Changes to Council Governance Rules and Election Policy

Council is updating its Governance Rules and Election Period policy in response to legislative changes by the Victorian Government and is offering its community the opportunity to provide feedback on these amendments.

Governance rules provide for the orderly conduct, procedural fairness and open decision-making of meetings of Council and delegated committees, as well as the election of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and the Chairperson of any delegated committees.

The Election Period policy, which forms part of the Governance rules, is designed to ensure that general elections for Pyrenees Shire Council to be held in October 2024 are conducted in a manner that is fair and equitable to all candidates and is publicly perceived as such.

The proposed changes to the Governance rules and Election Period policy are summarized in point form below.

The full documents, with proposed amendments in red text, can be downloaded from the document library on this page.

Hard Copies are also available from the Beaufort Council Office and Resource Centres in Beaufort and Avoca for public viewing.

Feedback can be provided via the Contact section on this Engagement Hub page, by email to Manager Governance, Risk and Compliance, Michelle Richards (Michelle.Richards@pyrenees.vic.gov.au) or mail to Pyrenees Shire Council, 5 Lawrence Street, Beaufort 3373.

Submissions must be received before 5:00pm on Tuesday 28 February 2023.

Proposed changes to Governance rules:

• Update terminology and correct a reference in the former document
• Clarify the differences in broadcasting requirements for virtual and in-person meetings (i.e., mandatory to live-stream for a virtual meeting, but not for a meeting held in-person).
• Change processes around procedural motions to differentiate between ‘rescission’ and ‘amendment’ motions (clause 4.6)
• Change process in clause 4.8 to allow a report on petitions to be submitted as an item of urgent business in the same meeting as the petition is presented.
• Significant amendment to clause 10.1 that relates to virtual meetings to align the procedures with Minister Guidelines.
• Change in Appendix A on who can move and second procedural motions to allow for better process.

Proposed changes to Election Period Policy:

• Update the policy in preparation for the 2024 local government general elections.
• Input new section 3 detailing the assumed 2024 election timeline.
• Amend definitions in Section 4.
• Section 12 – change in CEO approvals for publications from the former certification which is no longer required.
• Added Appendix A which is an implementation checklist for next year.
• Throughout the document references to ‘caretaker’ mode and legislation now rescinded have been removed.