Participate and be heard at a Council Meeting

Get your submission listed on the agenda

Complete the form below and get in contact with the Governance team on 1300 368 333 if you want to make a submission about an item that is not listed under “Business Papers” on the agenda of the next Council Meeting.

Please note: that you will need to contact the team by 5:00pm, 11 days prior to the Council Meeting you are to make a submission at. 

Complete a General Submission to Council form

If your submission is about matters already considered by Council or operational matters, it will not be considered.

The topic of the submission and the speakers name must be listed on the Council Meeting agenda for that meeting under “Questions and Submissions from the Public” for it to be heard. 

Presenting your submission at the meeting

The Governance Team will be in contact with you about your request to discuss any material or presentations you may want to use. 

Community members have the opportunity to clarify strategy, policy or any other appropriate matters that are not listed on the Council agenda via a question to Council. 

If your question is about routine Council works, you should instead contact our Customer Experience Team.

Public question time is held at every Council meeting as close as practical to the start of the meeting. A maximum of 15 minutes is allocated for questions that have been submitted.

Before you complete the form

Before you complete the form below to submit a question to Council please be aware of the following:

• There is a limit of two questions per person, per meeting.
• The requirements for questions to Council are set out at Rule 59 of Council’s Governance Rules. A question may be disallowed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) if they determine 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;
  • deals with a subject matter already answered;
  • is aimed at embarrassing a Councillor or a member of Council staff;
  • relates to personnel matters;
  • relates to the personal hardship of any resident or ratepayer;
  • relates to industrial matters;
  • relates to contractual matters;
  • relates to proposed developments;
  • relates to legal advice;
  • relates to matters affecting the security of Council property; or relates to any other matter which Council considers would prejudice Council or any person.

Please ensure you have read Rule 59 of the Governance Rules before submitting your question.

Please note: Questions must be received no later than 5pm on the day prior to the next Council meeting to be considered. Questions submitted after the deadline may be moved to the following Council meeting.

If a question relates to a matter that is currently subject to community consultation, it will be given directly to the relevant officer and considered as part of the submission process.

Once received by Council, your question will be acknowledged by our Governance Team.

Questions lodged in writing by the deadline that meet the requirements of our Governance Rules will be read out by the CEO and answered by Council Officers.

A written response to your question will also be provided after it has been addressed at a Council meeting.

Submit your question to Council:

Click here to view form.

Anyone wishing to speak to an item of business listed on the Council Agenda, should complete the online form below by 5.00pm on the Monday before the Council meeting.

Only one submitter will be registered to represent those against the item and one submitter to represent those in favour of the item (or the applicant in the case of a planning item).

Your submissions are an opportunity to present a view to Councillors and are not a forum for questions or debate.

Submissions should be respectful of Councillors and staff. 

Register to speak to an item of business

You can submit a petition to Council to show support for a particular issue.

Petitions will be tabled and received at the next appropriate Council meeting.

We will notify the lead petitioner of the date the petition will be tabled. The lead petitioner will also have an opportunity to speak to their petition at the Council meeting if they wish.  

Lead petitioners can contact the Governance Team on 1300 368 333 to arrange this or if they have any questions about the process.  

To be tabled at Council your petition should:

• Be supplied to Council at least 11 days before a Council meeting. A late petition will be accepted up until 5pm the day before;
• Clearly state the issue to be raised on each page, along with the original signatures and contact details of each petitioner;
• Include the original signatures of at least seven different individuals who live, work, study or do business in Yarra Ranges; and
• Should not relate to matters already considered by Council or matters relating to operational issues.

How to submit your petition

To submit your petitions you can: 

• Email a scanned copy of your petition to mail@yarraranges.vic.gov.au

• Submit the original hard copy of the petition at one our Community Links

• Complete an online form to submit your petition digitally

To assist we have created a petition template. 

Download the sample petition(DOCX, 25KB)