Proposed changes to Governance Rules

Published on 14 December 2023

Glenelg Shire Council this week adopted draft Governance Rules and is now seeking public feedback before a final decision is made.

The draft rules make some changes to the set that was first adopted in August 2020.

Council has recently reviewed the Governance Rules and they were benchmarked against several similar Councils and incorporated recommendations from specific stakeholders.

As a result, a range of amendments have been proposed to improve governance and efficiency at Council meetings and briefings.

There are specific changes to the community questions component which have impacted Council meetings in recent times.

The proposed amendments seek to ensure that the focus is on the business items on the Council agenda which are the purpose of the Council meeting.

The changes include:

• Changes to community question time to require questions to be in written form, limited to two questions, with a 100-word limit and provided one business day prior to the Council meeting to enable appropriate researched responses. Council agendas would be released earlier than at present to allow residents time to study the document before submitting questions.

• Questions of Council to be read out by the CEO or their delegate.

• Further definition on governance obligations at Councillor briefing sessions.

• Refining requests for Councillors to attend Council meetings virtually.

• Requiring additional Councillors to support any notice of rescission.

• Clarification around the voting process for Mayoral elections.

• Clarification around Conflict of Interest obligations.

• Various minor administrative wording changes.

Council is now seeking community feedback on these changes.

The draft rules can be viewed here, while hard copies are available at all Glenelg Shire Council Customer Service Centres.

Anyone providing feedback can do so via the same page, via post (ensure that it includes your name, address and feedback, to be addressed to the Director Corporate Services, PO Box 152, Portland, or it can be hand delivered to any Customer Service location across the Shire) or emailed to David Hol, Director Corporate Services, at dhol@glenelg.vic.gov.au.

Submissions must be received by 5pm Wednesday, 10 January 2024.

Once feedback has been received, the updated Governance Rules are scheduled for adoption at the next Council Meeting to be held on Tuesday, 23 January 2024.