Council meetings

LIVE STREAM

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, DRC Council meetings will be held online. You can watch the meetings LIVE here.

Ordinary Council Meetings

Council generally meets on the fourth Monday of each month, commencing 5.30pm (except January and public holidays). Extraordinary meetings are called when needed. Meetings are live streamed and can be viewed here.

Committee Meetings

Committees meet on the second Monday of each month (except January, December and public holidays). Meetings are live streamed and can be viewed here.

The Committee meetings start at 5.30pm in the following order:

1. Development and Environment Committee (where required)
2. Infrastructure and Liveability Committee
3. Culture, Economy and Corporate Committee

SPEAKING AT MEETINGS

Members of the public are able to address the Mayor and Councillors at Committee meetings or during Public Forum at Ordinary Council meetings.

Please note that due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, there will be limited numbers able to attend the meeting in the public gallery and strict social distancing measures will need to be followed. All attendees will need the check-in, wear a mask and provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination status. If a member of the public would like to address Council but is has not received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccination, they can make written submissions which will be read out during the meeting. Please contact the Governance team for more information (02 6801 4000).

Any person wishing to address Council or Committees is to be provided with a copy of the Procedure for Addressing Council and Standing Committees. Such persons are then required to formally advise Council that they have read the Procedure and will abide by its contents.

Any potential tenderer (being a person or entity, including their agent, employee or representative that has requested documents or information regarding a tender or quotation) must not be permitted to address a meeting of Council (including any Committee or Working Party of Council) regarding the relevant tender or quotation documents without the prior written consent of the Chief Executive Officer.

In deciding whether to grant such consent, the Chief Executive Officer may take into consideration any relevant legislative requirements, tendering guidelines issued by the Office of Local Government from time to time, terms of the relevant tender or quotation documents, Council's Code of Conduct and the rules of procedural fairness (it is noted that Council has a statutory obligation to ensure that any requests for tender or quotation documents, or information or clarification regarding the tender or quotation, from any potential tenderer, must be directed to the responsible officer identified in the tender or quotation documents).

Addressing Standing Committees

It is Council's practice that members of the public who have an interest in matters before Council's Standing Committees (Development and Environment; Infrastructure and Liveability; Culture, Economy and Corporate), are advised that they may attend and address those Committees. This practice is more informal and there is often interaction/questions/discussions between those persons and the Councillors and staff. This informality has been at the discretion of the Chairperson, noting that only those matters listed on the Committee's agenda will be discussed. Matters of ‘general interest’ are not to be raised by the public.

Addressing Council during Public Forum

• Any person can apply to address either an Ordinary meeting or Extraordinary meeting of Council during Public Forum on any issue relevant to the responsibilities of Dubbo Regional Council (subject to the above statements regarding tenderers).

• Requests to address Council during Public Forum should be made to Council's Executive Manager Governance and Internal Control (or nominee) at least two (2) hours prior to the meeting. Applicants shall advise the agenda item/topic to be addressed. Only two (2) speakers shall be able to address the same agenda item/topic.

• Requests will be advised to the Mayor prior to the commencement of the meeting.

• Each individual address is limited to a maximum of five (5) minutes.

• Public Forum is limited to a maximum period of thirty (30) minutes and shall be held following ‘Confirmation of Order of Business’ on the Council agenda. The Mayor will generally give first preference to those speakers who have an interest in a matter on the agenda for the meeting. Should there remain time following speakers who have previously nominated, the Mayor will enquire of the Public Gallery if there are any other speakers.

• Should the number of nominated speakers exceed the thirty (30) minute timeframe, a decision by Council may extend the time frame for Public Forum by a maximum of (10) minutes.

• If speakers wish to distribute material to Council and officers, twenty (20) copies shall be provided to the Executive Manager Governance and Internal Control (or nominee) prior to the meeting.

• Where an address relates to an item on the agenda for the subject meeting, the issues raised by the speaker(s) shall be dealt with when Council considers that item as part of the agenda. If questions (a maximum of two (2)) are raised by the speaker as part of their address, the Mayor may either provide a response or request the Chief Executive Officer to reply to the speaker at the conclusion of the address. Questions may come from/through the Mayor to the person addressing Council at the time or to the Mayor or Chief Executive Officer at the conclusion of the speaker's address. If questions require investigation, they can be taken on notice with the Executive Manager Governance and Internal Control to obtain the necessary information for response to the speaker and the Mayor and Councillors.

• Where an address relates to an issue of general interest (a matter not listed on the agenda), it cannot be debated by Council except where, in accordance with Clause 241 of the Local Government (General) Regulation 2005 and Clause b(i) of Council’s Code of Meeting Practice (Clause 11 of Council's Meeting Procedure):
• Motion is passed to have the business transacted at the meeting; and
• The business proposed to be brought forward is ruled by the Chairperson to be of great urgency.

If a matter of general interest is raised, is not a ‘Matter of Urgency’ as above, and the Mayor or a Councillor wishes the matter to be considered by Council, the Mayor or Councillor may, as per Council's Code of Meeting Practice, lodge a Notice of Motion for consideration at a future meeting of the Council.

• Speakers must conduct themselves with respect to Council and observe the rules of order and meeting procedure as contained in Council's Code of Meeting Practice. As part of Public Forum, the Mayor shall ensure the conduct of Public Forum is such that presenters:
• Confine their presentation to a statement of facts

• Not insult or make personal reflections or impute improper motives to the Mayor, Councillors or member of staff
• Not say or do anything that is inconsistent with maintaining order at the meeting or is likely to bring Council into contempt
• Allow other speakers to put their views without interruption.

To address Council during Public Forum, the below form must be completed and returned to a representative of the Executive Manager Governance and Internal Control. Contact details are available within the form.

Procedures for Addressing Council and Standing Committees  (PDF 231.1KB)

Calendar and Business Papers

Agendas and Business papers are available on the Friday prior to the meeting via the links provided below.

 Updated Meeting Calendar 2021 (PDF 124.1KB)

Archived business papers

Council business papers and minutes from May 2016 to December 2018 can be found in the meeting archive.

Browse the meeting archive.

More information

For further information or if you would like to request access to a business paper not provided for above, please contact Council's Executive Manager Governance and Internal Control on 02 6801 4000.               

Last Edited: 26 Oct 2021

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