Policies

The purpose of this policy is to establish an internal reporting system for staff and Councillors to report wrongdoing without fear of reprisal. The policy sets out who you can report wrongdoing to in Singleton Council, what can be reported and how reports of wrongdoing will be dealt with by Singleton Council.

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that full and accurate records of the activities and decisions of Councillors, in the course of their official duties for Council, are created, managed and disposed of appropriately to meet Council’s organisational needs and accountability requirements.

Under the Local Government Act, 1993 and Local Government (General) Regulation, 2021 all local governments in New South Wales must produce annual financial statements that comply with Australian Accounting Standards. From 1 July 2016, the Australian Accounting Standards Board has determined that AASB 124 related party disclosures will apply to government entities, including local governments. Council is required to disclose Related Party Relationships and Key Management Personnel (KMP) compensation in its annual financial statements.

The purpose of this policy is to define the parameters for Related Party Relationships and the level of disclosure and reporting required for Council to achieve compliance with the Australian Accounting Standard AASB 124 - Related Party Disclosures.

The purpose of this Policy is to establish an internal loan system and the financing, management and governance arrangements to implement energy efficiency, renewable energy and other sustainability projects that generate cost savings in relation to Council’s operations.

The purpose of this policy is to outline Council’s commitment to providing safe and effective collection and treatment of waste water at Council sewerage treatment plants, as well as ensuring the protection and longevity of Council’s sewer assets.

This policy is to provide direction and a consistent approach to the management of signs as remote supervision, utilised to direct, advise, or warn users of Council facilities of potential hazards or risks. 

The purpose of the policy is to govern the expenditure of funds allocated to help secure a prosperous and enjoyable future for residents of the Singleton Local Government Area (LGA).

The purpose of the Singleton Homelessness Policy is to define the role and commitment of Singleton Council in mitigating the impacts of homelessness within the community. It aims to provide a structured framework that empowers Council and its staff to effectively support individuals experiencing homelessness and respond to community concerns related to homelessness.

This policy emphasises a collaborative approach, engaging various stakeholders, including government entities, service providers, and community organisations, to create a unified response to homelessness. Additionally, this policy ensures that people facing homelessness are treated with dignity and respect, safeguarding them from discrimination based on their housing status. 

Through this comprehensive approach, the policy seeks to foster an inclusive environment that promotes support, understanding, and effective action ton address homelessness in our community.

This policy sets the protocols for Council’s use and management of social media platforms across all business units for Councillors and Council workers. 

Information about Singleton Council's social media pages

Council's social media pages are not used for logging and responding to complaints and service requests. Comments and direct messages through its social media pages are not considered formal correspondence.

You should contact Singleton Council by email, phone, or in writing if you have:

• a formal request, comment, enquiry; or
• a compliment or complaint concerning Council services, staff or councillors

Council will deal with these types of enquiries in accordance with relevant policies.

Social media house rules

We encourage you to be respectful of other community members, adhere to the appropriate social media channel posting guidelines (eg the guidelines of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube etc.) and understand that Singleton Council reserves the right to remove any content including posts, comments, photos, videos, electronic recordings or other information, that:

• is harassment and/or bullying or unlawfully discriminatory
• is inaccurate, misleading, fraudulent or deceptive
• is defamatory, offensive, humiliating, threatening or intimidating
• contains profane language or is sexual in nature
• is discriminatory in any way (e.g. racist, sexist, homophobic, ageist)
• involves trolling or deliberate disruptions to conversations
• is spam, junk mail, or files that contain viruses or programs that could damage the operation of other people's electronic devices containing any personal details, like phone numbers, email address etc.
• is anything that promotes, incites or instructs in matters of crime or violence
• violates the intellectual property rights of another
• violates any law or regulation
• advertises, endorses or solicits commercial products or business
• or is otherwise deemed offensive or inappropriate

Keeping this in mind, we reserve the right to address factual errors. Inappropriate or offensive comments will not be tolerated, and we reserve the right to remove comments at our own discretion. Users who repeatedly breach the page guidelines will be removed from the page.

Our rights

We reserve the right to:

• remove any content that breaches the guidelines above and block any user that repeatedly violates these rules
• change these house rules at any time without prior notice
• use your comments, ideas and images

By engaging with us on our social media channels, you agree that any material posted belongs to you and does not infringe the intellectual property rights of anyone else. You also grant us the right to use, develop, modify, adapt and publish your comments, materials and ideas in any format and on any channel, without obligation to you.

Comments and feedback

We value your comments and feedback; however, our social media pages are not an official channel for customer requests or submissions. For all service requests, incident reporting, comments and feedback, please contact our Customer Service team on T 02 6578 7290 or send your enquiry to E council@singleton.nsw.gov.au.

Singleton Council is committed to high ethical standards and this Statement of Business Ethics sets out the standards Council requires of Council officials (Councillors, staff and delegates), and their staff and other business associates.