THERE’S no question the coronavirus pandemic is affecting many areas of life, including a drop in questions and public presentations to South Gippsland Shire Council.
Council moved quickly to close the public gallery and media attendance as COVID-19 took hold.
Both the March and April ordinary meetings were held behind closed doors with public and media access provided via livestream. This week’s May ordinary meeting will run the same way.
However, it’s unusual that meetings are not preceded by open public presentations with individuals and community groups taking the opportunity to present on matters of importance or concern to them, but that is exactly what has happened since the pandemic procedures kicked in.
Council has made alternative arrangements to, in its words, “ensure that the views and questions from our community members are still heard” yet no one has submitted an expression of interest to present to council in March, April or May.
There were no petitions or joint letters and no previous questions taken on notice at the previous ordinary council meeting in March or April. A number of submitted questions were addressed at the council meetings.
Visit the council website for details on how to submit expressions of interest or public questions at https://www.southgippsland.vic.gov.au/info/20004/your_council/322/questions_for_council_meetings.
Just wondering if the updated design plans and engineering specifications for the long-awaited cantilevered viewing platform project at the Agnes Falls, previously funded by the South Gippsland Shire Council in October 2017, with the funding of $460,000 for the construction phase then sadly withdrawn by the Shire Administrators late 2019, have been passed on to Parks Victoria for possible follow-up with Government funding bodies, post bushfires and Covid-19, with the obvious down turn in the visitor economy right across Gipssland.
It would still be a wonderful tourism drawcard for the region, once constructed.