Who is the Chair?

Question

In our SO it states that the Chairs must be ratified by FC. They haven't, yet! I was the Chair of Policy & Resources. Does this mean I still am even though I am no longer on  the Commitee?

Answer 1

If you're using the current model, standing order 4(d) includes the following paragraphs:

The Council:

vi. shall, after it has appointed the members of a standing committee, appoint the chairman of the standing committee;
vii. shall permit a committee other than a standing committee, to appoint its own chairman at the first meeting of the committee;

So the Chair of Policy & Resources would be appointed by the Council. If the appointed person is not present, the committee may choose any member present to be the Chair of that meeting only. This arrangement would continue until the first full Council meeting thereafter, at which point there should be an agenda item to appoint a new Chair of the committee.

Comments

Thank you.

They haven't done it. They are having meetings without it being ratified by FC.

---

So rather confusingly, who really is the Chair? This is ALL committees!

---

The Chair of a parish or town council has virtually no powers as an individual and the Chair of a committee or sub-committee has even fewer. The role of Chair is to chair the meetings.

A well-run council reinvents itself at the Annual Meeting in May every year, with a complete review of every aspect of its operations. The framework for this is set out in para 5(j) of the model standing orders, which lists 21 items for consideration. Amongst them are a review of delegation arrangements to committees and staff, terms of reference for committees, membership of committees, creation of new committees etc.

Standing order 4(d) requires the Council to determine the number of meetings for each committee for the municipal year, set dates and times, agree venues, appoint the Chair etc. I take this into the Annual Meeting for clarity.

So the answer to your question is that it doesn't really matter whether or not the committee has a chair appointed by the Council, although it is bad practice not to. At the start of every committee meeting, those present decide who they want as Chair. However, the Clerk should be aware that the Council has not made a valid appointment and should add this to a Council agenda in order to be fully compliant.