Is it lawful for 5 councillors to seek to amend a resolution which affects a third party?

Question

5 councillors have given notice to amend a resolution made four weeks ago which affects a third party. The Agenda does not mention a new motion but states to revisit a decision

A paper with the with the wording of the amendment is included in the pack with the accompanying Agenda, received Friday, meeting Monday  The amendment seeks to add additional words in order to delay the original resolution. The paper provides the names of the 5 councillors is unsigned and undated.
Advice greatly appreciated please.

There were a number of issues wrong with the call in - I chose to raise the one they couldn't argue; call in was submitted on Nov 2nd and meeting was tonight - Clerk said she would defer it to the next meeting, Chair continued to debate the until I said it was out of time, she attempted to prevent me from speaking to ask the clerk to check if it's lawful to bring the call in back. If nothing else I feel I have rocked a mountain and they may just check they are acting in accordance with Standing orders.

Answer 1

I understand that model standing order 7 states a resolution shall not be reversed within 6 months except either by a special motion, which requires written notice by at least 5 councillors to be given to the Proper Officer in accordance with standing order 9, or by a motion moved in pursuance of the recommendation of a committee or a sub-committee.

In respect of the notice, the number of clear days looks to be quite short.

Have you consulted your council's standing orders?

Comments

The Clerk has not provided any details with regard to when the notice of the proposed amendment was received. I only found out yesterday when my papers arrived for Mondays meeting. The original resolution was made 4 weeks ago.

Answer 2

Without full details it can only be a general answer on procedure. I assume that an application for the amendment to the motion was made by the mentioned councillors for it to be placed on the agenda which appears it has been done. It will rightly not state a new motion as it is a proposed amendment to the one already carried not a replacement. Though of course amendments to the resolution should have been presented at the time of the voting on the original resolution. If this is to put right mistakes made or discovered in the original resolution then it is perfectly acceptable to do it this way. It is correct that the council should revisit the decision and amend if accepted. How it does or does not affect an individual is something that has to be discussed at the meeting. 

I would recommend examining your meeting notice time closely to see whether it complies with your SO and CoC.

 I don't feel that in such a case the papers for the agenda need to bear signatures as the clerk should have confirmed the participation by the councillors named before it went to publication as signatures would need to be redacted anyway.

Comments

The Agenda was emailed on Tuesday the meeting is Monday. The Agenda states to revisit a decision made on October 12th - there is no mention of standing orders. The paper presented states we wish to add an amendment to the resolution carried at the meeting held on October 12th at the bottom of the paper are the names of five councillors.

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Seems to comply with requirements (not as stated in original question) for an amendment to be proposed and discussed.

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I would have expected the motion to say pursuant to standing order no ??? and the date on which the 5 councillors raised the motion with the clerk. The original motion should have been actioned immediately the resolution was made.

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When we have a Special Motion it states it's under SO7 etc, and the names of the Cllrs requesting it are included with the date submitted. It still needs 9 days notice before hence should state the date recieved and Cllrs need to sign. Email might suffice during Covid though I'm not sure.  It can still be voted against ofcourse.

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One council suspended SO7 so the Councillors didn't have to do a special motion.

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It appears to me that policies and protocols only apply to those outside of the clerks clique, the same ones who have continued to serve on the staff committee for many years. There is nowhere to go when you know decisions are being manipulated. I am disillusioned with the controlling behaviour and the lies and can understand why my council fumble along making decisions in their own interest.