Additional ordinary meeting, is it legal

Question

At the AGM all ordinary meetings for the year were set. There have been some emergency meetings with the chair signing the agenda. All correct procedure. The chair of the council is alo chair of the football club and trustee of a charity that the council are trying to grant a sublease to. I am reliably told that he asked for a meeting to be called but he did not call it himself. Instead the clerk called it and signed the agenda, thus avoiding his name on the agenda. It is called an additional ordinary meeting. Presumably an additional ordinary meeting could be agreed by full council at the previous meeting but that did not happen. This meeting breaks standing orders. Is it a legal meeting? What can be done if it goes ahead? Would councillors be in breach of the code of conduct if they take part? Setting meetings a year in advance is part of transparency. There is a lot on the agenda and the next ordinary meeting is only next Tuesday.

Answer 1

Attend the meeting - if you want to - and raise this question as a point of order.
It would seem irregular for the clerk to sign a summons / agenda for an extraordinary council meeting - depending on what your delegations allow.

Answer 2

Who should convene which type of meeting should be set out in your standing orders and as a general rule, extraordinary meetings are convened by either the Chair or by two or more councillors (as specified in your SO).
The definition of an extraordinary meeting can vary.  If a lease/deed is to be signed, then SO usually indicate that an extraordinary meeting is required which should set out that a lease/deed is to be signed but its arguable that a preliminary discussion on a draft lease for example might be considered "ordinary" business so the detail might be relevant here.  It is also relevant that from what you have said, the chair would appear to have an "interest" in the subject matter so may feel it inappropriate to sign the agenda.

There is a general premise in meetings law and procedure that any decisions taken at any meeting that is convened in accordance with the requisite notice, publication, (i.e. 3 clear days notice sent to all councillors and displayed on notice boards and website) and is quorate are not invalidated on the grounds of a minor defect in the way the meeting is convened such as the wrong person signing the agenda.