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Chair | Notice of meetings | Quorum | Minutes | Conduct of meetings | Closed session | Adjournment | Attendance at Council meetings | Tabled papers | General | Committees of the Council
Chair
1. The Chancellor shall preside at any meeting of the Council at which he/she is present unless he/she elects not to do so.
2. Where at a meeting of the Council the Chancellor:
(a) is absent
(b) elects not to preside
(c) is unable to preside,
or the office of the Chancellor is vacant, the Deputy Chancellor shall preside.
3. In the absence of both the Chancellor and the Deputy Chancellor from a meeting of the Council the members present shall elect one of their number to preside at that meeting.
Notice of meetings
4. The Council shall meet in ordinary session not less than six times in each year and at such other times as the Council shall decide.
5. Not less than seven days' notice of an ordinary meeting of the Council shall be given by the University Secretary, in writing to members of the Council setting out the time and place of the meeting and the agenda.
5A. Order 5 may be suspended by the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and University Secretary, as the Executive of Council, under the terms of Rule G1-6 Notice of meeting of Council of the UTS General Rules, by directing the University Secretary to take action with respect to any of the following:
(a) advise members of a Council meeting with shorter notice than prescribed by Order 5
(b) advise only Council members and other required attendees of the meeting place
(c) advise Council members that a meeting will be held in closed session.
6. A special meeting may be convened by the University Secretary on the request of the Chancellor, the Deputy Chancellor or the Vice-Chancellor or upon the written request of any five members of the Council within 30 days of receipt of the request.
6A. Order 6 may be suspended by the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and University Secretary, as the Executive of Council, under the terms of Rule G1-6 Notice of meeting of Council of the UTS General Rules, by directing the University Secretary to take action with respect to any of the following:
(a) advise members of a Council meeting with shorter notice than prescribed by Order 6
(b) advise only Council members and other required attendees of the meeting place
(c) advise Council members that a meeting will be held in closed session.
7. Not less than seven days' notice of a special meeting of the Council shall be given in writing by the University Secretary to members of the Council specifying any matters requested under Order 6, for discussion at the special meeting.
8. Proceedings of the Council shall be valid notwithstanding non-receipt of a notice of meeting by a member.
Quorum
9. The quorum at any meeting of the Council shall consist of a majority of the total number of members for the time being of the Council.
10. If no quorum is present within 30 minutes of the time appointed for the meeting to commence, all business which should have been transacted at that meeting shall stand over until the next ordinary meeting of the Council, in which case, the business which was to have been dealt with at the meeting lacking a quorum shall take precedence over the business of the ordinary meeting, unless a special meeting is called in the meantime for the transaction of that business.
11. Once a meeting of the Council has commenced with a quorum, there shall be deemed to be a quorum thereafter, unless the lack of a quorum is drawn to the Chair's attention by a member of the Council. On the Chair's attention being drawn to the lack of a quorum he/she shall adjourn the meeting for five minutes. If at the expiration of five minutes there still is no quorum the Chair shall adjourn the meeting to another time or place.
Minutes
12. The University Secretary shall keep a record of each meeting which shall be stored in an official University file and at each meeting the minutes of the preceding meeting shall:
(a) be read unless copies thereof have been previously circulated to members
(b) be confirmed or confirmed as amended, and
(c) be signed by the Chair as confirmed with or without amendment.
Conduct of meetings
13. The order of business at any meeting of the Council shall follow that set out in the agenda unless the Council otherwise determines.
14. Meetings shall, subject to the presence of a quorum, start at the time set out in the notice of meeting, and shall, subject to the discretion of the Chair, continue until all business on the agenda has been concluded.
15. No member of the Council shall initiate any matter for debate or move any motion in respect of such matter, other than a matter on the agenda, unless the Council otherwise determines.
16. At meetings of the Council voting shall be by show of hands, and:
(a) any question shall be decided by a majority of the members present, and
(b) the Chair shall have a deliberative vote, and, in the event of any equality of votes, a casting vote.
17. A motion or amendment before the Chair shall not be withdrawn except by the mover thereof and by leave of the seconder and of the Council, provided that no motion shall be withdrawn while any amendment is under discussion or after any amendment has been adopted.
18. A motion or amendment before the Chair may be reworded by the mover subject to leave of the Council.
19. No member of the Council shall speak more than once to any question, save that the mover of the motion (but not of an amendment) shall have the right of reply, which reply shall close the debate. For the purposes of this Order an amendment shall constitute a separate question from the original motion and from any other amendment.
20. When an amendment is before the Chair, discussion shall be confined to that amendment, and no further amendment shall be proposed until the amendment before the Chair has been disposed of.
