Gingin opens dialogue at shire meetings

Shire president Wayne Fewster said the ordinary council meeting on February 20 will feature 'public statement time', which is a dedicated allotment of time where residents can share opinions and feedback.

All council meetings are required by law to provide time for public questions, however this is strictly for questions only.

Introducing public statement time into a council agenda has already been adopted by several councils within the metropolitan area.

"It's about giving people a chance to have some dialogue with council and say whatever they want to say," Mr Fewster said.

Recently, there had been more people standing up during the council meetings and about five people bringing their questions and statements to the table.

Not only will this aim to open up the means of communication between residents and councillors, but also tighten up question time, which would typically always run over time and saw many come to speak yet not ask a question.

Mr Fewster said he had seen in recordings from other councils that members were "ruthless" towards people who raised a statement during question time, but didn't feel like this was the way to go about keeping question time focused.

Unlike question time, there will be no response from council members to the resident who makes the statement, but the resident can follow up with the council member outside the meeting proceedings, or vice versa.

It will run for 15 minutes, just like public question time, with each person allowed two minutes to share a statement, and the subject of the statement will be recorded in the council minutes.

"We could always extend that time as well, if needed," Mr Fewster said.

"We'll just play it by ear, and that's the purpose of the trial."

Mr Fewster expected the trial to run from anywhere between six to 12 months.

"We need to give this some time to settle in and learn how it's working," he said.