Items on the agenda

Question

A Cllr asked for various items to be put on the agenda and the clerk has refused. Can an extra ordinary meeting be called by 2 cllrs and put the items on that agenda themselves. The items in question are relating to the running of the council

Answer 1

Your own standing orders may contain some unique element on this but as I understand it generally, any two councillors can call/force a meeting. I'm splitting hairs now, but they can't call a meeting to positively acheive anything although they can call a meeting to propose something and a vote will then need be taken. Be carefull what you wish for though because once you make that proposal and a vote is taken if the vote goes against the issue it is considered disposed of and dead and cannot be revisited for some considerable time. I think the only way it might be revisited is if originally against voters decided that it should be revisited.

It might be more productive if you can agree this informally and that way you get repeated stabs at it. On the other hand if you know the majority would vote for this I suppose you have little to loose, you may even find that suggesting a forced special meeting to discuss that one point might be enough for capitulation.

Answer 2

Agenda items can be considered from anyone but there is a fine balance between number of items, giving them time for discussion and the overall time that a meeting can legally go on for.

why would you want to call an extraordinary meeting for this, could it be that this has been discussed previously and that’s why it is not on the agenda. Once voted the subject should not be revisited for six months otherwise you will never progress
Calling extraordinary meetings too often  loses support because people see it as a waste of time. The Chair can ask for an extraordinary meeting Or two councillors can ask the chair to call an extraordinary meeting. Members of the public are unable to  call for an extraordinary meeting they have to ask for a parish meeting.

Most councils are currently setting their budgets now so it is quite often the case  that non urgent items are removed from the agenda

I run a spreadsheet about discussion topics and votes and can see at a glance the priority of agenda items it could be that your clerk does the same

Answer 3

What reason did the Clerk give for refusing to include these items?

Answer 4

The short answer is yes, but a written request goes to the chair. If the Chair refuses it, or fails to respond the Cllrs can then set it up themselves and publish their own agenda.  One risk is that it might end up not being quorate, but if it is, the Clerk should take the minutes,.

Comments

And if the clerk fails to turn up?

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I’ve had the same problem in fact it’s part of a complaint about me to the Monitoring Officer that when my two valid motions weren’t listed I wrote to the local paper apologising to the Parishioners who’d asked me to raise the matters in the first place
I also explained that the Chair had said that the Clerk and the Clerk alone decides what goes on
the Agenda so what purpose do Councillors serve ?
How can one unelected employee hold such power ?

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Jules
You are in a difficult position but also many councillors do not realise the extent of their responsibility or the legal position they are in

Answer 5

The Clerk holds the power over the agenda. I work with the chairman to agree the content. More recently we have asked all Councillors to submit clearly and concisely written item by e-mail. Anything not clear or in contravention of any standing orders etc is rejected and the reason given why.