its sporting fields.

There was no debate on this issue or questions asked and the Councillors
voted unanimously against this proposal