Council Meetings

Availability of agendas and minutes

Agendas are made publicly available on Council's website the Friday prior to the Council meeting. Minutes of meetings are made publicly available as soon as practicable following the meeting.

Visit the agendas and minutes page to view meeting documentation.

Commencement times and venues

Council meetings commence at 6.30pm unless otherwise advertised and are open to the public. Meetings are held at the Council Chamber located in the Civic Precinct and Community Hub at 61 Napier Street, Footscray.

For all Council meetings please refer to the schedule of meeting dates.

Livestreaming of meetings

In accordance with Council’s Livestreaming and Recording of Council Meetings Policy, recordings of meetings are available on Council’s website for a minimum of 12 months following the meeting date.

Accessibility

Council meetings are held on the first floor at Footscray Town Hall. Access to the building is available either by the stairs, or elevator. Seating is provided to watch the meeting, and the room is wheelchair accessible, with accessible toilet facilities available. Meetings are conducted in English, with hearing loop available. If you wish to attend a public meeting and would like to discuss specific accessibility requirements, please contact us prior to 5pm on the day of the meeting.

Community participation at Council Meetings

Public Questions

Public Question Time is a means by which the public can seek responses from Council about issues affecting them. Council allows 15 minutes for public question time at its Council Meeting.

A maximum of three questions per person can be submitted until the commencement of the meeting via the online Public Question Form or provided in hard copy at the meeting to a Council officer. Submitters are requested to submit their public questions earlier than this to allow for informed responses to be prepared and provided at the meeting.

Public questions will be read by the Chair during Public Question Time. The Chair may require a question to be taken on notice with a response included as an attachment to the relevant minutes.

Public question time is not an opportunity to express personal views opinions.

Any question submitted may be disallowed if the Chair determines that it:

Relates to a matter outside the duties, functions and powers of Council;
Is defamatory, indecent, abusive, offensive, irrelevant, trivial or objectionable in language or substance;
is a question considered similar and not materially different to a question that has previously been submitted to a Council meeting and has been responded to within the past three months
Is aimed at embarrassing a Councillor or a member of Council staff; or
Relates to personnel matters, the personal hardship of any resident or ratepayer, industrial matters, contractual matters, proposed developments, legal advice, matters affecting the security of Council property, or to any other matter which Council considers would prejudice Council or any person.
be legible and not be defamatory, indecent, abusive or objectionable in language or substance.

If you would like to submit a public question for a Council meeting please complete the Public Question Time Form.

Requests to address the Council Meeting

Community members can speak about a planning item on the meeting agenda for up to three minutes per speaker before Council considers the item.

Where more than 10 requests to speak are received by representatives of a group or organisation for the same agenda item, a spokesperson will be required to be appointed by the group, and that spokesperson will be allocated a maximum of five minutes to address the Council.

If you would like to speak at a Council Meeting in relation to an item on the agenda, please complete the Request to Address Form.

Requests to address must be submitted no later than 12pm on the day of the meeting.

Petitions

What is a petition?

A petition is a written request to Council that has been signed by multiple people. Petitions can express concern about an issue and can request Council to consider taking a specific action or actions.

Council will accept written and online petitions submitted in accordance with its Governance Rules.

A minimum of 10 signatories is required for a petition to be accepted by Council.

A petition must be lodged with Council no less than 7 days before the Council Meeting at which it is intended to be tabled.

A petition must:

be addressed to the Council, Mayor or Councillor;
include the whole of the petition text (i.e. what is being asked of Council to consider) at the top of each page;
contain the names, addresses and handwritten original signatures (for written petitions);
be legible and permanent writing (for written petitions);
not relate to matters outside powers of Council; and
be legible and not be defamatory, indecent, abusive or objectionable in language or substance.

Online petition requirements

Online petitions will be accepted if Council is satisfied that the petition is has been distributed via a legitimate website.

All online petitions must contain as a minimum the name, email address and address, suburb or postcode of each signatory.

An online petition will not be presented to a Council Meeting if it contains content or signatures that appear to be false or misleading.

The petition must nominate a contact person and their details so Council can contact you to acknowledge the receipt of the petition and advise you after the petition has been received at a Council meeting.

It is the responsibility of the petition organiser to contact other signatories to the petition to inform them of its progress.

Please see a sample of an acceptable petition below.

How do I submit a petition?

Once the petition is complete, it can be emailed to petitions@maribyrnong.vic.gov.au or sent to:

Maribyrnong City Council
Attn: Governance
PO Box 58
West Footscray VIC 3012