At the April 26 meeting, Council adopted the new Governance Rules.

You can read the new rules, and read the Council meeting report and decision at Governance Rules.

Section 60 of the Local Government Act 2020 requires Council to develop and maintain Governance Rules. As part of this process, Council has conducted a review and proposes the following updates.

The proposed Governance Rules were further amended, with additional time for community review.

Council proposed an addition to Rule 42 to clarify where a Councillor is attending a Council Meeting virtually, the Councillor will be taken as present at the meeting when their camera is turned on.

Consultation was extended to 14 March 2023 to take in the addition.

• The rule relating to where a Councillor is attending a Council Meeting virtually has been clarified. The Councillor will be taken as present at the meeting when their camera is turned on.
• The definition of “Committee” has been updated to include “an Advisory Committee comprised solely of Councillors”.
• Clarity has been enhanced as to when the Mayor may, at their discretion, allow a question to be read out by the author and when the Mayor will read out the question.
• The material in Schedule 2 has been included in the Rule governing Public Question Time.
• Public Question Time to be extended from 20 to 30 minutes.
• The deadline to submit a Notice of Motion to be changed from midday on the day that is 14 days prior to the meeting at which it is to be considered to 9.00am on the day that is 13 days prior to consideration.
• The Rule relating to Amendments to a Motion has been clarified, including reference to statutory planning motions.
• The Rule relating to Alternative Motions has been deleted.
• The arrangements relating to Revocation motions have been clarified.
• Schedule 3 has been moved to the rule to which it applies, i.e., Election of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
• The Conflict of Interest Rule has been amended to allow conflicts to be declared during the meeting.
• A new rule has been added to cover “Calling a Planning Application into a Meeting of Council”.

If you have feedback you would like Council to consider, please enter it below.

Consultation extended to 14 March 2023.