{"id":329729,"date":"2023-03-10T20:13:26","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T10:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=329729"},"modified":"2023-03-15T14:24:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T04:24:42","slug":"council-to-discuss-divisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2023\/03\/10\/council-to-discuss-divisions\/","title":{"rendered":"Council To Discuss Divisions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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South Burnett Mayor Brett Otto has called a special meeting for Monday, March 13, to discuss moving the South Burnett from being a divided Council to an undivided one<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 10, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n

A special meeting will be held by the South Burnett Regional Council on Monday (March 13) to discuss whether or not the region should scrap Divisions.<\/p>\n

The meeting has been called by South Burnett Mayor Brett Otto.<\/p>\n

At February’s General Meeting, Mayor Otto moved an amended motion that Council write to the Director-General of\u00a0 the Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning seeking clarification about the process of moving from a divided to an undivided Local Government area, and the timeline associated with a potential application to effect a change.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This followed a discussion initiated by Cr Kirstie Schumacher who indicated she was in favour of an undivided Council.<\/p>\n

However, Cr Kathy Duff strongly opposed any change to the current system.<\/p>\n

Under the Divisional system – which has been operating in the region since the 2008 Council amalgamation – all South Burnett residents vote for a Mayor and their divisional Councillor.<\/p>\n

There are six Divisions in the South Burnett Regional Council area.<\/p>\n

In an undivided Council (ie. a Council with no divisions, such as Toowoomba) residents vote to elect a Mayor and all Councillors.<\/p>\n

At present, 23 of Queensland’s 77 Councils are undivided and the remaining 54 are divided.<\/p>\n

Ironically, Toowoomba Regional Council is currently discussing whether it should change from an undivided Council to having Divisions.<\/p>\n

Councils can swap from one system to another providing they can prove to the Local Government Minister that a change to a different system will have a public benefit and any change is supported by a majority of residents.<\/p>\n

South Burnett councillors have been calling for public input this week on their social media pages, and Mayor Otto conducted a Q&A session on CROW-FM on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

At Monday’s meeting, Council CEO Mark Pitt PSM is expected to tell Councillors he has been advised any submission seeking a change to the current system is likely to take at least two years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is past the legislated date for the next Council election, which will be held in March next year.<\/p>\n

As well, preparing the necessary documentation to support any request to change from a divided to an undivided Council is likely to be an expensive and time-consuming exercise.<\/p>\n

Monday’s meeting will be held at the Council Chambers in Glendon Street, Kingaroy, at 9:00am.<\/p>\n

The meeting is open to the public.<\/p>\n