Exhibition Item

The Local Government Act 1993 requires Council to exhibit and adopt a new Code of Meeting Practice within the first 12 months of a new council term. Councils must adopt a code of meeting practice that incorporates the mandatory provisions of the Model Code of Meeting Practice 2021 for Local Councils in NSW.

Council’s current Code of Meeting Practice was reviewed and adopted on 28 June 2022. The proposed changes presented for consideration and comment by the community include the timing of ordinary council meetings, giving notice of business to be considered at council meetings, order of business at council meetings and obligations of councillors attending meetings by audio-visual link.

Notable Amendments in This Draft:

It is the recommendation of Council officers that Council’s current practice of conducting two Council meetings per month immediately followed by Councillor briefing sessions on the same night is sub-optimal, particularly for the effectiveness of the briefing sessions. 

The recommended approach would see Tuesday evenings dedicated to either Council meetings or Councillor briefings.

Whilst one Council meeting per month will likely result in a longer Council meeting than the current meetings, it is not expected to take any longer than the combined Council meeting/Councillor briefing program that currently occurs on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month.

To mitigate concerns in relation to larger meetings agendas, the draft Code of Meeting practice has been amended to ensure meeting agendas are distributed to Councillors one (1) day earlier then currently occurs. 

A move to one Council meeting per month is also anticipated to result in internal efficiencies associated with the various processes involved in preparing for Council meetings. Additionally, a separation of Council meetings and Councillor briefings would more easily facilitate the introduction of live streaming of Councillor briefings, if Council is ultimately directed to do so.

Importantly, moving to one Council meeting per month is compliant with Council’s obligations under the NSW Local Government Act, which states at s365 that ‘Council is required to meet at least 10 times each year, each time in a different month’.