Who is in the council?
The council’s goal is to “work collaboratively with the WCCW staff to enhance the visiting process.” Council members simply try to encourage visiting in an attempt to help the inmates maintain positive support systems. Although the council could be perceived as a pesky third-party interest group, it is a supplement to staff. The council is not trying to overtake the visiting process or have things done its way. Rather, it is focused on providing services and paying attention to details, which staff cannot do because of security concerns, boundary issues or, simply, time. The council, with a council member as chair and the superintendent an active member, meets monthly and focuses its efforts on working with staff to enhance the visiting experience. Due to efforts of staff and the council, the amount of visitors has been slowly increasing. A common reason expressed by council members as to why they initially got involved was their interest in better understanding what WCCW was like. One
Councils are made up of: • councillors: elected representatives of the people • mayor / lord mayor / shire president: the head councillor • paid staff, sometimes called council officers • The General Manager: the head of the paid staff The General Manager is the link between the councillors and the paid staff. Councillors are not employed by the council. Most of them have other jobs, study or raise children on top of their council duties. They get a small amount of money each year to help cover expenses in fulfilling their duties.
