Standing Orders

Standing Orders are a set of rules that provide formal guides about the way that a Council conducts its meetings.

They are also record the Council's agreed principles of behaviour within meetings.

Using Standing Orders helps to promote teamwork by:

•  Allowing structured discussion of topics
•  Ensuring respect for the opinions of others
•  Ensuring tact and appropriate language is used to resolve conflict
•  Promoting the use of persuasion and influencing skills to gain consensus.

All councils are required by the Local Government Act 2002 to adopt a set of standing orders that control the way the Council's meetings are conducted. Elected members must abide by the Standing Orders adopted by the Council. Click link below to view or download a copy of the Council's Standing Orders.

Whakatane District Council Standing Orders - (PDF, 484Kb)

Model Standing Orders

The Whakatane District Council's Standing Orders are based on the Model Standing Orders 2003 (as amended by the Local Government Amendment Act 2004). They were adopted on 16 November 2004 and amended slightly on the 18 May 2005 and the 31 October 2007. The Council resolved to retain the casting vote provision for the Mayor or Chairperson in its Standing Orders.