Bunbury Councillor Karen Steele expresses frustration after “sub-standard” technology derails meeting

A Bunbury councillor has added fuel to the fire by reiterating the need for improvements to the council chambers, after what she described as “sub-standard” technology derailed a recent meeting. During question time at a meeting on June 28, councillor Karen Steele expressed her frustration with the chaos caused by having two councillors dial-in via the phone as they were absent. Councillor Ben Andrew and councillor Michelle Steck attended the meeting via phone, with proceedings being interrupted several times to take the pair’s votes, clarify points, and hear them speak. “It is sub-standard what has happened tonight in my opinion,” Cr Steele said at the meeting. “I just think it doesn’t look good if our councillors are wanting to call in and they can’t hear, they can’t really vote correctly and things like that.” At a meeting in May, the Bunbury council voted to reject a $245,000 upgrade to the “information technology and audio-visual capabilities” of Bunbury’s Council Chambers and adjoining function room. The upgrades were initially set to cost $90,000, but the City was quoted a price that was $155,000 over budget for the upgrades, funds which the council decided would best be used elsewhere. Following a tense debate that lasted almost an hour at the meeting in May, the plan was knocked back, with councillors Betty McCleary, Marina Quain, Tresslyn Smith and Karen Steele the only members to vote in favour of the plans. But after seeing the issues at the most recent meeting, Cr Steele reiterated her position to push for upgrades in the chambers. “If we spent the money in here upgrading our services for every Tuesday night so our people can watch in, would that also improve our councillors being able to hear what debates are going on and improve having more than two people being able to call in, and improve the service we are actually giving our elected members at the moment?” Cr Steele said. “Why is it more significant for the upgrades to happen in here than in the function room? If it could be broken down that we could afford to do some upgrades, it could be good.”