NRS-16878 | Mayor's minutes [Leichhardt Council]

This series consists of two volumes containing handwritten Minutes of the Mayor for the period 15 March 1892 to  9 December 1946. The first volume of Mayor's minutes are generally arranged chronologically by date of minute (however not all the minutes are dated), and written in terms of statements made to the Council. Two of the minutes are undated and written on loose sheets. Matters dealt with in the minutes include: the Town Hall mortgage; payment of a debt to Annandale Council; a deputation to the Government in conjunction with other councils for the woodblocking and macadamising of Parramatta Road; account payments; financial loans and reporting; and the formation of the Borough of Annandale (formerly the East Ward of Leichhardt) in 1894. The second volume records instructions from the Mayor given to Council. This volume is in a tabular format. The table is entitled Municipality of Leichhardt Mayor’s Instructions. It gives the Date, Name of Instruction, Street or Locality, Reg. Papers No, (if any), Referred to, Entered into complaints book, Other Actions. The volume lists specific works or repairs instructed by the Mayor to Council. The types of matters listed include repairs to roads, sewerage works, footpaths, complaints from the public, problems with council workers, removal of weeds, rubbish collection issues and approvals to structural alterations.Section 109 of the Municipalities Act of 1867 (Act 31 Vic. No.12), which was assented to on 23 December 1867, allowed municipal councils to appoint either standing committees or occasional (special) committees, composed of councillors, and to delegate to the committees 'any inquiry negotiation or arrangement or power to do any emergent act or to carry out any work which such Council may have ordered agreed to or directed'. However, Committees had to report to the council at the earliest opportunity.The reports and recommendations document the decisions made by the Committee at its meetings. The minutes of each meeting of the Committee were confirmed at the following committee meeting and signed by the chairman to guarantee that they were a true and accurate record.However such recommendations were not binding upon Council. The Committee's recommendations were normally submitted to the next Council meeting. Council could reject the recommendation, send the recommendation back to the committee for further discussion, amend the recommendation, or accept the recommendation. The recommendations were not binding upon Council unless, and until, adopted by Council as shown in the minutes of the Council meeting.