Agenda and minutes

To elect the Mayor for the ensuing year.

[The Local Government Act 1972 provides as follows with regard to election of Mayor:-

Schedule 2, paragraphs 2(1) and 13(3) – The Mayor shall be elected annually by the Council from among the Councillors.

Schedule 2, paragraph 3(1) – The election of the Mayor shall be the first business transacted at the Annual Meeting of the Council.

Schedule 2, paragraph 3(3) – In the case of an equality of votes, the person presiding at the meeting shall give a casting vote in addition to any other vote he/she may have.

The Mayor called for Nominations for the Office of Mayor for the Municipal Year 2012/13.

Councillor Kober moved and Councillor Meehan seconded that Councillor David Browne be elected Mayor.

RESOLVED:

1.      That Councillor David Browne be elected Mayor for the Municipal Year 2012/13.

2.      The Mayor made and signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, which was witnessed by Councillors Kober and Meehan.

3.      The Mayor then addressed the Council, gave thanks for his election and outlined his objectives for his year of office.

The Mayoress, Ms Elin Weston was then invested with her Badge of Office.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Reece, and Reid.

See items  9,10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18.

A member with a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest at the commencement of that consideration, or when the interest becomes apparent.

A member with a personal interest in a matter also has a prejudicial interest in that matter if the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member's judgment of the public interest and if this interest affects their financial position or the financial position of a person or body as described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct and/orif it relates to the determining of any approval, consent, licence, permission or registration in relation to them or any person or body described in paragraph 8 of the Code of Conduct.

Members were asked by the Mayor to declare any personal interest in respect of items on the agenda.  In accordance with Part 2 of the Members Code of Conduct set out in the Council Constitution, any Member disclosing a personal interest which was also prejudicial would be asked to withdraw from the Chamber during consideration of the item and neither were they to seek to improperly influence a decision on the said item.

No declarations were made.

Copies of the Minutes of the last meeting having been circulated were taken as read.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 26 March 2012 be signed as a true record.

[The Local Government Act 1972 provides as follows with regard to the appointment of Deputy Mayor:-

Schedule 2, paragraph 5(1) – The Mayor may appoint a Councillor of the Borough to be Deputy Mayor, and the person so appointed shall, unless he/she resigns or becomes disqualified, hold office until a newly elected Mayor becomes entitled to act as Mayor (whether or not he/she continues until that time to be a Councillor).

Schedule 2, paragraph 5(2) – The appointment of a Deputy Mayor shall be signified to the Council in writing and be recorded in the minutes of the Council.]

The Assistant Chief Executive reported that the Mayor had signified in writing the appointment of Councillor Sheila Peacock as Deputy Mayor for the ensuing year.

Councillor Peacock was invested with her Badge of Office. The Deputy Mayor’s consort  was then invested with his badge of office.

A vote of thanks to the retiring Mayor and Consort and the retiring Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor’s Consort was moved by Councillor Claire Kober and seconded by Councillor Richard Wilson.

Councillor Kober also thanked Councillors Dogus and Reith for the efforts and commitment during their terms as Cabinet members, and also Councillor Reith for her untiring support and commitment as deputy leader.

The retiring Mayor was presented with a badge marking her year of office. The Leader also presented the retiring Mayor with a montage of photographs of her year in office.

RESOLVED:

That the Council extend to the retiring Mayor, Councillor Gina Adamou, the retiring Mayor’s consort Andreas Adamides,  Deputy Mayor, Councillor David Browne , and the retiring Deputy Mayor’s Consort  , its sincere thanks and appreciation for the services they had rendered to the Borough during the past year.

The retiring Mayor addressed the Council.

The Mayor announced that he had chosen to support Action for Kids.  The Mayor advised that he would be giving further details on the charity and fundraising events on his Mayor’s webpage, and making further announcements about fundraising events at a later date.

NOTED

(List of Committees, Sub-Committees and other bodies to be appointed, with Chairs and Vice Chairs indicated, to be tabled).

The Mayor agreed to the admission of this report as urgent business.  Appointments had only recently been finalised at Party Group Meetings and needed approval to permit committees to be convened.

The Chief Whip - Councillor Egan moved recommendations 1 and 2 as detailed in the TABLED report.

Councillor Williams moved an amendment that Councillor Winskill be appointed Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Councillor Whyte seconded.

Councillor Egan responded to the amendment.

On a vote there being 21 for and 34 against, the amendment was LOST.

Councillor Egan MOVED the substantive MOTION and it was .

