ABSENT CLERK AND AGENDA SETTING

Question

I have  situation in which our clerk administers the Full Council and Finance Committees.  An Asst Clerk runs two further committees ie Environment and Planning.  The Asst Clerk resigned 6 months ago and has yet not been replaced for whatever reason and no Locum has been appointed. Since then no EC or planning meetings have been held

When I wrote to the clerk about this I advised that a Chairman could devise an agenda and get her to sign it and similarly agree minutes and get her to sign them off.

However she has come back saying no and quoted “Civility and respect” as follows  

Meetings  It is the clerks responsibility to set the agenda for the meeting .  This is often done in consultation with the Chair and individual members can request the addition of relevant items but the agenda remains the clerks responsibility .  The clerk must sign the agenda and decide how it must be set out 

This seems to be at odds with LTN5 para 23 .  Is there a legal default position on this and does "civility and respect" override it   Quite frankly it seems that no one cares

Answer 1

The simple solution is to have the chair draw up an agenda and summons for an extraordinary meeting.
That agenda and summons is issued by the chair not the clerk.
The full solution is to educate your clerk and remind them that they are employed to do the work of the council - not the other way around!

Answer 2

Matters dealt with by committee can be quite easily dealt with under the full council agenda if necessary.  Has this happened? There have been times when our planning committee, for example, has been inquorate so matters have had to go on the full council agenda without any issue.