2019-08-06 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                6 AUGUST 2019


“That debate on the Notified Motion be deferred to the Ordinary Meeting on 15 August 2019 in
order to:
A.   Receive a report from the Chief Executive Officer on videoing/live streaming of Council
     meetings in accordance with the Council decision of 20 December 2018 (Ref. Item 6,
     Page 16);
B.   Receive a report from the Chief Executive Officer on a new set of Standing Orders for
     Council in accordance with the Council decision of 20 December 2018 (Ref. Item 15,
     Page 10);
C.   Receive a report from the Chief Executive Officer on current and proposed legislative
     changes to the Local Government Act by the State Government that will impact on Council’s
     governance arrangements; and
D.   Receive a report from the Chief Executive Officer on any other matters in the Notified
     Motion that will enable Councillors to consider the costs, practical implications and legal
     aspects of the issues raised in the Notice of Motion.”

This report deals with items 3, 7, 10, 11 and 12 of the notice of motion together with paragraph B
above.

2    Introduction

Standing Orders are the rules by which Council manages its meeting processes and debate.
Following de-amalgamation, Council used the existing Sunshine Coast Regional Council
Standing Orders as the basis for establishing our own Standing Orders. These were adopted in
May 2014 and have been subject to two minor amendments since that time dealing with
electronic petitions and the introduction of Model Meeting Procedures in 2018 (which addresses
Council behaviour during Council meetings).

The current Standing Orders have served us well but there are some improvements that can be
made, mainly focused on the differentiation between Ordinary, Special and Committee meetings.
The CEO intended to revise the Standing Orders some time ago but the proposed 2018 State
government legislative changes to the Local Government Act (which included the introduction of
Model Meeting Procedures) meant that this review was delayed. Also, at the end of 2018, the
State government published a “Best Practice Guide” for Councils who wished to adopt Standing
Orders for their Council meetings.

The Best Practice Guide was, unfortunately, not a particularly useful document as it did not
contain sufficient detail compared to our Council’s existing Standing Orders. In short, while the
Best Practice Guide had some interesting and useful provisions, it could not be adopted “as is
where is” without Council going backwards in terms of our Standing Orders provisions. It should
be noted that the Best Practice Guide is not mandated but was simply provided by the State
government as a resource or tool that could be used by Councils as they develop their own
Standing Orders. We have incorporated some of the better provisions in the Best Practice Guide
into our proposed new Standing Orders.

This is different to the Model Meeting Procedures which are mandated provisions which regulate
how “unsuitable meeting conduct” by Councillors during Council meetings (including Committee
meetings) is to be managed. These must be included by all Councils in their meeting procedures
without amendment and these have been included in our proposed new Standing Orders.

The proposed new Standing Orders were developed in the first half of 2019 and circulated to
Councillors for input on 14 June 2019. A workshop has also been held with all Councillors on the
proposed new Standing Orders.



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