NRS-18862 | Minutes [Ulmarra Shire Council]

This series consists of minutes of the General or Ordinary meetings and the Special or Extraordinary meetings of the Council and committees of the Municipal District of Ulmarra (1871-1906), Municipality of Ulmarra (1906-1956) and the Shire of Ulmarra (1957-2000).These minute books were created under s.107 and 108 of the Municipalities Act of 1867 (31 Vic. No.12) which was assented to on 23 December 1867, and subsequent legislation.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 mayor or 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, mayor's or 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. 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.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. Over time the content and arrangement of the series has varied. In some earlier volumes, papers submitted to council during the year form a separate section, rather than being associated with a particular meeting. Some volumes have formal sections for Town Clerk's reports, Inspectors' reports, Works Committee reports, Engineer's reports, and Mayoral minutes. Note that the volume beginning in 1924 continues to 1926, with 1925 in a separate volume. From 1994 the volumes include many documents associated with the meetings such as agendas, submitted correspondence and reports, minutes of various sub-committees and external bodies such as the Clarence Valley Local Government Committee.The earliest volume of this series covering 1871-1874 is missing. The first extant volume is labelled Minute Book No.2, and begins in 1875. The minute books are not indexed.