Governance Rules Review

We’re inviting community members to review and make submissions on our updated Governance Rules (including Election Period Policy).

Background

Under section 60(1) of the Local Government Act 2020 (the Act), Council is required to develop, adopt and keep in force Governance Rules to manage the conduct of Council Meetings and other governance considerations. The Governance Rules must also include Council’s election period policy (section 69(1) of the Act).

Council last adopted its Governance Rules on 30 August 2022, with a review date set at 2024. As council elections are being held in October 2024, this review has included consideration of the election period policy.

The updated policy and proposed changes

In reviewing the policy, we have considered some additional but relatively minor changes, including:

• Clarification of rules for Council meeting attendance via electronic means (26).
• Clarification on procedural motions (may be clarified but not debated or amended) (65).
• Election period policy updated to the 2024 election year.
• Update to statement to be posted on social media during election period, comments on social media disabled during this time (6.2.4).
• formatting and removal of duplication.
• General reflections on the Act and advice from the Local Government Inspectorate.

What can and can't be influenced

Under section 60 of the Local Government Act 2020 (the Act), some matters must be included in the governance rules, as listed below. Additional requirements are also stipulated in other sections of the Act and therefore cannot be changed:

• conduct of Council meetings - general rules on voting, chairing, quorums detailed under section 61 of the Act.
• election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor - when and how this should occur is detailed in section 25-27 of the Act.
• election period policy - prohibitions on Council decision making detailed in section 69 of the Act.
• conflict of interest disclosure processes are detailed in section 126-131 of the Act.

All suggestions for change relating to other parts of the Governance Rules will be considered, and the reasons for any inclusions or exclusion will be provided to the submitter.

Click to view or download the updated draft policy

Make a submission

There are several ways for you to make a submission on the Governance Rules.

• Email to info@indigoshire.vic.gov.au with the subject heading Governance Rules submission
• In person at any of our Customer Service Centres
• Or post to PO Box 28, Beechworth 3747.

All submissions should be addressed to the Governance Coordinator and received by 5pm on Wednesday 10 July 2024.

Your submission may be made public as part of the Council report to consider submissions, however your personal details will not be included.