How Council meetings work

Listen

All council decisions are made at council meetings or through them. They are either made at the meeting or under delegated authority to others.

Meeting procedure

Knox City Councillors make decisions by a majority vote at each meeting. A majority of the Councillors must be present for a vote to pass.

All councillors present can vote on every motion unless they have a conflict of interest.

Council meetings are conducted under Council's Governance rules.

See the procedure in action by watching our latest meeting online.

Chairperson

The Mayor of the Day chairs Council meetings.

If the Mayor can not attend, another Councillor will act as Chairperson for that meeting.

The agenda

Each Council meeting agenda is broken up into a variety of sections:

Procedural matters

This covers apologies for non-attendance by Councillors, requests for:

Leave of Absence
Declarations of Pecuniary Interest
Confirmation of Minutes
Petitions
Memorials.

Councillor reports

Councillors report back on Committees and meetings they have attended. The also report any ward issues.

Officer reports

This forms the main part of the Council meeting agenda.

It's a chance for Councillors to discuss reports submitted by Council Officers and make decisions.

Public question time

All residents and ratepayers have the right to ask questions and raise issues with Council. Governance Rules about Public Question Time have recently changed.

You must submit questions online by 12 pm on the day of the Council meeting.
You will be given the opportunity to ask your question during the Council meeting. Under Council's governance rules, you will have a maximum of 2 minutes per question (with a maximum of two questions).
If you are not in attendance at the meeting, the Chair will determine whether or not to read and respond to your question.
For questions not responded to at the meeting, a response will be provided at a later date and your question and response will be recorded in our Public Question Time register.

Submit a question

If your question is about our day-to-day services, like damage to Council property or issues with rubbish bins, please contact our Customer Service team:

by phone on 9298 8000
by email at [email protected]

Live Streaming of Public Meetings Policy

Knox City Council’s public meetings are live streamed and recorded.

Recordings of Council’s Meetings will generally be available through Council’s website for a minimum of 2 years.

Council and the Chairperson will provide notice that the Meeting will be recorded through live streaming. By attending a Council Meeting, attendees will be taken to have consented to their image, speech or statements being live streamed or published on Council’s website.

The live streaming and video recording is protected by copyright and owned by Knox City Council. It is provided by the council for personal and non-commercial use. Video, images and audio contained in a live streaming and video recording must not be altered, reproduced or republished without the permission of the council. Copyright remains with the council.

For further information, refer to the Live Streaming of Public Meetings Policy.

Need help?

Or call our Governance team on 9298 8000.