Cr Curran will raise these concerns in a notice of motion at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Briefing sessions are designed to give councillors background on complex issues and will this year outnumber formal Wollongong meetings after councillors voted to hold the public meetings on a three-week instead of two-week cycle.

Cr Curran has labelled the briefings as ‘‘defacto, closed and non-recorded decision-making forums[s] on matters coming to council meetings’’ which ‘‘do not provide the procedural fairness, transparency, accountability that we are expected to deliver’’.

But Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery has refuted these claims as ‘‘rubbish’’, saying no decisions were being made by councillors outside formal council meetings.

‘‘No decisions can be made at briefing sessions, and all decisions are made on the floor of council and councillors have always understood that,’’ he said.

He said Cr Curran was ‘‘making mischief’’ with her motion, as briefings were needed so councillors could talk openly to staff, ‘‘drill down in terms of understanding issues’’ and, sometimes, look at confidential items.

Cr Curran contends decisions on the Gateway Wollongong development on Flinders Street, as well as the controversial dogs on beaches policy changes were among those bedded down or ‘‘caucused’’ in briefings instead of public meetings.

‘‘What is meant to happen in a briefing session is that it’s only meant to be for information to be given out to councillors,’’ she said.

‘‘But at ours we have some information, then we have councillors speaking any number of times and giving directions to council staff.

‘‘It’s sort of like ‘let’s decide at a briefing and not let the media or community know’, then communicate.’’

In her motion, Cr Curran will ask for briefings to become ‘‘committee of council’’ meetings, which would have minutes, public agendas and open doors.

‘‘A committee of council meeting is open, transparent and accountable, there’s records and there is an opportunity for people to see and be a part of the process,’’ she said.

While unsure if she would agree to Cr Curran’s move, Greens’ Jill Merrin said she had similar concerns and would like to see the briefing sessions changed in some way.

Liberal Bede Crasnich also said he wasn’t sure if he would support the motion, but said he would be happy for the public or media to attend briefings.

But Labor’s David Brown said he thought the current structure would allow councillors to be more efficient, echoing Cr Bradbery’s insistence no decisions were made outside council meetings.

‘‘When we didn’t have this briefing structure, a lot of items were being deferred on the floor of council for more information,’’ he said.

‘‘So having them makes our decision-making more efficient.’’