Victorian Current Acts Victorian Current Acts(1) A Council must develop, adopt and keep in force Governance Rules for or with respect to the following—
S. 60(1)(a) amended by No. 13/2022 s. 40(a).
(a) the conduct of Council meetings (including holding Council meetings by electronic means of communication);
S. 60(1)(b) amended by No. 13/2022 s. 40(b).
(b) the conduct of meetings of delegated committees (including holding meetings of delegated committees by electronic means of communication);
S. 60(1)(ba) inserted by No. 13/2022 s. 40(c).
(ba) requesting and approval of attendance at Council meetings and meetings of delegated committees by electronic means of communication;
(c) the form and availability of meeting records;
(d) the election of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor;
(da) the appointment of an Acting Mayor;
(e) an election period policy in accordance with section 69;
(f) the procedures for the disclosure of a conflict of interest by a Councillor or a member of a delegated committee under section 130;
(g) the procedure for the disclosure of a conflict of interest by a Councillor under section 131;
(h) the disclosure of a conflict of interest by a member of Council staff when providing information in respect of a matter within the meaning of section 126(1) ;
(i) any other matters prescribed by the regulations.
(2) The Governance Rules must provide for a Council to—
(a) consider and make decisions on any matter being considered by the Council fairly and on the merits; and
(b) institute decision making processes to ensure that any person whose rights will be directly affected by a decision of the Council is entitled to communicate their views and have their interests considered.
(3) A Council may amend its Governance Rules.
(4) Subject to subsection (5), a Council must ensure that a process of community engagement is followed in developing or amending its Governance Rules.
(5) Subsection (4) does not apply if the Council is developing and adopting or amending a Governance Rule that only adopts a good practice guideline issued by the Minister under section 87.
(6) A Council must comply with its Governance Rules.
(7) A Council must adopt the first Governance Rules under this section on or before 1 September 2020.
(8) Until a Council adopts Governance Rules under this section, the Local Law Meeting Procedures made by the Council under the Local Government Act 1989 apply as if the Local Law Meeting Procedures had been adopted as Governance Rules under this section.