If Wollongong councillors meet for the last time next Monday – before they’re sacked and the council is merged with Shellharbour – it seems they’re going to make it count.
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The agenda is stacked with nearly 30 items – including five councillor-led motions and an item where councillors have been encouraged to award themselves a pay rise they may never see.
The May 30 meeting could well be Wollongong council’s last in its current form, as Shellharbour council’s legal battle could wrap up in court hearings scheduled for June 3 and 6. This would then allow the NSW government to go ahead with its plans to create the City of Greater Wollongong Council.
First up on the agenda, Liberal councillor John Dorahy will use a notice of motion to push the council’s position on a popularly elected Lord Mayor.
For all other merged councils, the government proclaimed that councillors, not citizens, will vote to elect mayors. But Cr Dorahy will urge his colleagues to write to Premier Mike Baird and Local Government Minister Paul Toole to ask that the Wollongong mayoral election continue to be conducted by popular vote.
He said this was “the commonsense approach” as Wollongong – which has a popularly elected Lord Mayor – made up the greater part of the planned merged council.
In another item on Monday’s agenda, councillors have been urged by staff to award themselves a 2.5 per cent pay rise from July 1.
This would mean councillors were paid $28,240 while the Lord Mayor receives $82,270 a year. In the past, a majority of councillors have voted to give themselves the maximum possible pay rise each year, arguing their remittance is too low for the work expected.
Ask if the council had deliberately stacked the meeting ahead of the pending merger, a spokesman said:
“The content of the 30 May business paper reflects an organisation of our size and complexity, not a result of passing items through ahead of a proposed merger.”
“While Wollongong City Council is the subject of a State Government Merger Proposal, we still have an obligation to deliver the business of local government, and provide quality services to our community.”
“There are only two meetings before the end of the financial year, 30 May and 27 June. Council has placed a strong emphasis on continuing to deliver on existing commitments, projects and strategies.”
The meeting has more business items than an average Wollongong council meeting, but is not the largest – in terms of agenda items – to be held in the past year.
