Councillors debated for more than two hours on Tuesday on a notice of motion put forward by Cr Bruce Morris to move meetings at the council chambers to a 5pm start, with the reasoning that that time would better suit community members wanting to attend meetings.

Following lengthy debate, the original motion was voted on and lost, with the status quo of meetings starting at 9am remaining. 

It comes after the same motion was lost at the February meeting, with Cr Morris giving notice that he would be lodging a rescission motion.

Cr Morris also moved an amendment for the same thing at the September meeting.

At November’s meeting, Cr Mark Baxter questioned what additional costs would be incurred if a six hour meeting started at 5pm, to which it was answered a minimum of $1,690 per meeting, primarily for the payment of overtime.