Question

Can someone other than the clerk produce the agenda for a meeting (Clerk on long term sick leave).

Answer 1

It sounds like, from your 2 postings that your council need to get a locum in to cover the clerk who is on long term sick leave.  It would make the council's life easier rather than having to patch up issues as they arise.

The person acting as the Clerk, when formally appointed by the council to undertake this role, can publish an agenda - the only issue I can see is that the council hasn't formally appointed anyone.  I would suggest that in this instance, the Chair calls an extraordinary meeting with the purpose of appointing a Clerk / RFO either from their own ranks or getting a locum Clerk in, and then continuing business as usual from that point.

Answer 2

I'm a Councillor but when our last Clerk retired I was appointed stand in Clerk/RFO at a Council meeting.  We did look into the locum route straight away but with no success.  We recruited and found a person with excellent skills but no previous experience as a Town Clerk. I am now mentoring her and she's coming on splendidly.  I had to act as stand in for about 5 weeks. As long as you elect the right person you should be fine while recruiting.