Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Alexander, Allison, Beacham, Brabazon, Canver, Dogus, Ejiofor, Hare, McNamara, Peacock, Reece, Whyte and Winskill.

An apology for lateness was received from Councillor Amin. 

NOTED

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

There were no declarations of interests.

NOTED

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule number 4, the only business to be transacted at an Extraordinary meeting shall be that stated in the Summons.

The Mayor asked Councillor Kober to present the report that went to Special Committee on 4 October 2012 under Part 4 Paragraph 3 of the Council’s Constitution together with the recommendations contained therein.

Councillor Kober, in formally moving the proposed appointment of Mr Nick Walkley as Chief Executive outlined that the recruitment was an open, transparent, competitive process and had the support of a cross party panel of members.

Councillor Kober in reiterating her initial comments advised that she wished to address 3 points to the Council in respect of the proposed appointment.

Firstly, the position had been widely publicised in the Local Government press, on the Council’s website, and also through other media.  The process of recruitment was managed externally together with an assessment centre exercise, as well as being technically overseen by Derek Myers – who was a well respected individual and former Chief Executive of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, and Hammersmith & Fulham Borough Councils.  The shortlisting had also been determined by the cross party member panel. The recommended appointee had consistently performed to a very high standard in all disciplines /elements of the recruitment process and the Council had received excellent references from his current and previous employers. Councillor Kober added that the process undertaken had been scrupulous.

Secondly, Councillor Kober referred to the shortlisting of applicants and that there had been considerable experience/talent from the field of applicants and from the brightest and best that Local Government had to offer – who were keen to come to manage the staff team of this Council. In Mr Walkley it was evident that there was a consistent delivery of services throughout his career and a commitment to work with people across different political spectrums, and local community voluntary organisations. Councillor Kober also advised that she was confident of Mr Walkley's skills to manage the senior team  and work for all 57 elected Members of the Council. 

Councillor Kober reminded all those present that elected members had a mandate by being elected, to all residents and each and everyone of them took this responsibility very seriously.  Councillor Kober also advised of the widely reported information regarding the the level of salary that Mr Walkley was on in Barnet and the reported salary he would receive here at Haringey. The salary level of Mr Walkley would be that of the previous Chief Executive of LB Haringey.

Thirdly Councillor Kober referred to the recent concerns of Mr Walkley’s appointment as stated in the social media and the on line community, though not personally (or rarely) to herself.  Councillor Kober referred to the previous week’s local paper headlines questioning whether the new boss of Haringey would usher in an era of privatisation of services across the Council and the simple answer to that question was no. The recommendation to appoint Mr Walklate to the position of Chief Executive was not to emulate the decisions/actions of Haringey’s neighbouring Borough Barnet., and that was not the agenda in Haringey.  Councillor Kober advised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.