NRS-17803 | Minutes [Dumaresq Shire Council]

Full description

This series consists of minutes of the General or Ordinary meetings and the Special or Extraordinary meetings of the Dumaresq Shire Council.

These minute books were created under Ordinances 111 to 113 authorised by section 44 of the Local Government (Shires) Act, 1905 (Act No.33, 1905) which commenced on 26 February 1905, and subsequent legislation and ordinances. On 14 May 1908 the ordinances were rearranged under the Local Government Act, 1906 (Act No.56, 1906) which commenced on 1 January 1907. Procedures of Council were consolidated into Ordinance 1 with Clauses 13 and 14 dealing with minutes.

The general meetings were called for ordinary business and were recurrent meetings prescribed by legislation to be held at regular intervals. Special meetings could be called for extraordinary business by the President or by two councillors and dealt with a specific issue. Reports were generally also tabled at these meetings as well as at the general meeting relating to the subject.

The minutes document the decisions made by the council at its meetings. The minutes usually include the following sections: attendance of council members, confirmation of minutes of the previous meeting, business arising out of the minutes of the previous meeting, President's or official minutes (which brought to council's attention significant matters within its jurisdiction or of which it had official knowledge), recommendations from council committees, reports by council officers, outward and inward correspondence, petitions, questions with notice, orders of the day or general business, and questions without notice.

To ease the work load at general meetings, Council could delegate powers to committees composed of councillors. The committee's recommendations were submitted to the next Council meeting and form part of that meeting's minutes. However the recommendations were not binding unless, and until, adopted by Council. Committee minutes were included in the Council minute book for 1906-1907, after which the committees began keeping separate minutes sequences.

In order to discuss confidential business, Council could form itself into the Committee of the Whole during a meeting. A Committee of the Whole was not required to make its business public through the minutes, only its recommendations. A separate minute book for Dumaresq Council Committee of the Whole proceedings exists for 1911-1918 (NRS17804).

The minutes of each meeting of council and its committees were confirmed at the following meeting and signed by the chairman to guarantee that they were a true and accurate record.

The first volume includes the minutes of the Temporary Shire Council established in 1906 to create the first electoral roll and hold the first election in November. The first meeting of the Temporary Council was held on 16 June 1906, and that of the elected Dumaresq Shire Council was on 8 December 1906.

The transferred volumes are not indexed, though an index for 1929-1935 was also transferred (NRS17802). Subsequent minute books are held by the Armidale Dumaresq Council.