Council meeting dates, locations and questions

About Council meetings

Council holds Ordinary Meetings and, when required, Special Meetings to conduct the business of Council.

Councillors represent the local community in making central decisions at Council meetings. The Mayor is the chair of those meetings. You can find out more about the positions in Council on our Mayor and Councillors page.

The Chief Executive Officer and members of the Executive Team also attend Council meetings, to provide information or advice when called on by Councillors. You can find out more about the executive team on our CEO and Executive team page.

Council is committed to transparency in decision making and, in accordance with the Local Government Act 2020, Council Meetings are open to the public and the community are able to attend.

Our Governance Rules (PDF) outline the procedures governing Council meetings.

Council decision making will be founded on good governance and conducted with transparency. The process by which decisions will be made is transparent and clearly articulated in these Governance Rules for the scrutiny of our community and accountability of Councillors and Council officers. Council recognises that accountability, integrity and transparency are of fundamental importance to our community and are critical for enhancing good governance.

Meetings are held in person at the Merri-bek Civic Centre unless public health requirements recommend or direct they are held online. When deciding whether to conduct a Council Meeting online, our Chief Executive Officer will follow the Council Meeting Guidelines for Determining when to conduct Council Meetings Online (PDF).

Next Council Meeting - Wednesday 8 May 2024, 7pm

You can view the live stream of this Council meeting at 7pm on 8 May 2024 on our Youtube page and  our Facebook page.

The Agenda for this meeting will be available 6 days before the meeting via Next Council meeting agenda (merri-bek.vic.gov.au).

Gallery seating is limited to 40 individuals. Priority for entry into the meeting will be given to those who have registered a public question or statement and have been invited to present it in person.

Questions and Statements at Council meetings

Council meetings provide citizens with an opportunity to ask a question or make a statement and to raise issues for Council to consider in its decision-making process.

Questions

Community members may submit up to two questions or statements, in any combination, to ask at the meeting. When invited by the Mayor, you must state your name and suburb, then ask your question for up to three minutes. 

Statements

Community members may also make a statement for up to three minutes in relation to a matter listed in the agenda. When invited by the Mayor, you must state your name and suburb, then make your statement for up to three minutes. Statements will not receive a response.

Statements may not be directed at individual Councillors or members of Council staff. The Chairperson may cease a community statement if they deem it defamatory, indecent, abusive, offensive, irrelevant, trivial or objectionable in language or substance.

Question and time limits

Community members may submit up to two questions or statements, in any combination, to ask at the meeting.

A maximum of three questions will be heard on any one subject. Council will proceed to the next subject, returning to the previous subject if time allows.

The time allowed for questions of Council and community statements will not exceed 30 minutes, unless by resolution of Council, and only by a further 30 minutes.

This means you may be registered to attend but there may not be time for your question. If you don’t get to ask it, it will be responded to in writing.

For more information on the timing of this part of the Council meeting, read our Public Question Time form and guidelines (DOC).

If a Council meeting cannot be held with community members in attendance, arrangements will be made for questions and statements to be heard using an online platform.

Submit your question or statement

To ask a question or make a statement at a Council meeting, please register your question or statement by either of the following options:

  • Submitting your question or statement using the online question form below
  • Emailing your question or statement to Governance
  • Submitting your question or statement in-person (at the council meeting) prior to the commencement of the council meeting

Please note: Submissions are strongly encouraged by 12pm (noon) on the day of the meeting.

Council officers will confirm receipt of your question or statement, confirm your attendance, either in person or online, and send you details for admittance into the meeting.

If your contact details cannot be verified, your question or statement will be considered general correspondence and not a submission to the Council meeting. 

Please note: questions or statements should be submitted by 12pm (noon) on the day of the Council meeting.

 

Is this a question or a statement?*

Is this a question or a statement?

I understand that my name may be read out at a Council meeting and that meetings are recorded and streamed live to Merri-bek City Council’s website, Facebook page and other social media platforms. A response to my question that includes my name, will be included in the Council minutes and published on Council's website and social media platforms that are used to livestream Council meetings.*

Petitions and online Council meetings

To submit a petition to, please email it to Governance by 12pm (noon) on the day of meeting. To meet petition requirements, each page of the petition must clearly state the matter and the action sought of Council. 

In accordance with our Governance Rules (PDF), the lead petitioner may address the Council meeting for up to 2 minutes.

Petitions relating to planning applications are not reported to a Council meeting but are treated as 1 objection to the planning application and considered as part of the planning process. Please refer to the Planning application process overview for more information on objections.  

 Once your petition has been submitted, Council officers will:

  • confirm receipt of your petition via return email
  • confirm if you wish to address the meeting
  • send you details for admittance the meeting

Upcoming Council meetings

Council meetings are usually held in the Council Chamber, Merri-bek Civic Centre, 90 Bell Street, Coburg at 7pm on the second Wednesday of each month, unless otherwise stated below. During the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings may be held via video conferencing and available to the public on our Livestreaming page and on the Merri-bek City Council Facebook page.

Additional Council meetings are held for specific reasons, such as considering budget submissions. These special meetings generally commence at 6pm and are held in the Council Chamber, Merri-bek Civic Centre, 90 Bell Street, Coburg.

The agenda for the upcoming Council meeting is made available before the meeting on our Next Council meeting agenda page.

2024 Council meeting dates

Council, at its meeting held 8 November 2023, adopted 2024 Council meeting dates as follows: 

  • 14 February 2024
  • 13 March 2024
  •  10 April 2024
  • 8 May 2024
  • 12 June 2024
  • 10 July 2024
  • 14 August 2024
  • 11 September 2024
  • 9 October 2024
  • 18 November 2024 - Swearing in of Councillors
  • 20 November 2024 - Mayoral Election
  • 11 December 2024

Council livestreams a video of any Council meetings that have been held online. You can watch the next Council meeting live or watch recordings of previous meetings on our Livestreaming page.

After the meeting has finished, the minutes of the Council meeting will be put on our Minutes and past agendas page. 

All personal information collected on the Merri-bek City Council website is protected and handled in accordance with the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (DOC) and the Council Information Privacy Policy (DOC).

More information about our privacy policy and practices is on our Privacy page.