60 people attended the meeting on Thursday, including Mayor Patricia White, new CEO Andrew Constance and Councillors Selena Clancy and Matthew Norris.

Many attendees have commented since the meeting that they felt the meeting content had been very informative and well run. However, they also expressed their frustration with repeated disruptions to the meeting by an attendee who failed to observe the displayed CCB Meeting Behaviour Guidelines –
• Treat everyone with courtesy and respect
• Listen without interrupting.
• Speak only when recognised by the Chairperson

Mayor and CEO presentations
Mayor White provided updates on several areas, ranging from improvements in the schedule of mowing to the proposals received for three luxury hotels in the Vincentia and Huskisson areas. She also referred to the Office of Local Government changes to Council meetings that will be implemented in January.

CEO Andrew Constance spoke about the financial challenges faced by Council and how he would approach the role, emphasising the need for transparency, and encouraging investment in the Shoalhaven, whilst protecting the environment. He committed to attend future Forum meetings, when possible, to answer questions from Forum members.

Council Finances and Hotel DA
Stuart Coughlan provided a brief summary of Council’s 2024/25 financial results and an update on the parking requirements for the Berry Hotel proposal. Feros have proposed a total of 26 parking spaces for a pub capacity of 389 patrons compared to the 142 required based on their own survey results.

Before Stuart could report that Feros intends arranging a public meeting, a former Committee member, Ms Harris, interrupted, alleging that the Committee was not doing enough to communicate information about the hotel development proposal more broadly in the community. Stuart explained the information would be disseminated via the newsletter.

The Chair informed Ms Harris that she should raise her concerns in the General Business segment of the meeting. However, she failed to do so.

Rotary Dog Park
David Brawn showed the location of the dog park in Councils original plans, and advised a fund-raising event will be held on Sunday 16 November at the site of the dog park.

General Business
Steve Franey, a resident representing a group of neighbouring property owners, voiced concerns about an application (MA24/1411) to modify the existing consent for small cooking classes and lunches twice a week at 450B Coolangatta Road, to gain permission for a restaurant to operate 7-days a week from 7am to 11pm with three sittings of 60 people. The applicant is Mr Peter Yannopoulos, owner of Linnaeus Collection.

No other matters were raised under General Business.

AGM

  • Laurie Watson provided a summary of the income and payments for 2024/25, which can be found on the Forum website.
  • No applications had been received for Committee membership in response to invitations included in the newsletter and the Town Crier. Eleven members of the Committee were re-appointed.

Closing the Meeting
As the Chairman moved to close the meeting, Ms Harris again interrupted to protest the Forum’s lack of a social media presence and express her view that its newsletter, sent to a thousand email addresses, was insufficient.

As Ms Harris continued to voice her complaint, calling for the use of QR codes, the Chair informed her that she had not raised her concerns under General Business and the meeting had been closed. A second woman, Ms Batchelor, stated that she wanted to speak about social media, but the Chair restated that the meeting was closed.

As the attendees left, the Chair spoke with Ms Batchelor to ascertain what she had wished to raise had the meeting not been closed. She stated she did not support the use of QR codes but did not offer any alternative suggestions. The Chair invited her, and any friends, to attend a future Committee meeting to share their views.

When approached by Ms Harris, the Mayor confirmed that the Chair had taken appropriate action and that the loud interruptions from the floor contravened the CCB Meeting Behaviour guidelines.

Relevant information
Ms Harris did not inform the meeting that when she was a Committee member, she had voiced concerns about QR codes and use of social media by the Forum, and that she had been encouraged and given responsibility, along with another former Committee member, for implementing a FB presence for the Forum, but failed to do so.

Since the meeting, we have been made aware of other information that has revealed a coordinated attempt to undermine confidence in the Forum Committee. We will provide details in a further newsletter.

Berry Forum Committee
http://berryforum.org.au/