Can councillors decide to allow three members to interivew new staff outside of a convened meeting?

Question

The meeting was called a 'closed' extraordinary meeting but the minutes read as follows re 3 individual councillors to interiview potential candidates for the post of council clerk as individual councillors (ie not members of any council committee)- seemingly not in any convened council meeting, and further allows these individual councillors to decide and make their chosen candidate an offer of employment - ie not recommend their preferred candidate to the full council at the next properly convened parish council meeting.

Are the following just published minuted resolutions of our parish council at their extraordinary 'closed' meeting lawful or have members of the parish council acted ultra vires? 

To resolve the format of interviews and who will be on the interview panel

Cllr Hobson proposed and Cllr Evans seconded that the interview panel will consist of Cllr Hobson, Cllr Henderson and Cllr King. A vote took place and it was agreed by all.

Resolved: The interview panel will consist of Cllr Hobson, Cllr Henderson and Cllr King.

 

To resolve to delegate authority to the interview panel, providing the interview panel is in full agreement, to make a job offer It was proposed by Cllr Day and seconded by Cllr Evans that the interview panel, providing they are in full agreement, have the delegated authority to make a job offer. A vote took place and it was agreed by all.

Resolved: The interview panel, providing they are in full agreement, have the delegated authority to make a job offer.

 Have I the right as a resident to ask when and where this 'interview' meeting of three councillors will take place? Should any such session held outside a properly convened parish council meeting be advertised and held as an extraordinary council meeting or is it OK for it to take place in private without any published notice or agenda in one of the councillor's houses or in a pub or the village cafe? No notice for a meeting of three councillors to conduct staaffing interivews has appeared on the council website or on noticeboards - nor, I suspect is it ever likely to do so.

Answer 1

I can't see anything wrong. An interview is not a meeting of the council so you would have no right to attend so not sure why you want to know where it was being held. It most definitely would not be held in public or minuted. As they were discussing personal details relating they were within their rights to hold the EGM in private session.

Comments

...and authority to appoint has been delegated properly by a resolution of Council. I suspect that most councils would seek to receive a recommendation and have the opportunity to ratify it, or not, but this rubber-stamping approach is relatively meaningless. You are being asked to determine which of several people you have never met and whose documentation you should not have seen is the best fit for your Council.

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I hope that the interviews didn't take place in a Councillor's house, a pub or a cafe, but stranger things have happened. I was interviewed for one of my current clerkships in my own home, which felt a bit odd!

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I was interviewed in a pub once but in fairness it was closed a the time and the landlord was a councillor on the interview panel.

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Mitigating circumstances. But did they open it afterwards to celebrate your appointment?

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Interestingly it did encourage me to visit as a paying customer later.  Food is particularly good there!