The City of Casey has developed a new draft local law designed to regulate the use of Council’s common seal and deal with inappropriate conduct at a Council Meeting.
At its meeting on Tuesday 13 December 2022, Council endorsed the draft Governance Local Law 2022 for public exhibition as a further mechanism to facilitate good governance at the City of Casey.
The proposed local law includes provisions to regulate the use of the common seal and offences for misuse, as well as offences for inappropriate conduct at Council meetings and meetings of delegated committees.
The common seal is the official stamp or ‘signature’ of Council, and every document to which the common seal is affixed must be attested by Council’s Chief Executive Officer.
In line with the previous Local Government Act 1989, Council used to have a local law that covered conduct at Council Meetings and provisions around the use of the common seal. If members of the public, Councillors or staff breached these local laws, there were associated penalties involved.
As part of Council’s transition to the new Local Government Act 2020 (the Act 2020), Council was required to create and endorse Governance Rules which were adopted in August 2020. The Governance Rules cover off procedures around the conduct of Council Meetings and use of the common seal, and so Council revoked the original Local Law to reduce confusion as to the status of the two documents.
However, offences and penalties cannot be addressed through the Governance Rules. That is why the draft Governance Local Law 2022 has been developed to provide further regulations around the use of the common seal and allow Council to issue a penalty in the event of misconduct at Council Meetings or meetings of delegated committees, as well as misuse of the common seal.
Council invites the community to view the draft Governance Local Law and provide a submission by 5.00 pm on Friday 27 January 2023.
Check it out and have your say on the Casey Conversations webpage.