The council’s chief executive Justine Linley revealed the nine newly elected councillors were in the process of reviewing the ordinary council meeting structure.

At the moment, council meetings are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at the Town Hall, Sturt Street. Confidential briefings are also held between senior council staff and councillors are also held fortnightly.   

The Courier understands, however, there are talks to cut the number of ordinary meetings down to one public meeting per month with scope to increase the number of councillor briefings.

Deputy mayor Mark Harris said a range of options were being considered for council meetings, but no final decision had been made. 

“Often there may be a planning issue which cannot be resolved within a two week cycle,” Cr Harris said. “There could be other issues like the need for community consultation on a matter or extra information may be required on certain matters which doesn’t always suit a two week cycle.” 

Cr Harris said while he believed there was scope to improve existing processes, it was also critical elements on the current ordinary meetings, including public question time, were maintained.   

“The system we have probably has the most frequent public meetings of any council of its size and there are merits in that,” he said.  

Ballarat mayor Samantha McIntosh said the council were looking at the way other councils across the region ran public meetings.

“One of the most important aspects of any public meeting is ensuring the public is adequately heard and it provides a forum for informed debate,” Cr McIntosh said. “However, we also need to ensure councillors are provided with appropriate information and given the time to research in the period leading into a public meeting.”

The City of Greater Bendigo holds public meetings once every three weeks, while the City of Greater Geelong only holds meetings open to the public once a month.  

“There are things that work and there are things we could improve on so we are considering all options at this stage,” Cr McIntosh said. A decision on the structure for council meetings moving forward will be made early next year.