A CHANCE PHONE CALL

Question

I have to say that this week relationships between myself and some of my senior  Councillor colleagues  reached an all time low (when our Clerk refused to entertain a motion requesting a review of our standing orders) in that they backed her decision .  The clerk stated that any review would have to wait until May despite the relevant committee's TOR providing for continuous reviews.  Then by chance I came across a guy's name whom I thought I would run my views past. As the conversation progressed it transpired he held shall I call it a very  senior position on NALC Members Services Committee.  So I ran the issue of access to LTNs past him .  He was surprised at what I had to say as he was adamant that any member Councillor should absolutely have password access to the NALC members area.  I am certainly  aware this is being raised at a NALC meeting in Feb and I will try and find out how they intend to disseminate their views to the local associations and will update you.  Anyone with an issue pse PM me.

Secondly I raised the issue of the clerk's right to reject motions under para 9f of NALCs model  SOs  and he shared my view that refusal was dependent on the preceding paras and not simply down to the clerk's wishes.  Once more I will try and get definitive direction on this. I did incidentally recently come across an old thread on here from back in 2015 when the then SO s were quoted as follows

Having consulted the Chairman or councillors pursuant to standing order 4(d) above, the decision of the Proper Officer as to whether or not to include the motion in the agenda shall be final.

So it does appear that NALC have indeed changed the relevant para in recent times

My contact did say that once he had a similar problem and I asked what happened.  We sacked the clerk  he said .    He has offered to visit my Council and mediate . I never count chickens but I feel a lot better tonight than I did this morning 

Answer 1

Said it before but the council pays for access to LTN's & all of its relevant entities Clerk, Councillors, possibly deputy clerk and separate RFO should have unfettered access to all NALC content. It is a failing of NALC that they provide a single login name and password to "the council" and should have recognised the need for multiple accounts and put in place appropriate account management infrastructure long before now. LTN's are provided for the council decision makers - the councillors  - to make informed and legitimate decisions. It is not for a solo clerk to disseminate NALC content to other council entities on their perceived need to know basis. To do so introduces an element of risk, which a council with good risk management procedures should not accept.

Comments

I agree absolutely Graeme.  But having suffered from endless "the clerk is always right and must  obeyed " criticism it is nice to hear from a NALC "representative"  that that approach is not how they see it should be.  We shall see how this develops but I am hopeful

Answer 2

"Having consulted the Chairman or councillors pursuant to standing order 4(d) above, the decision of the Proper Officer as to whether or not to include the motion in the agenda shall be final".  Only applies to certain types of motion, not every conceivable type of agenda content. LTN5  says "Pages 157-164 of ‘Local Councils Explained’ provide practical advice on the councillors’ submission of the motions and the clerk or other appropriate officer’srole in receiving them and preparing the agenda to be sent out. If your motion is rejected, you could along with another councillor convene an EGM where you both set the agenda.

Comments

To me it specifically applies to motions from Councillors submitted via the proper officer under the provisions of para 9