Council Watch

Watching Central Coast Council on behalf of fair-minded and reasonable people.

Central Coast Council Watch

Smith, MacGregor, Greenaway still on 100 per cent

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Three councillors kept their 100 per cent attendance rate after the latest council meeting, held on August 10 2020, an ordinary meeting, and the tenth meeting to be held remotely.

Council has held a total of 56 ordinary and 9 extraordinary council meetings since the term began in September 2017.

Below are the latest attendance figures, ordered by ward.

Gosford West Ward

 Troy Marquart, Lib: absent: 17

  1. Missed November 2017 meeting due to a medical emergency.
  2. Apology: January 29 meeting due to medical issues.
  3. Applied for leave of absence via Cr Chris Burke on February 12, 2018.
  4. Feb 26, 2018
  5. March 12, 2018
  6. March 26,  2018 (Returned April 9 meeting from medical leave.)
  7. April 11, 2018 Extraordinary meeting.
  8. September 10, 2018
  9. February 25, 2019
  10. July 22, 2019
  11. September 25, 2019
  12. October 8, 2019
  13. June 9, 2020 (remote meeting)
  14. June 29, 2020 Extraordinary meeting, remote
  15. July 13, 2020 (remote meeting)
  16. July 20, 2020 Extraordinary meeting, remote
  17. July 27, 2020 (remote meeting)

  Chris Holstein, Ind: absent: 7

  1. May 14, 2018
  2. August 27, 2018
  3. October 8, 2018
  4. July 8, 2019
  5. August 12. 2019 Medical Leave
  6. September 9, 2019
  7. February 24, 2020

  Richards Mehrtens, ALP:  absent:  4

  1. July 23, 2018
  2. November 26, 2108
  3. May 27, 2019
  4. November 11, 2019

 

  Gosford East Ward

 Jane Smith (Mayor until Sept 2019, now deputy), Ind: 100 per cent
Has attended all council meetings

 

  Rebecca Gale,  Lib: absent: 12

  1. January 29 meeting, 2019
  2. April 8 meeting, 2019
  3. July 8, 2019
  4. August 12, 2019
  5. October 8, 2019
  6. November 11, 2019
  7. December 16, 2019 Extraordinary meeting
  8. February 10, 2020
  9. February 24, 2020
  10. March 23, 2020 extraordinary meeting
  11. June 9, 2020 (remote meeting)
  12. June 22, 2020 (remote meeting)

Jeff Sundstrom, ALP: absent: 1

  1. March 11, 2019

 

 The Entrance Ward

Lisa Matthews, (Mayor from September 2019) ALP: absent: 6

  1. December 7, 2017
  2. June 25, 2018
  3. July 23, 2018
  4. September 10, 2018
  5. February 25, 2019
  6. August 10, 2020 (remote meeting)

 Jilly Pilon, Lib: absent: 7

  1. June 25, 2018
  2. September 10, 2018
  3. November 26, 2018
  4. July 8, 2019
  5. March 23, 2020 extraordinary meeting
  6.  June 22, 2020 (remote meeting)
  7. June 29 extraordinary meeting, remote

  Bruce McLachlan, Ind: 2

  1. November 25, 2019
  2. March 23, 2020 extraordinary meeting

 

  Wyong Ward

 Kyle MacGregor, ALP: 100 per cent 
Attended all

  Louise Greenaway, Ind: 100 per cent
Attended all

  Chris Burke, Lib: absent: 11

  1. April 9, 2018.
  2. July 9, 2018
  3. July 23. 2018
  4. September 10, 2018
  5. November 26, 2018 (Medical leave)
  6. December 10, 2018 (Medical leave)
  7. March 25, 2019
  8. June 11, 2019
  9. October 28, 2019
  10. November 11, 2019
  11. February 10, 2020

  

Budgewoi Ward 

 Doug Vincent, ALP: absent: 10

  1. January 15. 2018
  2. April 11, 2018,  extraordinary meeting.
  3. April 23, 2018 
  4. November 12, 2018
  5. February 11, 2019
  6. February 25, 2019
  7. July 8, 2019
  8. November 25, 2019
  9. March 23, 2020, extraordinary meeting.
  10. June 29, 2020, extraordinary meeting, remote

 Jillian Hogan, ALP: absent: 4

  1. October 23, 2017.
  2. December 7, 2017.
  3. January 29, 2018.
  4. August 27, 2018.

 Greg Best, Ind: absent: 5

  1.  October 23, 2017.
  2. August 27, 2018.
  3. April 29, 2019.
  4. May 13, 2019.
  5. 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:    9 (Last one July 20: 2020)

ordinary meetings:             56 (Last one August 10, 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 first remote meeting was held on April 27, 2020.

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.

Shane Sullivan has been called unit manager of governance since then.

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 Aug 10, 2020 meeting. Copyright: Merilyn Vale