21. Any member of the Council may raise a point of order which shall take precedence over all other business, and which shall be open to discussion. The point must be raised at the time the alleged irregularity occurred.
22. Any member of the Council disagreeing with the Chair's ruling on a point of order may move dissent. Such motion shall be put forthwith without debate.
23. Any member of the Council who has not already participated in the debate on any matter may, at any time, whether another speaker has the floor or not, move 'That the question be now put', which motion, if accepted by the Chair, shall be put without amendment or debate. The Chair shall have an absolute discretion to accept or refuse the motion. If the motion is put during debate on an amendment, the motion shall close debate on the amendment only.
Closed session
24. The Council may, if it so wishes and provided that a quorum is present, go 'into closed session', whereupon all non-members who are present shall, with the exception of such non-members as the Council may determine, be required to leave the room and shall not be readmitted until the Chair declares that open session has been resumed.
Adjournment
25. The Chair may, with the consent of the Council, and shall, if so directed by the Council, adjourn the meeting from time to time and from place to place, but no business shall be transacted at an adjourned meeting other than the business left unfinished at the meeting from which the adjournment took place. When a meeting is adjourned for 10 days or more, notice of the adjourned meeting shall be given as for an ordinary meeting. Save as aforesaid it shall not be necessary to give any notice of an adjournment or of the business to be transacted at an adjourned meeting.
Attendance at Council meetings
26. Persons present at Council meetings are categorised as follows:
(a) Council members
(b) Council officers (the University Secretary and the Executive Officer to Council)
(c) official attendees (the Provost; Deputy Vice-Chancellors; and other persons invited by the Chancellor)
(d) observers (members of the University community; other persons who attend by leave of the Chancellor or by Council resolution).
27. Official attendees are present at Council meetings to advise Council in its deliberations. They have no speaking rights but may be invited to speak by the Chancellor. By custom and practice, the Provost is invited to sit at the Council table.
28. Observers may attend meetings of Council, subject to the following conditions:
(a) they shall notify the University Secretary by 4.00pm on the day before the meeting they wish to attend
(b) the number of observers able to attend a meeting shall be determined by considerations of space and comfort, it being noted that the Council Room can accommodate a limited number of people; official attendees will be given priority over observers
(c) if requested, the University Secretary shall provide observers with a copy of papers relating to agenda items other than those which have been or are likely to be declared confidential
(d) observers shall not normally participate in the discussions. They may only do so when invited by the Chair
(e) the University Secretary shall have power to waive (a), determine (b) and interpret (c) above.
29. Council may, by resolution, decline permission for an official attendee or an observer to be present for all or any part of a meeting.
Tabled papers
30. Tabled papers shall not be distributed to anyone, including members, official attendees or observers prior to a meeting.
General
31. Standing Orders 1–30 or any of them may be suspended by a majority of those present at a meeting of the Council. A motion to that effect shall be open to debate.
32. Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, any decision made by a validly constituted meeting shall not be void by reason only of a departure from these Standing Orders which was not detected until after the decision was made.
33. Any matter not dealt with in these Standing Orders shall be governed by the customary procedure at meetings.
Committees of the Council
34. Subject to the Act and the By-law the Council may:
(a) appoint such committees or boards consisting of such persons whether members of Council or not, as it thinks fit, and
(b) confer or impose upon a committee or board appointed under subclause (a) such powers and duties as it may from time to time determine.
35. The University Secretary shall be secretary to the committees and boards of the Council.
36. Not less than seven days' notice personally or in writing of an ordinary meeting of a Council committee or board shall be given by the University Secretary to members of the committee or board, setting out the time and place of the meeting and the agenda.
37. Not less than three days' notice personally or in writing of a special meeting of a Council committee or board shall be given by the University Secretary to members of the committee or board, setting out the time and place of the meeting and the agenda.
38. A meeting of a Council committee or board may be held at any time if all members of the committee or board so agree.
39. The quorum at any meeting of a Council committee or board, shall, unless another number is fixed for a particular committee or board, be one-half of the members of the committee or board for the time being but, if one-half is not a whole number, shall be the next higher whole number.
40. Flying Minutes:
(a) the Chair of a Council committee shall have discretion to issue a Flying Minute
(b) a Council committee may pass a resolution without a meeting being held if a majority of the total number of members (for the time being) of a Council committee provides an affirmative vote regarding the resolution in writing or electronically
(c) the resolution is deemed to be passed (and therefore effective from), when the last member of the majority provides an affirmative vote
(d) passage of a resolution under this section must be recorded in the minutes.
41. These Standing Orders shall be applicable as appropriate to the conduct of meetings of the committees and boards of the Council.