Parkes Shire residents now have greater access to the open sessions of Parkes Shire Council's monthly ordinary meetings through audio recordings.
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Council has officially started audio recording its meetings, with its December 17 gathering being the first.
It follows after council successfully tested its new recording equipment during the November meeting.
"The audio recordings will facilitate even greater transparency between council and the community, enhancing accessibility to council decision making, as well as encouraging residents to be better informed and more involved," Parkes Shire Mayor Cr Ken Keith OAM said.
"It's often difficult for members of the community to attend our monthly meetings, so these recordings will enable residents to keep up-to-date with council's decisions, projects and future plans for the region, from the comfort of their own home."
Council said the audio recordings will complement the written minutes that are uploaded onto council's website after its meetings, to provide a more complete public record of the proceedings.
Audio files will be uploaded to council's website within five working days from the date of the meeting and will be available for a period of three months.
Thereafter, council said the recordings can be made available upon written request to council.
"Audio recordings of closed sessions of council will be made exclusively for the purpose of confirming minutes as an accurate record and are therefore not available to the public," council said in a statement.
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