Announcement

All meetings commence at 6.00 pm and are held at the Corporate Centre, 273 Main Street, Bairnsdale unless stated otherwise.

‍February

• Tuesday 6 February
• Tuesday 27 February

‍March

• Tuesday 19 March

April

• Tuesday 9 April
• Tuesday 30 April

May

• Tuesday 21 May

June

• Tuesday 4 June
• Tuesday 25 June

‍July

• Tuesday 16 July

August

• Tuesday 6 August
• Tuesday 27 August

September

• Tuesday 10 September (Originally 17 September. rescheduled due to the Election Period)
• Tuesday 24 September (Unscheduled meeting, commencing at 3.30 pm)

October

• Tuesday 15 October

‍November

• Tuesday 26 November (Statutory)

‍December

• Tuesday 3 December
• Tuesday 17 December

There are two ways to engage with Council at a Council meeting. You can:

• Ask questions (written or verbal) on an agenda item or any other topic; and
• Present to Council on an agenda item or any matter.

Community members wishing to ask a question or to speak on item/s listed on the agenda for a current Council Meeting or any other matter must adhere to the principles and requirements outlined in Council’s Mutual Respect Charter and Governance Rules.

You'll need to fill out a form and get it to us by the deadline. Forms are available below or at the meeting.

• Public Question Time
• Request to speak

Petitioning is a way for people to show community support for a request or views on a matter and present it directly to Council.

Our Governance Rules (rule 8.7) set out the procedures to submit a petition, the circumstances under which a petition may be disallowed and the process for addressing and responding to the petition at, or after, the meeting.

Petitions submitted to Council must:

• be legible and in permanent writing;
• be clear and on each page the matter and action sought from council is stated;
• not be derogatory, defamatory or objectionable in language or nature;
• not relate to matters outside the powers of Council;
• include the names, addresses and original signatures of all petitioners; and (example: John Smith, 1 Smith Street Bairnsdale, Signature)
• be assessed by the Chief Executive Officer as meaningful and appropriate for formal presentation.

Where a petition has been signed by fewer than 10 people it will be treated as a joint letter and forwarded to the appropriate Council staff member for action as an operational item.

If a petition relates to a planning matter or statutory matter which is the subject of a public submissions process in accordance with the relevant legislation the petition will be treated as a joint submission in relation to the planning matter or the statutory matter, as the case may be. I.e, a petition can not be presented at a Council meeting if it relates to a planning application, it will be processed as a joint submission to that application.

The Chief Executive Officer may determine that an electronic or online petition will be submitted to a Council meeting. The number of signatories to an online or electronic petition will be taken to be the number of signatories at the time the petition is provided to Council for submission to a Council meeting.

An online or electronic petition will not be presented to a Council meeting if it contains signatures that are false or misleading.

We have a petition template to help people prepare a petition that meets these requirements.

Presenting the petition to Council

The original petition can be lodged with Council either in person at any of council's offices, by post or by email to feedback@egipps.vic.gov.au  

The petition will be assessed by a Governance team member to ensure it meets the Governance Rules requirements. It will then go to the Chief Executive Officer to decide if the petition is meaningful. If it meets that criteria, the petition will be submitted to the next available Council meeting.

Council will either:

• refer the matter to the CEO for consideration and response to the head petition, or
• seek that the CEO provide a report to a future meeting of Council for consideration.

Head petitioner

The head petitioner will get an acknowledgment that the petition has been received and will be tabled at the next scheduled Council meeting.

After a petition is tabled, the head petitioner will be advised of the progress of the particular issue.

The process for conducting Council meetings is guided by Governance Rules.

The Governance Rules provide for Council to consider and make decisions on any matter fairly and on the merits and enable a person whose rights are directly affected by a decision to have their views heard and interest considered in the process.

‍Governance Rules

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