Council meetings are the most important process in Local Government. They are the conduit between the democratically elected members and the executive staff of the council. These meetings make significant decisions based on input from Council staff and the information available at that point in time. At this point, they are effectively stand-alone meetings that rely on information provided by council staff.
Council meetings have long been an integral part of council processes, predating current procedures, and over the years, the technology used to facilitate them has dramatically changed.
The evolution of the council meeting has moved from centuries ago when all council decisions were based on pen and paper and moved through to the typewriter. These were extremely manual processes, and meeting artefacts were kept at the council as one single document. The community had little opportunity to view them, and engagement was unheard of. Councils then started using word processing tools on mainframe computers, which enabled them to edit and make multiple copies.
From there, councils kept up with technology and moved to PC-based word processing tools, ensuring they could record information during the meeting. They could now also edit information and, in some cases, publish it on their website for the community to see. This was followed by the move to Microsoft Word. This was a significant shift as it gradually moved to some very advanced Word documents that could be published and distributed but were still isolated from other solutions used in the council and included separate councillor portals. All information at this stage was based on documents.
The next evolution is the Council Meeting Ecosystem. This platform stores all information across all meetings and allows the management of all meeting types. All information is searchable, and all actions are allocated, distributed and available. Live streaming of meetings is part of the platform, and integrated councillor portals are fully accessible. In this stage, Hearing functionality is included, and the solution can still use Microsoft Word document functionality. This move to a meeting ecosystem, where content is the most important factor (rather than documents), has been a significant transformation for local government – allowing them to streamline processes and create, manage and execute meetings faster than ever before.
The evolution of council meetings requires a mind shift though. The meeting management process should not be stand alone. It needs to be part of a governance ecosystem which includes many processes and systems that were created well after councils meeting were in place. The technology is now available for all of these systems to integrate and utilise all relevant information where appropriate.
Councillors have long been the influencers and approvers of budgets, strategic and project plans, and have utilised hearings and other forms of community engagement to guide decisions. These processes are currently stand alone but should all connect with the meeting information.
Imagine if social media posts containing important information about council meetings could be automatically generated from within the meeting management system. Or if a council’s strategic plan could easily be linked to each meeting? The benefits of linking strategic objectives to any resolution before council and the ability to see context would be profound. The strategic plan could then use information from council meetings to update progress on objectives, and this is only one use case, the possibilities are endless.
Governance is an extremely important part of council operations, and the processes and solutions are just as essential If meeting systems don’t innovate, the council meeting won’t keep up with the changing requirements of the community and the increasing expectations on Councillors and Council Executives.
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