Chair decisions on behalf of the council

Question

Our Chair is making decisions without consulting the council, in some cases I can understand why. However I believe that these need to be formally recorded and communicated to councillors.  Am I correct, how do other councils handle this ?

At school governor meetings there is a separate agenda item for these.

Thanks

Answer 1

The Chair has no powers whatsoever to make decisions. All decisions must be made in a formal meeting. Some councils panicked when we went into lockdown and gave unspecified powers to chairs and clerks, but many are now regretting this. Even under Covid emergency legislation, there was no provision for councils to operate without formal meetings.

Comments

Recent example when plan B came into play. Chair cancelled next meeting without consulting the council.

We also suspect that some operational decisions are being made with the Clerk, resulting in additional spend

---

If the Chair is reluctant to attend a meeting, the meeting may still take place. The Vice-Chair (if you have one) or any other member of the Council may chair the meeting. Have you approved a budget and set a precept?

There is training available from your local association in the roles and responsibilities of the Chair and it sounds as though your Chair should attend. You may also wish to ask your Clerk to clarify the regulations under which the Council is operating and whether all decisions are being made in accordance with your standing orders and financial regulations.

---

Absolutely agree with Dave that no one councillor has the power to make any decision on his/her own.  However, sometimes meetings don't happen as originally planned and my council recently cancelled a committee meeting when it was clear that the committee were going to be inquorate because of covid!  I certainly don't have an issue with one meeting being cancelled whether it's by the chair and clerk combined or whatever but if it's a regular event, that's not on!

---

Sometimes power to decide on minor spends can be delegated to the Clerk or the Clerk in consultation with the Chair. But this should be clearly stated in your Standing Orders/Financial Regulations. As should the maximum they are allowed to spend. For instance if the Clerk needs stationary or their stapler breaks they need to be able to go and buy it without a full Council meeting. They will also have the delegated power to order things in an EMERGENCY. Gas heating engineer needed for instance.  Apart from this, then as stated above, no one can make unilateral decisions.