The Scenic Rim Regional Council has changed the timing of its public question time session, to make it more accessible and convenient, which has pushed back the start of monthly council meetings.
Introduced in 2012, public question time is an open forum where pre-submitted questions on matters of public concern are asked directly of Council, via the Mayor as Chair.
In Tuesday’s meeting, Council formally endorsed a new start time of ordinary meetings of 9:15am to allow public question time to be scheduled beforehand at 8:40am.
Previously it was scheduled after ordinary meetings, which meant it was held at an unspecified time.
Chief Executive Officer Jon Gibbons said this change will give community members certainty on when public questions will be heard and clarity on the process for submitting questions.
“We’re making the necessary changes to improve two-way communication and transform our services to put customers’ needs first as set out in Council’s Customer Charter,” he said.
“Public question time is our formal avenue for publicly asking questions, but we would encourage community members to reach out at any time by telephone, email or in-writing to Council or their Divisional Councillor if they are needing advice or would like to provide some feedback.”
Council requires public questions to be received in writing five business days prior to the next Ordinary Meeting.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions the public gallery remains closed, accepted questions will be read out and a response provided.
Public question time will be live-streamed and archived on Council’s website. If there are no public questions, there will be no broadcast.
Prior to restrictions when the public gallery was open, public questions were read out by the community members involved with support from the Chief Executive Officer. It was at the discretion of the Mayor/delegate if questions could be taken from the floor without notice.
