How council meetings work

Council holds scheduled meetings and, when required, unscheduled meetings to conduct the business of Council. 

Council decisions are made by elected councillors at Council meetings. Matters are decided by vote. 

Council Meetings are conducted under Council’s Governance Rules and are Live Broadcasted the night of the meeting.

The Mayor is the Chairperson at the meeting. The procedure of Council Meetings is laid down in the Governance Rules and an agenda, which lists the order of business for the respective meetings. 

The meeting begins at 6:30pm with the acknowledgement of the Wadawurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung  people as the traditional owners of the land. Minutes of the previous meeting are confirmed, and Councillors disclose if they have a conflict of interest in any item on the agenda. By law, Councillors must identify matters where a conflict of interest exists. 

Officer's reports cover issues in the officer's area of responsibility and make recommendations that require a Council decision or policy direction. The Council may resolve to adopt, change or reject the officer's recommendation, or just note the report.

A proposal being put to the Council is called a motion and must be moved and seconded by two Councillors. The motion is then debated, and once finished, it is voted on. 

Voting on a motion is by show of hands. The Chairperson will call for those in favour of the motion and then those against the motion, and will declare the result to the meeting. Each Councillor present must vote on the motion unless they have a conflict of interest.  

Council is committed to transparency in decision making and, in accordance with the Act, Council and Delegated Committee meetings are open to the public to attend. Meetings will only be closed to members of the public if: 

• there are clear reasons for particular matters to remain confidential; or  
• a meeting is required to be closed for security reasons; or  
• it is necessary to enable the meeting to proceed in an orderly manner.