Gerald Lynch
Amended Governance Rules have been approved by the Whittlesea Council, in preparation for the October 2024 general Council elections.
The Governance Rules set the Governance framework for councils making decisions and govern the procedures for how council and delegated committees will run.
Following the council’s approval, the Election Period Policy will now be imbedded in the Governance Rules, in line with the Local Government Act 2020.
There was a community consultation between August 18 and September 1 where the community had a chance to respond to the rules, with no disapproval feedback sent the council’s way.
The amendments to the Governance Rules focused on continuous improvements and proposed a number of key changes, including time limits for meetings and speaking times against each agenda item, strengthening requirements for the lodgement of Notice of Motions and the grounds by which the CEO may reject a Notice of Motion, a more comprehensive recording in council meeting minute including who spoke about each item and who voted for and against motions.
It also included a requirement for each agenda item to be considered and not moved en-bloc, and a requirement of stronger reasoning as to why a public question might be disallowed.
These requirements were strongly supported by the Chair of council Lydia Wilson, who was happy to see the rules updated to fit in-line with the council’s current practice.
“This has been the practice of administrators since we have been appointed… but that provision was not imbedded in the Governance Rules,” she said.
The Governance Rules will allow for members of the public to participate in Council meetings either through public question time, providing a petition or joint statement on matters important to the community.
The rules will be made publicly available through the council website.
This is the fourth time the amendments have been put to council, which administrator Peita Duncan is very impressed with.
“It’s fantastic to keep up with continuous improvement and refinement, and now that we have the election period policy imbedded as well, it’s very good as we are coming into campaign season. It’s great that potential candidates will be able to see exactly what the rules and policies are,” she said.