RESOLVED:

1.      That the process for appointing to Committees, Sub-Committees and Chairs/Vice Chairs be approved on the “slate” basis prescribed.

2.      That the membership of committees, sub-committees and appointment of Chairs be agreed as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report (SEE ATTACED MARKED A).

The Mayor agreed to the admission of this report as urgent business.  Appointments had only recently been finalised at Party Group Meetings and needed approval to permit appointments to outside organisations to be made.

RESOLVED:

That the appointments to outside bodies be approved, as detailed in the Appendix to the report.

The Mayor agreed to the admission of this report as urgent business as it dealt with matters considered at Party Group meetings within the last few days. 

RESOLVED:

That the composition of the following political groups be noted:

The Labour Group

Leader:                                  Councillor Claire Kober

Deputy Leader:                    Councillor Bernice Vanier

Chief Whip:                           Councillor Pat Egan

Chair:                                     Councillor George Meehan

Vice Chair:               Councillor  Gideon Bull

Secretary:                             Councillor Gmmh Rahman Khan

Assistant Whips:                  Councillors Stuart McNamara & Kaushika Amin

Group Treasurer                   Councillor Sheila Peacock

Non-Executive members  Councillor Stennett and Stewart.

Councillors:

Adamou                     Demirci                                  Stanton         

Adje                            Diakides                                 Strickland

Basu                           Dogus                                    Vanier

Bevan                         Ejiofor                                     Waters                                  

Brabazon                   Gibson                                   Watson

Browne                      Goldberg                               

Canver                       Griffith                       

Christophides           Reith                                                                          

Cooke                        Rice           

The Liberal Democrat Group

Leader:                                   Councillor Richard Wilson

Deputy Leader:                    Councillor Katherine Reece

Chief Whip:                           Councillor Monica Whyte

Deputy Whip                        Councillor Neil Williams

Group Chair                          Councillor David Beacham

Councillors:

Alexander                                          Hare                           Strang

Allison                       Jenks                          Winskill

Bloch                                      Newton                                 

Butcher                                  Reid                         

Engert                                                Schmitz                    

Erskine                               Scott     

Gorrie                                     Solomon

The Mayor agreed to the admission of this report as urgent business. The draft calendar for the Municipal Year 2012/13 was not available at the time of despatch as it required changes proposed following party group meetings.

RESOLVED

That the schedule of meetings for 2012/13 be agreed.

There were no items to report.

The Mayor agreed to the admission of this report as urgent business. The statement of attendance was not available at the time of despatch due to the receipt and checking of data for attendances during the Municipal Year 2011/12.

RESOLVED:

That the statement of members’ attendance for 2011/12 be noted.

The Mayor agreed to the admission of this report as urgent business. The financial statement was not available at the time of despatch due to the verification of information contained therein.

 RESOLVED:

That the allowances paid to each Member for 2011/12 be noted.

RESOLVED

i.    That the current Members’ Allowances Scheme as from 31 March 2012 be revoked: and  

ii.   That the Members’ Allowances Scheme for 1 April 2012 – 31 March 2013 as set out in Appendix 1 to this report be adopted, and that this be adopted as the replacement for Part 6 of the Council’s Constitution.

Report of the Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer.

The Mayor agreed to the admission of this report as urgent business. The report was not available at the time of despatch due to the verification of information contained therein.

RESOLVED:

That with effect from the date upon which the new ethical       framework comes into effect as prescribed by Regulations;

(i)     that approval be given to The Members’ Code of Conduct as  attached at Appendix 1 of the report;

(ii)   that the Monitoring Officer be authorised to make any necessary amendments to the code in order to comply with Regulations;

(iii) that approval be given to the arrangements for dealing with allegations that a member had failed to comply with the code, as attached at Appendix 2 of the report;

(iv) that approval be given  to the establishment of a Standards Committee, an Assessment Sub-Committee and a Hearing Sub-Committee upon the terms of reference set out at Appendix 3 of the report; and

(v)  that approval be given  to the amendments to the Constitution consequential to the changes to the ethical framework, as set out at Appendix 4 of the report.

a)     Governance Review Delivery Group No 2 - 2011/12

Governance Review Delivery Group Report No 2 – 2011/12

Councillor Kober moved the recommendations contained in the report.

 RESOLVED

That approval be given to the detailed text changes to the Constitution for implementation of the Governance Review from 21 May 2012.

There being no further business to discuss the meeting ended 20.30 hours.