Council meeting procedure
Below you will find information regarding the following:
- Agenda (Order of Business)
- Late Correspondence and how to submit late correspondence
- Meeting procedures (including how Public Forum and Reports of the Committees operate)
- Decisions of the Council
- After the meeting (including information on minutes and audio recordings).
Agenda (Order of Business)
Each Council Meeting agenda is divided into the following parts, which represent the standing order of business:
- Opening
- Prayer
- Acknowledgement of Country (Gadigal and Birrabirrigal People)
- Acknowledgement of the Sovereign of the Day (King Charles lII)
- Apologies and applications for a leave of absence or attendance by audio-visual link by Councillors
- Confirmation of Minutes of previous meeting(s)
- Disclosures of Interest
- Late Correspondence
- Petitions Tabled
- Mayoral Minute(s)
- Public Forum - Items not on the Agenda and Public Forum - Items on the Agenda for General Manager & Officers' Reports
- General Manager and Officers' Report
- Reports of the Committees (EP, FC&S, S&C)
- Rescission Motion(s)
- Councillor Reports / Councillor Updates (Section 8.4)
- Notices of Motion
- Questions with Notice
- Supplementary Responses to Previous Questions with Notice
- Confidential matters
- Conclusion of meeting.
Please note there may not always be items for consideration in each of the above-mentioned parts.
Late correspondence
- may be submitted on a matter by anyone wishing to provide additional information to the Councillors.
- must be received by the Council by 10.00am on the day of the meeting.
- will be distributed to all Councillors at the start of the meeting.
Late written correspondence must be emailed to records@woollahra.nsw.gov.au.
Meeting procedure
Woollahra Council will be webcasting Council (i.e. Ordinary and Extraordinary) and Committee meetings (i.e. Environmental Planning (EP), Finance, Community & Services (FC&S) and Strategic & Corporate (S&C).
The Mayor, Councillors and staff will be participating in meetings in person and/or via audio-visual link.
Members of the public are invited to watch and/or listen to Council meetings live (via Council’s website).
At the start of the meeting, the Mayor will open the meeting and welcome Councillors, staff and members of the public. Following this the Mayor will proceed with a Prayer, Acknowledgement of Country (Gadigal and Birrabirragal People) and Acknowledgement of the Sovereign of the Day (King Charles lII).
The Mayor will call the meeting to order and proceed to introduce the individual parts listed on the meeting agenda.
How does Part 4 - Public Forum operate?
Members of the public will be given the opportunity to address the Councillors on any local government related matter, excluding matters that are on the Council meeting agenda or any application already lodged with the Council for a decision and items on the Agenda for General Manager & Officers Reports (only for General Managers & Officers reports that have not previously been tabled at a Standing Committee meeting of Council). Further details on the Public Forum - Items not on the Agenda
The public forum will be in person and/or via audio-visual link.
Council will allow for registered people to address the Councillors for a maximum of three (3) minutes.
Once your address has concluded and questions have been answered, please return to your seat at the conclusion of your address (if addressing in person) or please mute yourself via zoom.
Public Forum - Items not on the Agenda
Council will allow members of the public to address a Council meeting on any local government related matter excluding matters that are:
- On the Council meeting agenda, or
- Any application already lodged with the Council for decision, or
- That criticises or complains about Councillors or Council staff.
Most matters that are considered by the Council at its Ordinary meetings have already been the subject of consideration by a Committee of the Council. These Committee meetings are structured to allow for less formal debate and consideration of submissions from all parties that have an interest in a matter. This is in accordance with the provisions of Council’s Code of Meeting Practice clause 4.1 and clause 4.2.When the Public Forum part of the meeting is reached, the Mayor will invite the registered speakers to address the Councillors.
If you wish to address Council on items not on the Agenda, you must complete a Public Forum Registration Form(PDF, 335KB) and submit this form to Council by 5.00pm on the Wednesday prior to the Council meeting via email to records@woollahra.nsw.gov.au. Requests that are received after 5.00pm on the Wednesday prior to the Council meeting will not be accepted.
