Cobar Shire Council’s September meeting was held at the Mt Hope Community Hall in an effort for councillors and council staff to connect with some of the shire’s rural residents.
The council is committed to holding one rural meeting each year with the venue changing each year to different outlying villages.
A number of Mt Hope residents took the opportunity to address council last week during the public address session of their meeting.
Councillors and council staff also carried out an inspection of the village’s water storages and the garbage tip.
One of the items on last week’s meeting agenda was the approval of council to record and webcast their public meetings.
Council adopted a policy which will apply to the recording and streaming of a range of public meetings and forums that are open to the public and are held at the council chambers.
Council’s general manager Peter Vlatko said council had previously discussed the matter and had recently installed webcam equipment at the council chambers in readiness.
“Increased community awareness can promote confidence in the integrity and accountability of decision making processes of council and live streaming will improve accessibility of council meetings to a broader audience,” Mr Vlatko said.
Viewers can choose to watch in real time or at a later time. The technology is however not available for use at rural meetings.
