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Our Parish Clerk has added this to our next agenda, with no explanation or documents.  They are also ignoring emails asking what it is about.

Can anyone give a clue, other than, as one of my fellow councillors said, a takeover attempt by the chair and the clerk!

Sorry about the Capitals, but this is a cut and paste!

"THAT THE COUNCIL DELEGATES AUTHORITY TO THE CLERK IN CONSULTATION WITH THE CHAIRMAN TO TAKE ANY ACTIONS NECESSARY WITH ASSOCIATED EXPENDITURE TO PROTECT THE INTERESTS OF THE COMMUNITY AND ENSURE COUNCIL BUSINESS CONTINUITY, INFORMED BY CONSULTATION WITH THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. THE SCHEME OF DELEGATION WILL BE REVIEWED NO LATER THAN 30TH SEPTEMBER 2021".


TIA

Down_Here

by (2.2k points)

3 Answers

+1 vote
Best answer
As a resolution it's far too vague. What does "protecting the interests of the community" mean? What is the threat to council business continuity? How have you managed for the last 14 months? Are you amending your standing orders and financial regulations to incorporate these new arrangements or simply disregarding them? As others have said, there needs to be more detail. There are already emergency powers if you're using the NALC model documents, so you don't need further powers for genuine emergencies. Any new spending powers should include a caveat limiting expenditure to "included within the Council's agreed budget." It's an odd time to be introducing such powers, as we're going back to face-to-face meetings now and relative normality from 21 June. Has your Annual Meeting taken place already or will it take place before the end of May? If you're not going to have a meeting until October, how many of your members will be disqualifed under Section 85?

Local councils have a moral obligation to show leadership and set an example for their communities. Returning to normality in a calm and considered way is an important part of that responsibility now and in the coming months. It appears that your council is pulling in the opposite direction. There are challenges and we must face up to those challenges. Local businesses, large and small, are relying on customers, old and new, to return and spend. It's not a time to be running for the shelters.
by (52.9k points)
selected by
+1 vote
Hi Dawn - our PC has just added the same but we have a document to review.. This is about getting stuff done in between meetings.. however it only works if ALL the council firstly, have a good relationship with both the PC and the Chair and TRUST them to have the best interests of both the Community and the Council in mind when they are making these decisions.

I would encourage you and other councillors to put a cap on the expenditure and restrict the decision / expenditure to those items that are deemed important enough that if not done would either be a H&S Risk or bring the Council into disrepute.
At your Ordinary meeting insist that a paper must be presented before any further discussion can be had or motions carried.
Good luck!!
by (330 points)
Just tell them you won’t consider supporting it unless/until the rationale is presented in a paper prior to the meeting.  No majority vote - it doesn’t happen.
Emphasise that it must have a financial cap - in total and per transaction - that delegated authority must fall within pre-determined parameters such as genuine urgency and that the extraordinary measure be reviewed within set timescales.
Surprised there isn’t already a provision for genuine emergency spend but genuine emergencies are very few and far between.
If it looks like an attempt to negate due process for pre-planned and routine expenditure just vote NO.

PS - the supporting papers ‘should’ be available to Cllr’s AND the public prior to the meeting.
Extraordinary meetings exist to allow full council to convene outside the scheduled meeting dates if something unanticipated arises  -so what sort of "Stuff" needs to be done in between meetings that can't be defined and itemised by a predefined resolution? You are allowing the dangerous precedent of empowering the chair to become a unilateral decision maker and implementation of actions, a power that he or she is not be default entitled to hold.
+1 vote
It is a thinly veiled takeover attempt to bypass decisions being resolved by full council and should be rejected, even if some so called rational is given.  The "interests of the community" is vague & open to interpretation but "ensuring business continuity" could amount the the chair & clerk doing just about anything & spending anything they wanted.  "In consultation with"  means they tell you what they are proposing to do and if you don't like it they could do it anyway.
by (34.9k points)
edited by

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