Three councillors kept their 100 per cent attendance rate after all 15 attended the April 27 meeting which was the first held remotely.
The councillors zoomed in to hold their first meeting off-site due to social distancing and physically isolating being the new normal.
(Please get in touch if you don’t know why….)
Council has held a total of 56 ordinary and extraordinary council meetings since the term began in September 2017.
Below are the latest figures, ordered by ward.
Gosford West Ward
Troy Marquart, Lib: absent: 12
- Missed November 2017 meeting due to a medical emergency.
- Apology: January 29 meeting due to medical issues.
- Applied for leave of absence via Cr Chris Burke on February 12, 2018.
- Feb 26, 2018
- March 12, 2018
- March 26, 2018 (Returned April 9 meeting from medical leave.)
- April 11, 2018 Extraordinary meeting.
- September 10, 2018
- February 25, 2019
- July 22, 2019
- September 25, 2019
- October 8, 2019
Chris Holstein, Ind: absent: 7
- May 14, 2018
- August 27, 2018
- October 8, 2018
- July 8, 2019
- August 12. 2019 Medical Leave
- September 9, 2019
- February 24, 2020
Richards Mehrtens, ALP: absent: 4
- July 23, 2018
- November 26, 2108
- May 27, 2019
- November 11, 2019
Gosford East Ward
Jane Smith (Mayor until Sept 2019, now deputy), Ind: √ Has attended all council meetings
Rebecca Gale, Lib: absent: 10
- January 29 meeting, 2019
- April 8 meeting, 2019
- July 8, 2019
- August 12, 2019
- October 8, 2019
- November 11, 2019
- December 16, 2019 Extraordinary meeting
- February 10, 2020
- February 24, 2020
- March 23, 2020 extraordinary meeting
Jeff Sundstrom, ALP: absent: 1
- March 11, 2019
The Entrance Ward
Lisa Matthews, (Mayor from September 2019) ALP: absent: 5
- December 7, 2017
- June 25, 2018
- July 23, 2018
- September 10, 2018
- February 25, 2019
Jilly Pilon, Lib: absent: 5
- June 25, 2018
- September 10, 2018
- November 26, 2018
- July 8, 2019
- March 23, 2020 extraordinary meeting
Bruce McLachlan, Ind: 2
- November 25, 2019
- March 23, 2020 extraordinary meeting
Wyong Ward
Kyle MacGregor, ALP: √ Attended all
Louise Greenaway, Ind: √ Attended all
Chris Burke, Lib: absent: 11
- April 9, 2018.
- July 9, 2018
- July 23. 2018
- September 10, 2018
- November 26, 2018 (Medical leave)
- December 10, 2018 (Medical leave)
- March 25, 2019
- June 11, 2019
- October 28, 2019
- November 11, 2019
- February 10, 2020
Budgewoi Ward
Doug Vincent, ALP: absent: 8
- January 15. 2018
- April 11, 2018, extraordinary meeting.
- April 23, 2018
- November 12, 2018
- February 11, 2019
- February 25, 2019
- July 8, 2019
- November 25, 2019
- March 23, 2020, extraordinary meeting.
Jillian Hogan, ALP: absent: 4
- October 23, 2017.
- December 7, 2017.
- January 29, 2018.
- August 27, 2018.
Greg Best, Ind: absent: 5
- October 23, 2017.
- August 27, 2018.
- April 29, 2019.
- May 13, 2019.
- March 23, 2020 extraordinary meeting.
The first meeting of the Central Coast Council was the extraordinary meeting held on September 25, 2017 where the mayor and the deputy mayor were elected.
So far the council has held:
extraordinary meetings: 7 (Last one March 23, 2020)
ordinary meetings: 49 (Last one April 27, 2020)
The May 28, 2018, meeting extended to June 4 and June 4 isn’t counted as a new meeting.
The March 23, 2020, ordinary meeting was replaced with an extraordinary meeting with a smaller agenda and social distancing rules saw the public excluded from the gallery. I was there as a media representative.
The CEO Gary Murphy attended his first meeting on July 9, 2018.
First new Governance Director Evan Hutchings attended his first meeting on April 29, 2019.
The next new Governance Director Dr Liz Devlin attended her first meeting on September 9, 2019 and her last meeting on March 9, 2020.
Central Coast Council Watch was started by me, retired journalist Merilyn Vale, when the councillors were elected in 2017.
I upload Facebook accounts of each meeting in the hope that those posts will form a database for voters to use before the 2021 elections to assess the councillors’ contributions.
Updated after the April 27, 2020 meeting. Copyright: Merilyn Vale