By Rob O'Brien

Closed meetings such as those being undertaken by Burnside Council to discuss legal issues should be the exception not the rule, the South Australian Local Government Association (LGA) has said.

Burnside Council has been criticised for its closing meetings to discuss a letter from the Local Government minister Gail Gago, which asked for a reply to a possible investigation into councillor misconduct.

An investigation into the council was given the green light by the minister following preliminary enquiries by the Office of State and Local Government Relations (OSLGR) which found the council had been "embroiled in petty squabbles, personality clashes and internal disputes" with more serious allegations of harassment and bullying.

Police were last week called to evict about a dozen protestors from a closed-door council meeting at Burnside Council.

But the LGA has defended the councils’ right to hold its meetings in secret under the Local Government Act.

A spokesman for the LGA said that the decision to consider the matter behind closed doors was in the council’s interest and was not unusual.

“While the LGA strongly supports the principle of open and transparent government, and therefore open meetings of council, it is important that on the odd occasion where this is necessary, councils have the right to appropriately exclude members of the public from its deliberations,” the LGA told GovernmentNews.

“However this should be very much the exception rather than the rule.”

According to the LGA closed council meetings to discuss legal issues, tenders and issues regarding the personal information of residents was entirely appropriate.

“Each Council has the right to determine whether and when the public should be excluded from a meeting as long as the item being considered falls within one of these reasons and the Council has given appropriate consideration to the reason for the decision,” the LGA said.

According to the SA Local Government Act councils are required to give consideration to a ‘public interest’ test before making a decision to exclude members of the public.

However the decision ultimately to exclude the public from a meeting falls into a council’s code of practice, the LGA said.

“While the LGA has produced some guidelines for councils on developing a code of practice for access to meetings, it is the responsibility of each council to determine their own code,” the LGA said.

“Each Council must also consult with its community before adopting or substantially altering its code of practice, and copies of the code must be available for inspection and purchase at the council offices.