Motion to reverse a previous Resolution - can an amendment be made at the meeting

Question

At last months meeting a proposal to approve the terms of reference for the staffing committee was overturned by an amendment. 5 councillors have submitted notice to reverse the decision, is it possible to make an amendment to their motion, if so is notice required?

Thank you

Answer 1

There seems to be a conflict of procedure here somewhere. The proposal having been made and discussed is voted on. If defeated then it does not stand.  An amendment can be proposed to the proposal and if accepted it becomes part of the proposal which is then voted on as a complete proposal. There is no reason why if a proposal is defeated why a second proposal cannot be made and voted on at the next meeting. Proposals made and accepted fall into the six month rule of course and require new evidence or changes to review.

Comments

Sorry, perhaps I didn't explain correctly. The amendment was approved at the last meeting. 5 Councillors have since submitted a request to reverse that resolution in favour of the original proposal. The question I am asking is can an amendment be put at the meeting or should we vote on the proposal put forward without amendments.

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If the amendment was approved it becomes part of the proposal which apparently was accepted. Voting on an amendment to a proposal is done before the proposal is accepted or rejected.
The amendment becomes part of the proposal and cannot be removed as an independent action. If the amendment is not agreed with then it should be voted against at the time or if still carried by majority then the proposal can then be voted against. Presumably the proposal with amendment was carried therefore it stands unless evidence can be presented on errors or omissions that the council were unaware of at the time of voting.
Otherwise if every decision made can be challenged at the next meeting you are undermining the democratic structure of the council and like the European Union keep voting till you get the answer you want. Ask Ireland and the Netherlands.

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What do your Standing Orders say about this ?

Generally you need at least 50% of Councillors to request a reversal in writing on the grounds when the motion was agreed they were wrongly informed

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Standing orders state 5 councillors. The reversal request is from the 5 who put forward the proposal which was overturned even though 2 of these voted for the amended proposal they now want reversed. They claim the resolution is unworkable even though this is the original terms. The group want the Staff committee to have complete control of staffing issues including appointments as well as the staffing budget which is half the councils income. This is 5 councillors controlling the business of the council.

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If this is so then they will have no problem proving the resolution is unworkable with facts and figures thereby allowing the return of the resolution for a re-vote. The question is of course why was the unworkability not highlighted at the time of discussion and debate prior to the vote?

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The resolution was re-debated and the vote went against. The group of 5 proposed they revert back to having sole control of the all staffing matters without any referral back to full council for ratification which was agreed. Staffing is one half of the councils budget, it's not about trust but accountability which they do not seem to want to accept.