Council

The Council’s role is to:

• govern the local government’s affairs;
• be responsible for the performance of the local government’s functions;
• oversee the allocation of the local government’s finances and resources; and
• determine the local government’s policies.

‘President’ is the title given to the chief elected officer of a Shire Council.

The role of the Shire President is to:

• preside at Council meetings (in this role, the President is required to ensure that meetings are conducted in a correct and orderly manner and to remain impartial when chairing the meeting);
• carry out civic and ceremonial duties (such as conducting citizenship ceremonies);
• speak on behalf of the local government as a corporate entity;
• liaise with the CEO on the local government’s affairs and the performance of its functions; and
• provide leadership and guidance to the community.

The role of a Shire President also includes the role of a Councillor. A President has no authority to make decisions as an individual other than to authorise expenditure in an emergency.

Information note: Mayors or Presidents may be elected either by the members of the council for two years, or by the electors of the district for four years. A Mayor or President has the same ‘deliberative’ vote as the other Councillors. However, the Mayor or President must cast a second vote (that is, a deciding vote) if the vote on a matter is tied.

A Councillor’s role is to:

• represent the interests of electors, ratepayers and residents;
• provide leadership and guidance to the community;
• facilitate communication between the community and the council and vice versa; and
• participate in decision making processes at meetings.

The Shire of Carnamah has seven elected Councillors. Councillors are elected by residents of the Shire and represent the whole Shire.

The President and Deputy President are elected by the Councillors after every election, usually held in October (every two years).

Council Training Matrix – updated June 2023

Local Government Act 1995, s 5.127

Report on training

1. A local government must prepare a report for each financial year on the training completed by council members in the financial year.
2. The CEO must publish the report on the local government’s official website within 1 month after the end of the financial year to which the report relates.

What training is required to be reported?

The intent is for the local government to report back to the community on what training Councillors have undertaken so local governments are encouraged to include all training rather than just the Council Member Essentials course. This is also consistent with the requirement for a CPD policy – the report can align to what the local government has prepared in the policy (ie. other training that has been identified for Councillors, especially those not required to complete the Council Member Essentials course that year. There will be some years where there is potentially no one completing the course and therefore if this section is interpreted narrowly there would be nothing to report).