Two Council staff for Govt planning panel

Clr Sarkis Yedelian: Nominating two councillors would mean not all councillors would get a say.

Clr Jeff Salvestro-Martin:“We lose absolute control if we reject it.”

Two Council staff members - General Manager Michael Whittaker and Group Manager of Public Works Kim Woodbury - have been chosen over councillors to represent City of Ryde on a Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP).

Six panels have been set up by the State Government to determine regionally significant development applications over the value of $10 million dollars and certain projects over $5 million. The panels are made up of State appointed embers
and Council representatives.

Clr Gabrielle O’Donnell formally nominated Mayor Clr Vic Tagg and General Manager Michael Whittaker with Clr Nicole Campbell and Group Manager Public
Works Kim Woodbury as their respective alternates, but the motion was lost.

Councillors instead decided to only elect the two senior staff. Clr Sarkis Yedelian said nominating two councillors would mean not all councillors would get a say. He said the nominees would just be representing themselves on the panel.

Clr Nicole Campbell said it was nonsense to suggest councillors would present
their individual views on the panel.

Clr Ivan Petch said councillors would receive a lot of flak if an unfavourable decision were made on the panel.

Clr Bill Pickering said City of Ryde should have no part in the panel: “I find the
whole concept to be alarming. It takes away our authority to act for what we were elected to do.” Clr Petch said while Council was clearly capable of making its own decisions, the panel was going ahead with or without Ryde, so not appointing any representatives would be wrong. Clr Jeff Salvestro-Martin agreed: “We lose bsolute
control if we reject it,” he said. Clr Campbell said it would be an embarrassment if City of Ryde wasn’t involved.

The Department of Planning said as a general rule it was not appropriate for council staff to be members of a JRPP as “it would be difficult for them to manage the conflict of interest between being a staff member and fulfilling the obligations of a JRPP”.

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