Agenda items - insufficient details

Question

We have recently had a couple of extraordinary meetings which were called with only the minimum of detail - for example "to discuss the community hall" -  and where I felt disadvantaged because some Councillors clearly had a lot of information beforehand.

We have just received the latest agenda and again some items are sparse. One is "to pass a resolution to exclude the press and public from the meeting due to personnel matters", another (in the confidential section) simply states "car parking at Anytown".
Am I wrong to expect more detail to support these items?

Answer 1

The agenda should clearly show what the item is being discussed and the planned outcome i.e. "to discuss the car parking situation in Anytown and to agree next steps".  This will allow the members of the public to know what the discussion is about what the council want to see happen.  The information to the subject should be included in the agenda pack that comes out with the agenda.  This pack should be made available to anyone requesting it, including the public, unless there is information that is private and confidential which should be redacted.

I always say to fellow Clerks that the agenda should be clear and understandable from a member of the publics stance and not a councillor to ensure transparency in the councils dealings.

Comments

Mallb34r and Mrs Abster I'm just jumping in on this thread si apologies. How should "matters arising from previous meetings" be shown?

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Not sure what you mean?  is this an agenda item to provide an update on issues that were raised at the last meeting in order to see what progress has been made?  They wouldn't be itemised on the agenda as this is just an information sharing item.  However, it if was an ongoing project, then it should have its own agenda item with an update provided...

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The term "matters arising" is just too vague for a decision to be taken if needed.  Agree with MrsAbster that if a further decision is needed, it should be a separate agenda item.  If it is just a report on progress, it can be a separate "for information" item or in some cases the Clerk provides a report on outstanding items (often termed "Clerk's Report") to provide an update.
To go back to the original question, the resolution to exclude the press and public implies the next agenda item (or items) are to be heard in confidential session in which case the agenda item might be a little vague (e.g. the term staffing matters might be used to imply a personnel related issue) but supporting confidential papers for councillors only might be more specific about the nature of the item to be discussed.

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Thank you ladies