NRS-16823 | Minutes of Meetings [North Coast Water]

The minutes are the record of the decisions of the Lower Clarence County Council, later North Coast Water. They include a list of those attending meetings. Matters covered relate to the construction, extension and maintenance of infrastructure (dams, holding reservoirs, pipelines etc) for the supply of water within the boundaries of the Council. Also included are details of the levying and collection of water charges, capital borrowings and the oversight of Council staff and plant.The inaugural meeting was held on 27 January 1950 and dealt with the appointment of the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and County Clerk, fixing of meeting days and times and other administrative matters relating to the establishment of the Council. Subsequent meetings, both ordinary and special, were held only as required rather than according to a set schedule. Meetings were held in the Council Chambers, Maclean.The minutes consist of typescript foolscap pages bound into annual volumes in date order from front to back with the exception of the first volume which covers the years 1950-54, the fifth volume (1958-9) and the tenth volume (1964) all of which are bound in reverse order with the oldest minutes at the back of the volume. Each page is signed by the Chairman and the County Clerk. All resolutions of the Council are assigned a number in a running annual sequence typed in the left hand margin. For the years 1950-59 an annual single number system was adopted for numbering the resolutions. Thus 1/50 is the number assigned to the first resolution passed at the inaugural meeting in 1950. From 1960 the year is no longer recorded, resolutions for each year simply running from 1 onwards. A later system used three numbers: 1/8/99 represented the first resolution at the eighth meeting of 1999.The series also includes minutes of meetings of the Finance Committee which usually were held directly prior to the ordinary meetings. The Finance Committee was established at the second meeting of the Council on 26 April 1950 and comprised the full ordinary Council membership meeting in separate sessions. Included in the minutes are copies of reports and financial statements presented to Council by various people such as the County Clerk, consulting engineers and members of the Council authorised to act on behalf of the Council in matters including dealings with the NSW Government. During the time covered by the series the financial reports become longer and more complex, no doubt reflecting the increased activities of the Council. All correspondence received by the Council is listed in a schedule placed at the end of each meeting’s minutes (although some of these letters may also be referred to in the minutes as part of the business transacted). Correspondence is assigned a number in a monthly running sequence typed in the left hand margin where the first number represents the month and the second number records the item of correspondence. Thus 1/1 is the number assigned to the first item received in January in any given year. In some cases the complete text of a letter received is reproduced in the minutes.