Question

Can a council chairman also be chairman of staffing committee?

Answer 1

It's certainly considered poor practise but entirely dependent on the your specific adopted committee/sub-committee Terms of Reference whether or not allowed or not. Some go further and specifically prevent a Chair (or indeed Vice of Council) even sitting on the committee. I have always felt you got to be pragmatic though if simply if they the best person for the job (and others totally unsuited) what do you do. For arguments sake say you have someone whose day job is say Local Government HR Specialist & happens to be Chairman what would you do. Id struggle as an individual not to make use of them specific skills particularly if looking around room and thought nope.. not any of them

Answer 2

I am Chair of our Council but also Chair of the HR Committee. The reason is no-one else wanted to! However I do have previous HR experience, which they are aware of, so maybe they simply decided I was the best person for it. The Clerk is our only member of staff and as Chair I work closely with her and we have a good relationship. It was actually the Clerks suggestion that I be her day to day contact, for such things as reporting sickness and requesting holidays.