MEETING OF COUNCIL - Town of Cambridge

COUNCIL MINUTES
TUESDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2012
CR12.181 COMMITTEE, COUNCIL, SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING SCHEDULE 2013
PURPOSE OF REPORT:
To set the Committee, Council and Special Council meeting schedule for 2013, bringing
forward October 2013 rounds of Committee and Council meetings to accommodate the 19
October 2013 Local Government Elections, and to bring forward the December round to
enable completion of the Council's business prior to Christmas.
BACKGROUND:
The Council meeting schedule for 2013, commencing in February, will comprises of one
Council Forum, two Committee meetings and a full Council meeting each month. There will
be two occasions before the end of the year where a rescheduling of meetings will be
required, prior to the local government elections in October and before the Christmas/New
Year holiday period.
DETAILS:
Meeting Schedule
The Council meeting schedule for 2013 will comprises of one Council Forum held on the first
Tuesday of each month, which is closed to the general public, two Committee meetings held
during the third week of each month with the full Council meeting held on the fourth
Tuesday.
Elections
The biennial Local Government Elections will be held on Saturday 19 October 2013. If the
normal meeting schedule were to be adhered to, the October Council meeting would be held
on 22 October 2012 immediately following Election Day and not allowing sufficient time to
accommodate a special meeting of Council to swear-in newly elected Members. In order to
allow sufficient opportunity for the current Council to finalise its business and for the newly
elected Members to be sworn in and become familiar with the business of the Council and
current issues under consideration, it is proposed that the October meeting dates be brought
forward one week to enable the October round to be completed prior to the election date.
Following the 19 October 2013 elections, it is proposed that a Special Council meeting for
swearing-in the newly elected Council be held on Tuesday 22 October 2013. It is then
suggested that the four week break between swearing-in and the first scheduled Committee
meeting for November (Monday 18 November) be set aside to allow any newly Elected
Members the opportunity to become familiar with the Council’s processes and current issues
through an induction program. This will also allow for a Forum meeting to be held and
provide Members sufficient opportunity to read agenda papers prior to commencement of
the November round of Committee meetings.
December Meeting
As the fourth Tuesday of the month of December 2013 falls on the 24 th , it will be necessary,
as in past years, to bring forward the December round by one week to accommodate the
Christmas period.
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