Background

At its meeting in June, the Board decided to establish a Committee comprised of the four elected Board members, with the objective of improving and streamlining decision-making by the Board through the involvement of the elected Board members via the Committee in early consideration of some matters.

At its most recent meeting in August, the Board adopted terms of reference for the new Committee, and with that, the Committee was formed with effect from the August Board meeting.

The Board has established the Committee in order to strengthen governance, enhance efficiency and effectiveness of decision-making processes and streamline consideration of business-as-usual matters.

The functions of the Committee

The Committee is intended to provide targeted, strategic and policy advice on key issues referred to the Committee by the Board or the Chair from time-to-time.

The Committee also has authority to:

• Review and filter routine administrative matters, providing recommendations to the Board, and
• Initiate new matters for the Board’s consideration.

At this stage, the Committee is tasked with making recommendations to the full Board, which remains the decision making body for the Island. However, when appointing the Committee, the Board anticipated that the reviews of delegations and policies may result in certain local matters being delegated to the Committee.

How the Committee will operate

Meetings of the Committee will be held in the same way as full Board meetings, subject to the same Code of Conduct and confidentiality rules, and will be chaired by the Deputy Chair of the Board.

The Committee will be supported by the CEO and the Administration, who will provide secretarial and management support in the same way as they do for the full Board.

The Committee is expected to meet monthly and otherwise as required. These meetings will replace the informal fortnightly meetings between the CEO and the elected Board members.

The first Committee meeting is planned to occur in November.

What will the Committee be doing?

As mentioned above, the Committee will work on matters referred to it by the Board, with assistance from the Administration.

At the August meeting, the Board made initial referrals of a number of matters of significance to the Island and the local community, including the following:

• Reviewing the delegations currently in place from the Board to Management, and recommending new delegations to the Board for approval by the Minister. The current delegations were put in place in [2018] and are long overdue for review.
• Reviewing the Board policies affecting the community, also long overdue for review, and recommending updated policies to the Board for adoption.
• Developing the proposed new Local Environmental Plan to replace the current Local Environmental Plan which, again, has been in place for too long without review.

These are significant tasks which will take time to complete. However, the Board believes that, with the Committee’s direct involvement, better outcomes will be achieved for the Island and its people.

What does this change mean for the community?

The Board’s decision to establish the Committee means that your elected Board members will be more directly involved in addressing important issues affecting the Island and its people.

Local issues and concerns that arise from time to time will still be considered by the Committee, instead of through the less formal fortnightly meetings.

If you have any questions about the Committee, please feel free to speak to one of your elected Board members.

Yours sincerely,

Naomi Stephens, Chair, Lord Howe Island Board
Robert Jeremy, Deputy Chair, Lord Howe Island Board