Council’s Double Standard

Filed in Recent News by July 27, 2016

ON Monday night when the Councillors travelled to Merriwa for the Council meeting, their travel costs covered, but at the June Council meeting they voted not to cover the costs of volunteers travelling to Council meetings; a double standard not lost on Merriwa resident Kim Fenley.

The Councillors voted to give themselves a pay rise of 2.5 percent, the maximum amount allowable under the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal for 2016/17, for rural Councils.

Mr Fenley, who sits on the Upper Hunter Central Business District Redevelopment Committee, last month approached Waid Crockett, general manager of the Upper Hunter Shire Council to request costs for volunteers be reimbursed.

Mr Crockett said there was no Council policy on the matter and he would have to refer the request to the Councillors; adding he knew of no other Council which reimbursed their volunteers.

In an email back to Mr Crockett, Mr Fenley wrote the following:

“You say that other Councils are not doing reimbursement. This is not the case. The very first search I Googled came up with the following: Link to Hilltops Council….this is all about equity if nothing else.”

Mr Crockett dismissed the Hilltops policy as being irrelevant because the Hilltops Council is going through a merger.

A Google for Council volunteer reimbursements also shows the Parramatta and Northern Beaches Councils have similar policies as Hilltops Council in place.

Mr Fenley said he was keen to ensure the recommendation to Council included all voluntary community committee members.

“Every government department I know of reimburses you for travel, the LLS, the bush fire brigade provides transport, they all help their volunteers; it is one of the options they could consider,” said Mr Fenley.

“I said that it was not just for me attending a meeting, but for everyone who is on an official Council committee to be able to claim expenses,” he said.

“The majority of meetings are held in Scone and it’s not an issue for most people, but it is for people in the outlying areas.

“Most people are not going to bother claiming for driving between Scone and Aberdeen, but if you are driving in from Murrurundi, Merriwa, Cassilis and those places it is fair the volunteers have their costs covered or at least move the meetings around to the different towns,” said Kim Fenley.

However, the recommendation Mr Crockett put forward to Councillors was not to reimburse travel expenses, specifically for Mr Fenley for the CBD redevelopment committee meeting, which was moved by Cr Maurice Collison and seconded by Cr Kiwa Fisher.

Mr Fenley was disappointed by the hypocrisy in approach by Council.

“Waid Crockett said there were few volunteers who attended meetings in Scone from outlying areas,” he said.

“It’s just a fob off; the Councillor’s see they’re worth an increase of 2.5 percent, which could have been rejected, but volunteers are not worth anything for the valued input into official Council activities which Council seks,” Kim Fenley said.

 

 

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