Section 60 of the Local Government Act 2020 (the Act) requires that the Council develops, adopts and keep in force governance Rules relating to the following:

• the conduct of Council meeting
• the conduct of meetings of delegated committees
• requesting and approval of attendance at Council meetings and meetings of delegated committees by electronic means
• the form and availability of meeting records
• the election of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor
• the appointment of an Acting Mayor
• an election period policy in accordance with section 69 of the Act
• the procedures for the disclosure of a conflict of interest

The Governance Rules must provide for a Council to:

• consider and make decisions on any matter being considered by the Council fairly and on the merits, and
• 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

A process of review of the Governance Rules has been undertaken and amendments are being proposed for several reasons, such as:

• To take account of amendments made to the Act,
• Improve public transparency of matters listed for Council meetings,
• Improve Council’s Governance procedures,
• Improve gender reference,
• Provide greater control when a Council Meeting may be disrupted by an unruly public gallery,
• Adopt recommendations arising for Operation Sandon Report into City of Casey, and
• Update the Election Period Policy in advance of the 2024 Council Election