What is a petition?

A petition is generally a request for Council to take some sort of action. Any resident or group of residents may petition Council to take action. For example, petitions may ask Council to change an existing policy, decision of the Council or take some other action.

The subject of a petition must be a matter on which Council has the power to act.

Petitions may also be submitted to Council on development applications. See Petitions on development applications for how to submit these petitions.

What should a petition contain?

Petitions should be in the following form:

• State the name of the person forwarding the petition and an address at which notice of Council's decision can be forwarded.
• State the request or action the petitioners want Council to do on each page of the petition
• Contain the name, address and signature of each person signing the petition
• Be concise, respectful and temperate in its language and not contain language disrespectful to Council
• Be legible
• Not contain alterations
• Not have any letters or other documents attached to it.

Forwarding petitions

Petitions should be forwarded to the Mayor or a Councillor for presentation at a Council Meeting. The Council will then determine what action is to be taken in relation to the petition.

Petitions not forwarded to the Mayor or a Councillor, that is petitions mailed or hand delivered to the Council, will be dealt with as ordinary correspondence and referred to the appropriate Council Officer for consideration.