Meeting Procedure

At the commencement of the meeting, the Chief Executive Officer will ask everyone to stand as the Mayor enters the Council Chamber. The Mayor delivers a prayer to the meeting and a member of Council will acknowledges the traditional owners of the land. People are then seated.

The Mayor chairs the meeting in accordance with the Code of Meeting Practice. Council officers attend the meeting to provide advice.

Decisions are recorded and minuted. Minutesare made available to members of the public on Council’s website by COB on the Thursday after the meeting. The proceedings of Council Meetings in open session are also Webcast live on Council’s website.

The Mayor calls the meeting to order and follows the order of the meeting agenda calling for:

  • Councillors to declare Disclosures of Interest
  • Confirmation of the Minutes from the previous meeting 
  • Apologies and Applications for a Leave of Absence
  • At Item 9 the Mayor invites Councillors to nominate which items (if any) they wish to defer.
  • At Item 10 the Mayor asks Councillors which items they wish to discuss separately. The items not “called” are adopted in accordance with the Officer’s recommendation.
  • At Item 11 the Mayor will call matters which are brought forward by the public.

Items brought forward by the public are heard before items called by Councillors.

The types of decisions made by Council relate to Council’s three directorates:

  • Customer & Corporate
  • Planning & Infrastructure
  • Community, Culture & Leisure

Council may decide to:

  • adopt the officer’s recommendation without change
  • adopt the officer’s recommendation with minor changes
  • adopt the officer’s recommendation with substantial changes
  • adopt an Amendment
  • defer the matter to a future Council meeting

A decision is made when Councillors vote in the majority to adopt a recommendation.

Council officers undertake the necessary action to implement the decision of Council. If a decision is lost no further action is taken.

Some items may be deemed Confidential by law. These items are considered at the end of the meeting while the press and public are excluded. Once this is concluded the open meeting is re-opened and the decisions are made public.

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