KATHERINE Town Council has a time problem.
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Specifically, it has an issue with the 30 minutes it dedicates to an open forum before the commencement of each month’s ordinary meeting.
Half an hour is generally not enough time to allow community members who have come to have their say the opportunity to be heard.
The result is a haphazard – and at times comical – juggling act of questions, answers, murmuring in the public gallery and people diving to commandeer the microphone.
By my estimate, there were more than a dozen community members who wanted to be heard on a range of issues at the August open forum, yet not all of them were afforded the opportunity to speak due to time constraints.
Why doesn’t the council trial a new system whereby people contact the executive team to indicate their desire to speak in the week leading up to the ordinary meeting?
If speakers don’t make it known that they wish to stand behind the microphone, they don’t get the opportunity to do so.
If only three or four people want to ask questions, half an hour would almost certainly be adequate.
If 20 people want to have their say, a 30-minute block just isn’t going to cut it.
Given each ordinary meeting only runs for an hour or so each month, I highly doubt any of the aldermen would object to extending the open forums by up to 45 minutes to ensure all issues are raised, understood and responded to.
Good governance takes time.
The council needs to remember that when it asks itself whether 30 minutes a month is really enough time to digest the concerns of the community.