once an agenda has been published does the clerk have the authority to remove it without council approval

Question

A Notice of Motion submitted and published on the agenda was withdrawn on the day of the meeting by the clerk and the chair without communicating this with the original proposer - what authority does the clerk have once its a published agenda to do this - nothing in standing orders about it

Answer 1

If it is on the agenda and it is lawful and clear (which it should be if its made it on to the agenda) then it is for the full council to decide at the meeting whether it gets dropped or not. Not for the clerk, the chair or any other person to decide.

Comments

Maybe, but in reality, if standing orders allow (as ours do) for the chair to unilaterally amend the order of the agenda, then it is “possible” to filibuster an agenda item off the end of the order of business.
I’m not endorsing that course of action, just presenting that it is possible.

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There is nothing in the standing orders to support that action once the agenda has been published - nut yes can do that before it is published - this occurred on the afternoon before the evening meeting

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The answers lie within chapter 1 Rules of Debate of model SOs.
a.  Motions on the agenda shall be considered in the order that they appear unless the order is changed at the discretion of the chair of the meeting. (so if the order is changed by the chair, it is 'possible' and 'in order' (but perhaps not of order) for the chair to filibuster a motion to the bpttomof the agenda and out of time IF that were the desired outcome.  Not saying 'should', just saying 'could.'  So that is how a chair could remove an item from the agenda.  It is also possible for the proposer to do so, or for the chair to do so if the motion is not seconded.  There is no allowance for a clerk to remove a published agenda item.

b.  A motion (including an amendment) shall not be progressed unless it has been moved and seconded.  (so this is the time / opportunity for a motion which is ON the agenda to be disposed of either by the mover or through the absence of a seconder.)

c.  A motion on the agenda that is not moved by its proposer may be treated by the chair of the meeting as withdrawn.  (As above)

Answer 2

More information needed on this before a definitive answer can be given.  It might have broken pre-election rules...?  when did this happen and what was the motion?

Comments

No pre-election rules broken as no election taking place - happened the afternoon before the evening meeting and it was a request for a second opening to allow residents to access the councils country space from the new estate

Answer 3

I would have expected the original agenda item to be deferred or withdrawn at the meeting if it were necessary to do so rather than in the time between the agenda being published and the meeting taking place.  That way the reason, whatever it is, can be openly identified.  We've deferred an item if insufficient information was available for example or dismissed an item when it was apparent it was no longer needed.

Comments

I do agree the correct way to deal with this should have been a discussion with the proposer, the chair and the clerk b4 the meeting if there was insufficient info (which there wasn't) and then put to council for them to decide if the reasons are openly identified and clearly show that the item should be voted to defer/dismiss as appropriate  - It would seem that the general consensus is that the Clerk overstepped authority  - Thank you everyone