Can a retiring Committee Chairman use his casting vote to vote for himself?

Question

At our parish council's Estates Committee meeting on 11 June 2012 the first item on the agenda was the election of a chairman for the year 2012/13.  There were 2 nominations for the post, one being the existing chairman who has filled the post for many years and the other being a recently co-opted Councillor who due to family circumstances was unable to attend the meeting.  Both nominations were seconded and a vote was taken which resulted in a 4-4 tie.  The existing chairman then used his casting vote to vote for himself and remains in post.

We have no precedent for this nor is there anything in Standing Orders although of course there is a laid-down procedure for the election of the Council Chairman.  Doubts have now been expressed by some Councillors as to the legality of the proceedings as set out above on the grounds that at the time the voting took place there was effectively no Chairman in post and therefore no casting vote could apply.

Any advice regarding this situation will be very much appreciated as I currently am chairman of our Policy, Protocol and Procedures Committee which was set up with the specific aim of regularising the procedures to be followed by Councillors in a variety of circumstances.

Answer 1

I take it that the retiring chair opened the meeting and for item 1 requested nominations por he position as chairman. That is in order and unless your standing orders provide otherwise the chair has a right to vote and in the case of an equality of votes he has the right to cast a deciding vote. In your case it is just as well as there has been a recent court case involving a non present councillor who was nominated and seconded in his absence for the post of chair/mayor. The court held that a non present councillor could not be nominated. That was for the council and it is likely that if push came to shove that a court would decide in the same manner for the post of chair of a committee. Unless the chair of the council was present at the meeting it is customary for the retiring chair to open the meeting, failing that the retiring vice chair, or finally a member selected by the committee.

Comments

That is extremely helpful and I am very grateful for the information.  I have notified our parish clerk who will bear it in mind for future elections.

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Can you please give details of this court case, as I have the exact same problem here, where a Cllr has not been included in a Mayor nomination due to his non attendance and not informing the Clerk of his intention to be included in the nomination.
This court case name would be gratefully appreciated.

Answer 2

I totally agree with the answer given and would like to add the following observations. First, a council or committee in these circumstances is not without a chairman who remains in post until replaced - there is no interval. Secondly, no decision can be made at a meeting with no chair, so a casting vote is always available. Thirdly, on the issue of nominating an absentee; any nominee must agree to be nominated which he cannot do if absent for he cannot agree or otherwise until he has been nominated. You cannot, for example have a situation where a member sends his apologies but also confirms his assent to nomination in the event he might be!