Additional Question Information

Questions asked verbally

1. Members of the public are invited to ask questions at Public Agenda Briefing Sessions and Council Meetings.
2. Questions asked at a Briefing Session must relate to a report contained in the agenda. Questions asked at Ordinary Council Meetings can be broader in scope than other meetings. They may relate to a matter on the agenda, or any matter that affects the City of Karratha. Questions asked at a Special Council Meeting must relate to the purpose for which the meeting has been called.
3. A register will be provided for those persons wanting to ask questions to enter their name. The Presiding Member may call persons registered to come forward in an order that allows the maximum opportunity for as many people as possible to address the meeting on the widest range of matters that are listed in the agenda. Persons that come forward are to state their name and full address.
4. Public question time will be limited to two minutes per person, with a limit of two verbal questions per person. Statements are not to precede a question during public question time and questions must be succinct and to the point. 
5. Members of the public are encouraged to keep their questions brief to enable everyone who desires to ask a question to have the opportunity to do so.
6. Public question time will be allocated a maximum of 15-minutes. Public question time is declared closed following the expiration of the allocated 15-minute time period, or earlier if there are no further questions. The Presiding Member may extend public question time in intervals of 10 minutes, but the total time allocated for public question time is not to exceed 35 minutes in total.
7. Questions are to be directed to the Presiding Member and shall be asked politely, in good faith, and are not to be framed in such a way as to reflect adversely or to be defamatory on a particular Elected Member or City employee. 
8. The Presiding Member shall decide to accept or reject any question and their decision is final.
9. The Presiding Member may direct the question to the CEO who will: 
   • respond to the question; or 
   • redirect it to the relevant City employee to respond to the question; or
   • take a question on notice. In this case a written response will be provided as soon as possible.
10. Where an Elected Member is of the opinion that a member of the public is:
    • asking a question at a Briefing Session that is not relevant to a report listed in the agenda or making a statement during public question time, they may bring it to the attention of the Presiding Member who will make a ruling.
11. It is not intended that question time should be used as a means to obtain information that would not be made available if it was sought from the City’s records under Section 5.94 of the Local Government Act 1995 or the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (FOI Act). Where the response to a question(s) would require a substantial commitment of the City’s resources, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will determine that it is an unreasonable impost upon the City and may refuse to provide it. The CEO will advise the member of the public that the information may be sought in accordance with the FOI Act.

Questions in Writing – (Residents and/or ratepayers of the City of Karratha only)

1. Only City of Karratha residents and/or ratepayers may submit questions to the City in writing.
2. Questions asked at a Briefing Session must relate to a report contained in the agenda. Questions asked at Ordinary Council Meetings can be broader in scope than other meetings. They may relate to a matter on the agenda, or any matter that affects the City of Karratha. Questions asked at a Special Council Meeting must relate to the purpose for which the meeting has been called.
3. The City will accept a maximum of five written questions per City of Karratha resident/ratepayer. To ensure equity and consistency, each part of a multi-part question will be treated as a question in its own right.
4. Questions lodged by 9.00am on the Friday immediately prior to the scheduled meeting will be responded to, where possible, at the next meeting. These questions, and their responses, will be distributed to Elected Members and made available to the public in written form at the meeting.
5. The Presiding Member shall decide to accept or reject any written question and their decision is final. Where there is any concern about a question being offensive, defamatory or the like, the Presiding Member will make a determination in relation to the question. Questions determined as offensive, defamatory or the like will not be published.
6. The Presiding Member may rule questions out of order where they are substantially the same as questions previously submitted and responded to.
7. Written questions unable to be responded to at the meeting will be taken on notice. In this case, a written response will be provided as soon as possible and included in the agenda of the next Public Agenda Briefing Session or Ordinary Council Meeting.
8. A person who submits written questions may also ask verbal questions at the meeting and questions asked verbally may be different to those submitted in writing.
9. Questions and any response will be summarised and included in the agenda of the Ordinary Council Meeting.
10. It is not intended that question time should be used as a means to obtain information that would not be made available if it was sought from the City’s records under Section 5.94 of the Local Government Act 1995 or the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (FOI Act). Where the response to a question(s) would require a substantial commitment of the City’s resources, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will determine that it is an unreasonable impost upon the City and may refuse to provide it. The CEO will advise the member of the public that the information may be sought in accordance with the FOI Act.

DISCLAIMER

Responses to questions asked verbally are provided in good faith and as such, should not be relied upon as being either complete or comprehensive.