Public Forum - Items on the Agenda for General Manager & Officers' reports
Members of the public will be given the opportunity to address the Councillors on General Manager & Officers' reports that have not previously been tabled at a Standing Committee meeting of Council, and which is listed on the Council meeting Agenda. Please note there is no Public Forum for items previously tabled at a standing Committee Meeting or any other matters listed on the Council Agenda.
Council will allow a person to speak on up to two (2) General Managers & Officers Reports, however a limit of two (2) speakers for and two (2) speakers against a General Managers & Officers Report, for a maximum of three (3) minutes each, in accordance with clauses 4.3 to 4.25 of the Code of Meeting Practice.
If you wish to address Council you must complete a Public Forum Registration Form(PDF, 291KB) and submit this form to Council by 10.00am on the day of the meeting via email to records@woollahra.nsw.gov.au. Requests that are received after 10.00am on the day of the Council meeting will not be accepted.
When the Public Forum part of the meeting is reached, the Mayor will invite the registered speakers to address the Councillors.
Once your address has concluded and questions have been answered, please return to your seat at the conclusion of your address (if addressing in person) or please mute yourself via Zoom.
Please note: The General Manager or their delegate may refuse an application to speak at a public forum. The General Manager or their delegate must give reasons in writing for a decision to refuse an application.
Council Meetings are live streamed, accessible via a link from Council’s website and by registering to address Council, you agree to your image, voice and personal information (including name) being recorded and publicly accessible via Council’s website and acknowledge that the audio recording of the meeting will be available on Council’s website in accordance with Council’s Code of Meeting Practice.
See Having your say at meetings for more information on the Public Forum or call Council's Governance Department on 9391 7001.
How does Part 13 - Reports of the Committees operate?
The Mayor will invite Committee Chairperson's to introduce their Committee recommendations by referring to the item numbers on the agenda and ask if any Councillor wishes to call any of the items for discussion.
If no items from their Committee agenda are called, the Committee Chairperson moves that all the recommendations of the Committee meeting be adopted and the Mayor calls for a Councillor to second the motion.
After the recommendation of the Chairperson is seconded, the recommendation is voted on by the Councillors and if passed, becomes the decision of Council.
If a Councillor wishes to call an item for discussion, the Councillor will advise the meeting and after the other items for that Committee have been voted on, the called item(s) are introduced for discussion. The Councillor who called the item must move a motion for consideration by the Councillors and the motion must be seconded by another Councillor.
Each Councillor is allowed to speak once on each motion for up to three (3) minutes.
After all Councillors have been given the opportunity to speak on the motion being considered, the Councillor who originally moved the motion has a right of reply. This means that the Councillor has a right to speak for another three (3) minutes to reply to any matters raised by other Councillors. After the right of reply has been exercised, the Mayor puts the motion to the vote of the Councillors and declares the motion carried or lost.
If the motion is carried, it becomes the decision of Council.
Decisions of the Council
- In relation to Mayoral Minutes, General Manager's Reports and Reports of Committees, Council may decide:
- to adopt the recommendation without change
- to adopt the recommendation with minor changes
- to adopt the recommendation with substantial changes
- to adopt some other recommendation
- to defer the matter to a future Council meeting
- to refer the matter to a Committee for consideration.
- In relation to rescission motions and notices of motion:
Councillors may debate the matters and vote on each item. Each Councillor will be permitted to speak for a maximum of five minutes on each item.
If a motion is adopted, Council staff will undertake the necessary actions to implement the decision of Council.
If the motion is lost, no further action will be taken on the matter.
What does each decision mean?
Council's decision is final unless a rescission motion, signed by three (3) Councillors.
If a rescission motion is submitted before the close of a Council meeting, the Mayor will advise the members of the public when Council will consider the rescission motion.
How does Part 18 - Question with Notice operate?
Generally, the last item on each Council agenda will be Question with Notice which have been submitted by Councillors for inclusion on the Agenda. Responses to the questions may be included in the Agenda or alternatively will be included in the Council Minutes.
After the meeting
After each meeting Council staff will implement the decision of the Council.
Minutes of the meeting
Minutes of the meeting will be available three (3) business days after the meeting on Council's website.
Audio recording of the meeting
An audio recording of the meeting will be uploaded to Council's website by 5.00pm on the next business day.
Enquiries
Further information may be obtained by contacting Council's Governance Department on 9391 7001.